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Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Wayne P. Lammers
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
RRP: £16.99
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Book Description

1 Nov 2004 1880656906 978-1880656907 Bilingual

Japanese difficult? Study boring? No way! Not with this “real manga, real Japanese” approach to learning. Presenting all spoken Japanese as a variation of three basic sentence types, Japanese the Manga Way shows how to build complex constructions step by step. Every grammar point is illustrated by an actual manga published in Japan to show how the language is used in real life, an approach that is entertaining and memorable. As an introduction, as a jump-start for struggling students, or (with its index) as a reference and review for veterans, Japanese the Manga Way is perfect for all learners at all levels.

Wayne P. Lammers has taught Japanese at the college level and is an award-winning literary and commercial translator. He lives in Portland, Oregon.


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Product details

  • Paperback: 312 pages
  • Publisher: Stonebridge; Bilingual edition (1 Nov 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1880656906
  • ISBN-13: 978-1880656907
  • Product Dimensions: 27.6 x 20.6 x 1.7 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 108,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  •  Would you like to update product info, give feedback on images, or tell us about a lower price?


Product Description

Review

"Get a jump on preparing for that eventual pilgrimage to Japan by learning the language now -- and what easier way than with manga? "Japanese: The Manga Way teaches the differences and structures of the language using actual manga panels. Sneaky!" -- "Wizard Anime Insider

About the Author

Raised in Japan, Wayne P. Lammers ( Ph.D. in Japanese) taught at the university level. He was translation editor for Mangajin and is considered one of the finest translators of Japanese literature today.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
Japanese is built on three basic sentence types: verb, adjective, and noun. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 42 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Superb 31 Oct 2005
By Mr AI
Format:Paperback
This is a great book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone learning, or interested in learning japanese, whether or not you're a fan of manga.
The book is a complete course in basic Japanese taking examples and illustrations from a range of manga (japanese graphic novels). It starts tamely, introducing words like 'ooh' and 'I'll go', but moves through to the end of the book with complete and quite complex blocks of text.
Where this book shines above the hundreds of other Japanese courses available in book form is that everything is linked to pictures, so if you are in the slightest bit visual, you'll associate words with images.
I would say that this book doesn't help you speak japanese without some other input. I've been learning with a conventional tutor to help conversation practice. But time and again the book has taught me stuff that has been very useful. Because manga reflects real japanese as it is spoken, its full of useful idioms and phrases that aren't in dictionaries or some other text-books (which tend to teach a starchy formal version of the language).
The best bit about the book is its frequent reference pages. There are reference blocks on dates, times, numbers and counters, kinship words, and many many more. These have proved more than the value of the book alone: I have quite a few Japanese references, but photocopies of these pages are permanently in the front of my notebook.
I simply can't recommend this book enough. If you look at my other reviews you'll see I rarely give 5 stars: this is very deserving of all 5 of them.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Greshon
Format:Paperback
At first glance you may think that this book teaches only informal Japanese and would be short on grammar. However, this is not the case. There are copious grammar explanantions (but written in a lucid, accesssable style).

The great thing is that everything is linked to the manga. This convinces the learner that this is 'real' and useful Japanese, not just some make-believe version that is only found in textbooks.

What the book does lack is exercises to practice the language presented. It's full of such revelatory stuff, but it's easy to forget without having formalised practice of it. I don't yet know of any classes that use the book, but it would lend itself well to classroom use, with the teacher creating exercises around it that practice the target language.

Used in conjuction with a more regular Japanese textbook, such as the new editions of Japanese For Busy People, this book makes excellent on-the-side reading. What is so great about it is that, if you know a bit of Japanese, the kind of casual speech that you always hear but have never been taught how to use, falls into place - and this book teaches you how to use it properly, with, as I said, lucid explanaions of its grammatical function.

Wayne Lammers grew up in Japan, and I have also experienced his work when I came across his excellent 2003 translation of Taichi Yamada's novel, Strangers.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Why did no-one tell me this existed sooner?! 15 Sep 2008
Format:Paperback
I bought this on the strength of other amazon reviews, and I have to say that I was not in the least disappointed.

Although there aren't any exercises to consolidate what you've just learnt, I've found that watching Japanese TV is more than enough practice. Even after a few chapters, you could at least understand the structure of what's being said in a conversation, even if you didn't know all of the words themselves! The book also goes into great detail on particles and their usage in everyday conversation, and it really pays off. It's a great confidence booster - before I'd just been using Japanese for Busy People, and colloquial Japanese sounded like a completely different language - not so any more!

Each section of text is given first in kanji and kana (but no furigana), then in romaji, then in a word-for-word translation and finally in proper English. Personally, I don't like the omission of furigana, as although I can read the two kana alphabets I don't know many kanji. This means that you have to rely on the romaji translation, which is not as good for your learning as using kana.

The grammatical explanations (which are, for me, the main selling point) are second to none. After each piece of dialogue is a detailed analysis of each part of the sentence. This is especially useful further on in the book, when longer sentences with clauses and subclauses become confusing when you first come across them. Lammers clearly disects them, showing what parts could act as individual sentences, and then how they all fit back together.

I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone if they were just starting out in Japanese - the manga strips serve to illustrate grammatical points more than useful vocabulary, and, as said before, there are no exercises to practice.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars It's a good book, but not for total beginners. 28 April 2009
Format:Paperback|Verified Purchase
I wrote a review about the book on my blog and I got a couple of people , who obviously never even read this book,coming and telling me that learning Japanese through manga is totally rubbish. Well not through this book though. This book is great.

In this book you will learn and understand how the Japanese native speakers would speak the language. Which does not mean that you won't find examples of how to speak in a formal way. In fact you will find examples of ways one should speak to their superiors, family members, friends and young children. You will also find that there are differences in the language usage between male and female speakers and also a little bit about the normal daily Japanese culture.

The manga examples in the book, are simply used to illustrate how the language is used in everyday Japanese, which makes the book rather entertaining and a good learning source for Japanese language.

Another thing is the book is not for the total beginner. It has no exercise at the end of each chapter, no vocabulary list,etc. This book is great as a supplementary learning material.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!
Just got this today. Have had a quick flick through so far and it looks great. Packed full of useful information, beautiful illustrations and well written. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Gillian
5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute must for anyone learning Japanese
This book is a grammar primer for Japanese language learners. Panels taken from actual published manga are used to illustrate grammar and structure as a spoken language. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Dave Xenu
4.0 out of 5 stars Overwhelming but I do recommend it
This is a very helpful book, but can be a little overwhelming if you're still fairly new to the language. Definitely worth owning though in my opinion.
Published 19 months ago by Ms. J. Womack
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Buy!!!
I started trying to teach myself Japanese about a month ago and have since found it very rewarding, however, there is no use learning kana or a few useful phrases if you don't know... Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2012 by llamabeast
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing for Japanese beginners
I've recently started to learn Japanese and have ordered a few books and this is definately the one I found most useful! Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2012 by Sunny
3.0 out of 5 stars not quite as expected
This is an interesting introduction to Japanese grammar and to the written Japanese language. However, the selection of manga extracts appears somewhat random: one may have hoped... Read more
Published on 20 Nov 2011 by Dsf
1.0 out of 5 stars Could have been so good!
Oh dear! Romaji! If you want to seriously learn Japanese you have to learn kana and subsequently kanji. Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2009 by Campbell Neil Murray
4.0 out of 5 stars An original book
This book takes a very original approach to learning.

It's presentation is excellent but aims to cover a lot and hence covers each area very briefly. Read more
Published on 27 Aug 2009 by AgentMulderUK
5.0 out of 5 stars A fun and easy grammar help
Although this book only really covers grammar it is extremely useful as its lessons are taken step by step and the illustrations really help when it comes to remembering the... Read more
Published on 12 Jun 2009 by Christopher Balmer
5.0 out of 5 stars This delivers what it promises, and more
I love this book!

Firstly, a little about my background: I've been wanting to learn japanese for a good few years now, teaching myself and only getting so far. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2007 by Caroline C
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