Help with an order from Kinokuniya

[gryffindor]

Hi guys,

I wanted to buy some japanese storybooks to brush up my japanese. From my rather rudimentary Jap, it seemed to suggest that the books are in the warehouse. It's weird that I could not click on any buttons to charge the books to my credit card. Rather, they sent me this email. If I'm not wrong, they are asking me to confirm my order? So how do I confirm my order by email?

私の注文は　確認している。 Pardon my Jap, but I really have no idea how else to do that. Please help. By the way, if anyone knows of any better storybooks for me, please recommend it to me. I know the masu, te, nai form, nakereba form, ta form of verbs. So I'm not sure if it's even good enough for books meant for primary 2 kids. LOL

Gryffindor 様 この度は紀伊國屋書店BookWebをご利用頂きまして、誠にありがとうございます。ご注文内容をご確認くださいませ。 ご注文を頂いた日時には、データ上は在庫となっている商品も、在庫切れで、取次・出版社へ発注手配になる場合がございます。予め、ご了承くださいませ。 ・ご注文日時 2008/05/19 14:12:47

[Psy]

Gryffindor 様 この度は紀伊國屋書店BookWebをご利用頂きまして、誠にありがとうございます。ご注文内容をご確認くださいませ。 ご注文を頂いた日時には、データ上は在庫となっている商品も、在庫切れで、取次・出版社へ発注手配になる場合がございます。予め、ご了承くださいませ。 ・ご注文日時 2008/05/19 14:12:47

"Gryffindor様, Thank you for choosing Kinokuniya Bookweb! We ask that you please confirm the contents of your order. Please understand that sometimes, even on items that appear to be in-stock at the time an order is placed, they will run out of stock and order arrangements must be made with the agency/publisher. The time and date of your order was 2008/05/19 14:12:47.

Was there anything else in the e-mail?

[kitty-chan]

Gryffindor, I know you didn't mean anything bad, but be careful of saying the word "Jap." It is pretty offensive to some people. 気をつけてください！　

[Javizy]

What sort of story books are they? Like ones with a sentence or two per page? I have some children's books with illustrations and about 10-12 sentences per page, and they use pretty much all the fundamental grammar of the language.

It is definitely good to read as much as you can, but if you're not familiar with the grammar used in these sort of books, you'll have a bit of a nightmare. Remember, they're aimed at native speakers, and even children know enough language to communicate.

There are so many beginner lessons on here that it's probably a good idea to spend some time going through them and picking up a good grammar base, and maybe complementing it with a text like A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. After you've read through a couple of hundred dialogues, moving on to children's books doesn't seem like so much of a task

Also, you might want to try using a site such as Yes Asia which has an English version if you have difficulty with Japanese sites.

[gryffindor]

What sort of story books are they? Like ones with a sentence or two per page? I have some children's books with illustrations and about 10-12 sentences per page, and they use pretty much all the fundamental grammar of the language.

It is definitely good to read as much as you can, but if you're not familiar with the grammar used in these sort of books, you'll have a bit of a nightmare. Remember, they're aimed at native speakers, and even children know enough language to communicate.

There are so many beginner lessons on here that it's probably a good idea to spend some time going through them and picking up a good grammar base, and maybe complementing it with a text like A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. After you've read through a couple of hundred dialogues, moving on to children's books doesn't seem like so much of a task

Also, you might want to try using a site such as Yes Asia which has an English version if you have difficulty with Japanese sites.

Yoz...Thanks for your reply. Actually, I'm currently taking lessons at a language school. I took it up because I found that I had difficulty focusing with the PDFs and the mp3s. Furthermore, I found that my progress was slow and. Thanks for telling me about the difficulty of the children's books. Actually, I have a couple of Japanese Graded Readers. Just found that the stories are not very interesting and a little too short. Another thing is that they are very expensive. I realised that the children's books at kino are much cheaper. I hope I will be able to read the books. LOL

http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/imgdata/4052022033.jpg

(１０プンデヨメルオハナシイチネンセイジップンデヨメルオハナシイチネンセイ )
１０分で読めるお話　一年生
◆でんでんむし（新美南吉）◆タンポポのたび（石森延男）◆このこネコのこ（まどみちお）◆クマとたびびと（イソップ）◆五つぶのえんどうまめ（ハンス・クリスチャン・アンデルセン）◆あまんじゃく（西郷竹彦）◆ちいさいちいさいひこうき（佐藤義美）◆なんでもでんわ[/img][/url]

[gryffindor]

Gryffindor, I know you didn't mean anything bad, but be careful of saying the word "Jap." It is pretty offensive to some people. 気をつけてください！　

わかった。皆さん　ごめんなさい！

[gryffindor]

Gryffindor 様 この度は紀伊國屋書店BookWebをご利用頂きまして、誠にありがとうございます。ご注文内容をご確認くださいませ。 ご注文を頂いた日時には、データ上は在庫となっている商品も、在庫切れで、取次・出版社へ発注手配になる場合がございます。予め、ご了承くださいませ。 ・ご注文日時 2008/05/19 14:12:47

"Gryffindor様, Thank you for choosing Kinokuniya Bookweb! We ask that you please confirm the contents of your order. Please understand that sometimes, even on items that appear to be in-stock at the time an order is placed, they will run out of stock and order arrangements must be made with the agency/publisher. The time and date of your order was 2008/05/19 14:12:47.

Was there anything else in the e-mail?

Hi there...Thanks for the translation. I am glad that my translation was about 70% accurate. There was nothing else in the email. So I wrote them an email saying that I confirm the content. Hope it works...LOL

[Psy]

Sure, no problem. I'm a little weirded out that they wouldn't have a URL or further directions on what you should be doing, or at least a list of products that you've ordered w/estimated delivery dates. I've only dealt with orders from Japanese websites a couple of times, so maybe I'm missing something... it might be better to contact them through a customer support area on their website, because replies to automated messages like this are normally discarded. I checked their FAQ and found:

お客様のご注文がBOOK/WEBに受付けられますと、会員用BOOK/WEBトップ画面の「注文状況/和書・洋書」でご確認頂けます。また注文確認メールをお送りいたします。
o-kyaku-sama no go-chuumon ga BOOK/WEB ni uketsukeraremasu to, kaiin'you BOOK/WEB TOPPU gamen no "chuumon jyoukyou - washo, yousho" de go-kakunin itadakemasu. mata chuumon kakunin meeru wo o-okuri itashimasu

Meaning you can check out your order on their site by clicking the 「注文状況/和書・洋書」 link on their main page.

Anyway, don't let Javizy scare you off with his terrifying description of kid's stories. As a learner there will always be something around to give you trouble. If you find yourself stuck, just start asking questions. Give yourself a pat on the back for taking on the challenge. 頑張って!