Critique my (possible) Amazon purchase...

[Mr Srippery]

Greetings, I will be in need of a Japanese-English dictionary very soon, and so I shopped around for one. I came across this on Amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Furigan ... 723&sr=1-2

It seems to be pretty comprehensive (and rather expensive! >_<) Does anyone have any recommendations for good dictionaries? I basically want one that I'll be able to use for the next 20 years, or so.

Also, I've heard people talk about the "Japanese the Manga way" book and thought I'd check it out.

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Manga-Wa ... 860&sr=1-1

Would you all recommend it for someone who wishes to work on their grammar and sentence structure? I just want something I can study when I'm not at home.

Thanks for any info/advice ^_^

[Psy]

Judging by the sample given, while useful as a learner's tool, the kodansha dictionary doesn't list nearly enough information about words, instead focusing the majority of its page space into example sentences. While this is indeed a very good thing for you as beginning student of Japanese, once you're good enough to handle a J->J dictionary, you'll find it hugely lacking. Again, it's not a bad tool, just know that it won't last you into higher (or even intermediate) levels of proficiency.

People have said various things about "Japanese the Manga Way," but for all of its faults, it is still a pretty comprehensive introduction. I'd recommend it over a variety of other books/courses I've come into contact with, though something with an available audio recording (minna no nihongo or genki, for example) may help a lot more if you don't have another way to expose yourself to the spoken language.

In short, you could do a whole lot worse than those two books. In addition to a paper dictionary I'd highly recommend downloading WaKan or JWPce for Windows, or JEDict for Mac. For an online course it doesn't get much better than Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese.

Of course, you've also got J-Pod 101 here for you, but forget I said that.

[Taurus]

My thoughts on Japanese the Manga Way are that it's better suited for use as supplementary material than as a core textbook. It's got a lot of useful information, but the organisation of the material leaves a bit to be desired if you wanted to use it as your main source.

[Mr Srippery]

My thoughts on Japanese the Manga Way are that it's better suited for use as supplementary material than as a core textbook. It's got a lot of useful information, but the organisation of the material leaves a bit to be desired if you wanted to use it as your main source.

What would you recommend in its place?

[Taurus]

What would you recommend in its place?

From my own experience, as a beginner, I would unhesitatingly recommend Minna no Nihongo as a core textbook for beginners, every time. Obviously I haven't tried every textbook out there, but I've tried a few and while they all have their strong points, I think Minna no Nihongo is structured superbly. It's well organised - each chapter consists of a list of vocab, several grammar points, a sample conversation, and various exercises - and the grammar points and vocab are introduced in what I think is a very logical fashion. And it will take you from little or no knowledge of Japanese to about JLPT 3 standard (which is where I hope to be soon). The only catch is that you'll need to learn kana to use it.

But like I say, Japanese the Manga way is full of good explanations, it has a lot of information about Japanese culture, and it's got some good stuff about casual and informal language. And lots of nice pictures, obviously. So it's definitely worth reading if you're interested in Japanese language and culture.

[cheesecake]

How are these two books?


http://www.amazon.com/Kodanshas-Furigan ... pd_sim_b_2

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Step-Inn ... F8&s=books

Im looking to understand the base of japanese before I head to Japan in the spring for a year. Would you recommend these books?

[jkid]

cheesecake,
I have not tried the textbook but I hear from others the dictionary is pretty good.

I would like Taurus, recommend Minna no Nihongo. It is a great textbook and really will give you a great introduction to Japanese (and more). As stated above make sure to know Kana first. Using Minna no Nihongo you will definitely have a "base of japanese". I recommend you get the Main textbook along with the Translations and Grammatical Notes book in order to get a solid understanding of the grammar points covered in each chapter. The Kanji book and exercises books are of great benefit also depending on how 'in depth' you want to go.

[Javizy]

The dictionary is excellent, other than the fact that it only has 16,000 entries, you'll be very pleased with it. Certain grammatical and idiomatic words do have explanations and notes on how to form common constructions using them.

I can't really recommend a textbook that guides you through learning the language, since I used this site to gain that sort of base understanding. If you're after a book that gives you clear, concise, detailed grammar explanations that doesn't omit the finer points that the lesson based approach tends to, then definitely check out A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar by Seiichi Makino. You'll find detailed formation rules, lots of examples sentences, in-depth yet easy to follow explanations and usage notes, and comparisons with similar expressions.

If you're a complete beginner, you'll definitely need the kind of set course structure that Jpod or a regular textbook could offer, but when you get a decent core understanding, books like A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar and its intermediate counterpart are essential for learning for learning new stuff by yourself and filling in the blanks left by the set course structure.

[cheesecake]

I went with the dictionary and will stick with the audio lessons of jpod for now and see where that goes.

arigato gozaimasu

[grimalkin]

I really like two dictionaries:

The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary, which provides a way to look up Kanji even if you don't know radicals, and has been *incredibly* useful to me. My only gripe is that it uses romaji, but I have to confess it makes scanning definitions faster for me;

The New Oxford Beginner's Japanese Dictionary is my other stalwart friend. It gives both kanji and kana and uses no romaji whatsover, which I like a lot. It also gives a lot of good examples, has a section on grammar that includes charts to conjugate the various verb/adjective groups, and even gives main entries in long forms, て forms, etc. to make it easier for beginners to look up words they encounter.

When I need to look up something more unusual, I use the Kenkyusha New Collegiate Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionaries. They are for advanced learners, and really comprehensive. They are really expensive, but I got used editions in excellent condition at a substantial discount. Be warned, though, as they give no furigana so you either have to know the kanji or look it up separately. This is most limiting when you're going from English to Japanese, but also applies to subheadings and secondary definitions within the main headings.

Good luck, and hope this helps!