How to Learn Japanese (7 page)

Japanese Kanji Flashcards: The Complete Set of Kanji for Levels 3 & 4 of the Japanese Language
Proficiency Test: 1
I recommend Heisig's flashcard set for the serious student, however, there are other sets on the market. If Heisig's set is a bit too expensive you can test whether flashcard learning is for you with a smaller, cheaper set like this one. A set like this will help you reach beginner level goals like passing the JLPT levels 3 or 4 but you will need more to reach higher levels.

Kanji Cards, Vol. 1 (Kanji Cards)
(448 Kanji Flashcards)
My main problem with these is the box labels the set “complete”. It's nothing of the kind, containing only 448 of the 1945
jouyou kanji
. There is no corresponding textbook to go with these and they do not comprise part of a larger system as Heisig's cards do so be aware that it can be a little confusing to start with these and then go over to Heisig's system. However, it is a nice starter pack that will help you get into
kanji
learning and pass some of the lower level exams.

Kanji Cards, Vol. 2
(448 Kanji Flashcards)
Another 448
kanji
cards from the makers of the above. If you can master set 1 and 2, you will definitely start to be able to make sense of real Japanese. It's obvious, but please start with set 1 before moving on to set 2!

Kanji Cards, Vol. 3
(512 Kanji Flashcards)
This third set would take your
kanji
skills to a fairly high level. If you're going to go this far however, you probably would have been better off using Heisig's cards from the beginning.

Kanji Pict-O-Graphix: Over 1,000 Japanese Kanji and Kana Mnemonics
This is a quirky little book that provides pictorial mnemonics for over 1000
kanji
. The
kanji
are grouped by theme (often radical) e.g. people, numbers. I don't recommend it as a substitute for flashcard learning but it can make a nice supplement and can help with
kanji
that just don't seem to sink in.

Kanji from the Start
This book that provides increasingly more difficult reading passages together with grammar notes and
kanji
explanations. It seems to be aimed at budding translators rather than novices and becomes difficult very quickly. It provides no special way to memorise the
kanji
it introduces which is why I would recommend this book only as a supplement to your
kanji
studies.

Decoding Kanji: A Practical Approach to Learning Look-Alike Characters
This is a neat little book that may help you distinguish similar
kanji
. If you are already using a radical based mnemonic method like Heisig's and on a budget I would spend your money on another book.

Building Word Power in Japanese: Using Kanji Prefixes and Suffixes
Highly recommended!!!
The concept of this book is that learning common kanji prefixes and suffixes will significantly increase your vocabulary as the same kanji can be applied to many different words. The book contains many example sentences of a fairly complex nature which makes it an excellent book for intermediate and above level students. As far as I know, this is the only book dealing with this subject matter and as such I recommend it.

Let’s learn Kanji
There are plenty of books out there like this one that only teach a few hundred
kanji
. They are simply not worth buying in my opinion when there are so many better books you could be buying.

Grammar
Rita Lampkin Japanese Grammar
Highly recommended!!!
This is a great book for the beginner. Cheap and light, it covers all the basic points of grammar in
romaji
and will give you an overview of the language you'll be referring to for quite a while.

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
Highly recommended!!!
This is a heavyweight grammar book which is reflected in the price. It's longer and more comprehensive than most other grammar books. It's good as a reference or for those who want to go a little deeper into the grammar. I don't recommend this one as highly as its partner, Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar, because I think that you will outgrow most of this book eventually. Having said that, it is a very solid book.

A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar
Highly recommended!!!
This is another heavyweight grammar book. Each grammar point is covered in depth and there are several very useful appendices. An understanding of
kanji
is necessary for this book as some of the example sentences do not have
furigana
. There is no
romaji
in the book so it will sharpen your reading skills. A great reference book for intermediate to advanced students. I highly recommend this.

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Sentence Patterns (Kodansha Dictionary)
I recommend Naoko Chino's books. She covers the basics well and in an easy to understand fashion with plenty of example sentences. This book will take you right up to about JLPT 3 level. My mother has this book and loves it.

Japanese Core Words and Phrases: Things You Can't Find in a Dictionary (Power Japanese Series)
(Kodansha's Children's Classics)
This book breaks down some of the most important and elusive concepts of Japanese and illustrates them well with example sentences. Good for upper beginner to intermediate students.

Verbs
The Handbook of Japanese Verbs
Highly recommended!!!
Taeko Kamiya is another author I recommend. Like Naoko Chino, her books are easy to understand and logically set out to help you learn as fast as possible. This is a great book and should be required reading for all beginners.
Romaji
sentences are provided throughout. Highly recommended.

Japanese Verbs at a Glance (Power Japanese Series) (Kodansha's Children's Classics)
You won't go too far wrong with Naoko Chino. For verbs, I like Taeko Kamiya's book just a little more though.

Adjectives
The Handbook of Japanese Adjectives and Adverbs (Kodansha's Children's Classics)
Highly recommended!!!
Like its sister book,
The Handbook of Japanese Verbs
, this is a great book for beginners and lower
intermediate students. It covers a great number of adjectives and adverbs, groups them together logically
and shows you how to use them. Not as essential as
The Handbook of Japanese Verbs
for attaining fluency
but still a very good book indeed.

Particles
The following four books are all fairly similar in style and content in my opinion. They all cover the main particles and provide plenty of example sentences. If you don't have a heavyweight grammar book I would recommend one of these.
A Dictionary of Japanese Particles
Sue Kawashima

All About Particles: A Handbook of Japanese Function Words
Naoko Chino

 

Japanese Particle Workbook Japanese Particle Workbook
Taeko Kamiya

 

How to Tell the Difference between Japanese Particles: Comparisons and Exercises
Naoko Chino

Miscellaneous
How to Sound Intelligent in Japanese: A Vocabulary Builder
Highly recommended!!!
Don't be put off by the title - this book is actually a very decent vocabulary builder and great for those who want to be able to discuss art or politics in Japanese.
Romaji
is provided throughout. This book is for intermediate students.

Breaking into Japanese Literature: Seven Modern Classics in Parallel Text
Highly recommended!!!
This one contains several stories from Japanese classic literature and has free downloadable mp3 files on the net to accompany it.

Japanese Idioms
Highly recommended!!!
Cheap and great! This awesome book contains over 2000 commonly used idioms arranged alphabetically with real Japanese and
romaji
sentences. This is a great book for intermediate level students – you won't need this until you reach a basic level of fluency.

Must See Movies!

 

Practice your Japanese with these classics of Japanese cinema!

Seven Samurai
Hailed as the greatest film in the history of Japanese cinema,
Seven Samurai
is director Akira Kurosawa's undisputed masterpiece.

Tampopo
Billed as "The first Japanese noodle western!" this highly regarded film is a quirky comedy about the search for the perfect noodle recipe.

Woman in the Dunes
Director Hiroshi Teshigahara was a 37-year-old novice when he made this film, which received Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film. With images and sequences that are hauntingly and unforgettably evocative,
Woman in the Dunes
remains a truly extraordinary work of cinematic art.

Kagemusha
Another great Kurosawa epic. Through stunning visuals and meticulous attention to every physical and stylistic detail, Kurosawa made a film that restored his status as Japan's greatest filmmaker.

Rashomon
This 1950 film by Akira Kurosawa is more than a classic: it's a cinematic archetype that has served as a template for many a film since. The cast, headed by Kurosawa's favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune, is superb.

A Taxing Woman
A Taxing Woman
is the subtly hilarious tale of Ryoko, Tokyo's hardest working female tax inspector. The internationally acclaimed team of Nobuko Miyamoto and Tsutomu Yamazaki (stars of
Tampopo
and
The Funeral
) give performances in the best tradition of romantic farce, reminiscent of vintage Tracy and Hepburn.

Ran
Akira Kurosawa transposes Shakespeare's KING LEAR to feudal Japan. With its magnificent costumes, breathtaking settings, and amazingly photographed battle sequences, the film is truly stunning. An epic on the grandest of scales, RAN is not only one of Kurosawa's finest films, it is a glorious masterpiece of Japanese cinema.

Spirited Away
The highest grossing film in Japanese box-office history, Hayao Miyazaki's
Spirited Away
is a dazzling film that reasserts the power of drawn animation to create fantasy worlds. The result is a moving and magical journey, told with consummate skill by one of the masters of contemporary animation.

Howl's Moving Castle
Like a dream,
Howl's Moving Castle
carries audiences to vistas beyond their imaginations where they experience excitement, adventure, terror, humor, and romance. The film overflows with eclipsing visuals that range from frightening aerial battles to serene landscapes, and few recent features--animated or live action-offer as much magic as
Howl's Moving Castle
.

About the author

 

This ebook was authored by Simon Reynolds.

 

Simon spent 6 years living in Nagoya which he enjoyed very much despite the fact the place that rarely rates more than a page or two in even the thickest travel guides.

 

Simon is married to a beautiful Japanese lady called Yuka. They speak in a strange mix of Japanese and English.

 

Among Simon's hobbies are submission grappling, weightlifting and playing guitar.

 

This book is a mini version of a larger ebook. “Japanese for Smart People”
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