- Paperback: 296 pages
- Publisher: Tuttle Publishing; New edition edition (9 Jan 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0804815798
- ISBN-13: 978-0804815796
- Product Dimensions: 18.2 x 11.1 x 1.7 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,668,091 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Japanese Language
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Product Description
Synopsis
This manual seeks to reveal the richness and complexity of the Japanese language through its origins, dialects and jargon.
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5 reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Excellent examination of the Japanese Language
19 April 2001
Format:Paperback
This book is stuffed full of interesting and insightful information about the Japanese language and its place in the world. Kindaichi examines the origins and evolution of Japanese, what you can and cannot say in the language, and how sentences and expressions are constructed.
This is an academic work, and some of the text is a little dry. But it's more accessible than you might expect for a scholastic book that's been translated from another language.
The book is not intended as an aid to non-native speakers learning Japanese. Even so, I (an intermediate-level speaker of Japanese) found that it really helped clarify and explain a lot about the language. It gave me a lot more context and history, so that I could understand not just what is the way to say something in Japanese, but also how and why that is the way to say it.
I highly recommend this book to any intermediate level or above student of Japanese, and to anyone with an interest in linguistics.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Recommended Reference
11 April 2003
Format:Paperback
A great pocket-sized reference for some of the more technical aspects of the Japanese language. It explores such topics as the geographical history of Japanese, pronunciation nuances, the impact of the the vocabulary on Japanese society, and the meaning of Japanese syntax and sentence structure. Although it tends toward being a bit dry if you are unfamiliar with Japanese, it is an engaging read for anyone with some knowledge of the language. Recommended for beginner-intermediate level speakers and above.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
"Judgmental lingusitics" but not without interest
27 Dec 2008
Format:Paperback
I picked up this book because I was interested in how Japanese differed from familiar Western languages, but I didn't want to learn Japanese. The book served this purpose tolerably well. Not surprisingly, it would have been more useful if I had known a little Japanese. It would also have been more interesting if it had been written by someone with a background in the languages of Europe. The author apparently knows some English, and the translator has fleshed out some comparisons there. But all too often the book makes statements such as "Supposedly in German..." or "Expert X says that French...." Most of those statements are correct but (surprisingly) a few are clearly false.
Most important, the author's purpose is not really to introduce Japanese to foreigners. It was written in Japanese, in 1957, after all. Kindaichi's main concern is more political: to argue that Japanese is a sophisticated and complex modern language suitable to a civilized people. In other words, he wants to show that Japanese is as "good," or nearly "good," a language as English, French, or German. He also wants to show that it is more civilized than the languages of the Pacific - - though comparison with East Asian literary languages are less common than one might expect. This task strikes me as an odd one, and it obviously reflects Japanese concerns of the 1950s. (One of the other reviewers claims that the author places fast and loose with some facts to make his political point - - I'm not in a position to judge, but it doesn't surprise me.)
This political purpose means that he allocates space differently than I would have liked. For example, he notes that Japanese does not have the variety of animal terms found in European languages (such as bull, steer, cow, calf, and ox for a single species). However, he argues that this does not make Japanese inferior to European languages because Japanese has a similar variety of terms for fish.
This kind of "judgmental linguistics" is always present, and to the modern reader, unnecessary. I would have liked to see more comparisons of phonetics, syntax, and other linguistic questions. Kindaichi's concerns and mine did overlap in areas of pragmatics and literary style, which I found to be the most interesting parts of the book.
Most important, the author's purpose is not really to introduce Japanese to foreigners. It was written in Japanese, in 1957, after all. Kindaichi's main concern is more political: to argue that Japanese is a sophisticated and complex modern language suitable to a civilized people. In other words, he wants to show that Japanese is as "good," or nearly "good," a language as English, French, or German. He also wants to show that it is more civilized than the languages of the Pacific - - though comparison with East Asian literary languages are less common than one might expect. This task strikes me as an odd one, and it obviously reflects Japanese concerns of the 1950s. (One of the other reviewers claims that the author places fast and loose with some facts to make his political point - - I'm not in a position to judge, but it doesn't surprise me.)
This political purpose means that he allocates space differently than I would have liked. For example, he notes that Japanese does not have the variety of animal terms found in European languages (such as bull, steer, cow, calf, and ox for a single species). However, he argues that this does not make Japanese inferior to European languages because Japanese has a similar variety of terms for fish.
This kind of "judgmental linguistics" is always present, and to the modern reader, unnecessary. I would have liked to see more comparisons of phonetics, syntax, and other linguistic questions. Kindaichi's concerns and mine did overlap in areas of pragmatics and literary style, which I found to be the most interesting parts of the book.
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