Facebook Twitter Pinterest
FREE Delivery in the UK.
Only 1 left in stock (more on the way).
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
Quantity:1
Basic Japanese Through Co... has been added to your Basket
+ £2.80 UK delivery
Used: Very Good | Details
Sold by owlsmart_usa
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comment: Pages are clean and free of writing and or highlighting. Cover edges show some wear from reading and storage.

Have one to sell?
Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 2 images

Basic Japanese Through Comics: v. 1 Paperback – 1 Mar 1998

by " (Author), Mangajin" (Author), Magazine (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 4 customer reviews
See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Amazon Price
New from Used from
Paperback
"Please retry"
£17.67
£8.54 £3.53
This item can be delivered to France - Mainland Details
£17.67 FREE Delivery in the UK. Only 1 left in stock (more on the way). Dispatched from and sold by Amazon. Gift-wrap available.
click to open popover

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
nullnull

Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure
    Wayne P. Lammers
    4.4 out of 5 stars 27
    Paperback
    £13.43 Amazon Prime
  2. Japanese from Zero! 1: Proven Methods to Learn Japanese with Integrated Workbook and Online Support
    Mr. George Trombley
    4.5 out of 5 stars 125
    Paperback
    £14.67 Amazon Prime
  3. Basic Japanese through Comics: Part 2
    Mangajin
    4.3 out of 5 stars 3
    Paperback
  4. Basic Japanese Through Comics: v.2: Vol 2
    "Mangajin" Magazine
    Paperback
  5. Japanese in Mangaland: Learning the Basic Context (Japanese in Mangaland Series)
    Marc Bernabe
    3.2 out of 5 stars 5
    Turtleback
    £42.50 Amazon Prime
Next

Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone

To get the free app, enter your e-mail address or mobile phone number.

Product details

  • Paperback: 160 pages
  • Publisher: Weatherhill Inc (1 Mar. 1998)
  • Language: English, Japanese
  • ISBN-10: 0834804522
  • ISBN-13: 978-0834804524
  • Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 1 x 27.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 846,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
nullnull

Product Description

Review

"The use of comics is a wonderful way to teach colloquial Japanese, and it also give readers a window on one of the liveliest most enjoyable parts of Japanese pop culture. Anyone who is serious about Japanese or modern Japan will want this book."—James Fallows, Washington Book Editor of the "The Atlantic Monthly " and author of "Looking at the Sun "

"The use of comics is a wonderful way to teach colloquial Japanese, and it also give readers a window on one of the liveliest most enjoyable parts of Japanese pop culture. Anyone who is serious about Japanese or modern Japan will want this book."--James Fallows, Washington Book Editor of the "The Atlantic Monthly " and author of "Looking at the Sun "

Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars
5 star
1
4 star
2
3 star
1
2 star
0
1 star
0
See all 4 customer reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsFirst-time Introduction to Japanese Sociolinguistics
By A Customer on 6 Mar. 2001
Format: Paperback
Mangajin's "Basic Japanese" is not a course or exercise book, so don't expect to be taught how to write the Kanji or Kana. However, in 24 independent sections (independet because you can work through the book in any order) the reader is introduced to what can be expressed between the lines when speaking Japanese, therefore "Basic Japanese" shouldn't be regarded as a language book but rather as an not so serious practical introduction to Japanese Sociolinguistics, i.e. appropriateness of speech styles...
Extracts of mangas (not whole manga stories) are used to show the difference of well-known phrases in their different usage. Sometimes this can become quite boring as all the mangas are taken out of their respective context, and the reader is expected to jump from one situation to another, which makes it difficult to remember all the different usages and their meaning.
The chapters are clearly organised with an English introduction, and so are most if the mangas as they feature romanized version as well as English translations of the dialogues.
1) Yoroshiku o-negai shimasu 2) Sumimasen 3) Feminine Speech 4) Gaijin Bloopers 5) Hiragana, Katakana and Manga 6) Ohayoo Gozaimasu & Omedetoo Gozaimasu 7) Creative Kanji Readings 8) Doomo, the all-purpose word 9) Doozo 10) Baka, the Basic Insult 11) Shitsurei 12) Iie, the "good" word 13) Yatta! the Exclamation 14) Saying Goodbye 15) The Concept of Komaru 16) Counters and Classifiers 17) Baby Talk 18) Informal Politeness 19) Introduction 20) "-sama" words 21) Hesitating woth anoo 22) The Wide World of desu 23) Hai (part one) 24) Hai (part two)
Comment 30 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsGood book
By A Customer on 30 Aug. 2002
Format: Paperback
I think it's quite a useful book for people who already know basic japanese as it explains things step by step and word by word. It helps you understand more by using comics for different situations. I really liked it cause it helps you get into real life japanese especially for a person like me where it's impossible to find something in japanese like books or videos (except for internet). I recommend it to people who already have a good basic japanese so that it can help them understand more what they have learnt and put it into practice thanks to the comics.
Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsVery Interesting Book!
By Mixmaster Morris on 1 Dec. 2006
Format: Paperback
If you are a beginner Japanese student, it can be very hard to get a grip on the language.

By using Manga comics you will pick up some very useful phrases and learn how to use them.

Even if you don't want to learn serious japanese it's a fascinating look inside the culture.

You will definitely grasp the concept of 'politeness level'.... ha ha
Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
3.0 out of 5 starsKan you Kanji?
By Chaos on 4 July 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
To be honest I cannot really review this product well because I do not seem to fall in to the category at which it is aimed. I picked it up thinking that it would introduce you to all the basics. However I was dismayed to discover that it uses a LOT of Kanji but never actually tells you what the Kanji actually represent. Which seems a bit backwards considering it does teach you what sounds the Katakana and Hiragana stand for and even the stroke order required to be able to write them properly. As such I am able to read most of the manga without any difficulties however I become thoroughly unstuck whenever a Kanji appears (Which is very frequently!)
Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)

Amazon.com: HASH(0x9264c048) out of 5 stars 15 reviews
59 of 60 people found the following review helpful
HASH(0x92659d74) out of 5 stars Very good, but not basic 9 Nov. 2001
By Zack Davisson - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback
This is a great supplement for those studying Japanese language and culture. Don't expect to pick this up as a first Japanese book, however! In the introduction, the author admits that "Basic Japanese Through Comics" may be a little misleading. It is basic Japanese, but the book assumes that you have studied a year or more in a classroom environment.
With that aside, this is the best resource I have seen for transforming "classroom" Japanese into "natural" Japanese. The book uses popular Japanese manga to smooth out some common errors for Japanese learners. For example, there are two chapters discussing the many uses of "Hai" and one chapter on how to naturally say "anno..."
The manga used is very fun and gives a good cultural insight into daily Japan. No giant robots or magical girls, it is mainly office humor in the same line as "Dilbert." The office humor demonstrates varying levels of polite language, and Mangajin is kind enough to offer a "politeness scale" to show how polite anyone is being in a given setting. This is very useful, as politeness levels is where many English speakers find themselves in trouble in Japan!
44 of 49 people found the following review helpful
HASH(0x92659dc8) out of 5 stars A brillient expose on Japanese Language & Culture. 11 May 1999
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback
Two barriers separate the English world from the Japanese world. The first is language. Yet differences of culture really present the greater barrier.
This book uses authentic Japanese comics for adults to explain the cultural significance of the many words which are routinely mistranslated in all beginning Japanese text books.
Mangajin's guide to Japanese does not replace, but rather supplements the traditional Japanese spoken course in an invaluable way. This book is a must for all students of Japanese.
A truely fun book with lasting importance.
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
HASH(0x92a2f7a4) out of 5 stars A magnifying glass... 25 Jun. 2005
By Mauricio Bussab - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This is a great book to get if you have already learned 6 months of Japanese or so (at least). It is a series of chapters illustrating a few interesting words or topics of Japanese language, all illustrated with bits of real, commercially available manga. But be warned, they use a "magnifying glass" approach which I loved: they focus on ONE word for several pages. For example, the chapter on "hon", one of the counters, goes on and on for four pages of comic book panels. I will never forget what that word means and how to use it and I was fascinated with the examples from the comics. But then again, it is just ONE word.

It is a book for people that are not in a hurry and are having fun with Japanese, as opposed to people that need to learn Japanese quickly for a particular objective.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
HASH(0x92659ea0) out of 5 stars A Picture's Worth 1000 Words! 19 Jun. 2007
By Otto Yuen - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback
This book is not for people who know nothing about Japanese language. It's not for people who want to just pick up an introductory book to start learning Japanese language, neither. If you're currently studying Japanese and in between beginner and intermediate levels, this book is a treasure for you to benefit your proficiency in Japanese. As the name of the book suggested, the author used different manga pictures to depict some common japanese phrases (e.g. ano-, su-mi-ma-sen, shi-tsu-rei, baka, etc.) in different meanings with different contexts. The author also indicated the politeness level (i.e. Lv 1,2,3,4) for each usage to help the readers use the phrases properly in various siturations. Overall this book is definitely a great helper.

(Reviewed by Otto Yuen, 19-June-2007)
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
HASH(0x9b75efec) out of 5 stars Mangajin in a book 12 Mar. 2009
By A. Marzol - Published on Amazon.com
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This book shares the concept of "Japanese the manga way"
An image taken from a real manga that has been published (not a manga specially invented for the method) the text in Japanese next to it, the text in english phonetics, thranslation in each word in the Japanese Order and finally the English translation.

You learn a lot of vocabulary, you see a lot of different Japanese fonts which trains your eyes to all the possible fonts you can encouter and it's really well explained.

Perfect for people learning on their own

Only downside is there are no exercises. I really think it's too bad, but this one, the number two and japanese the manga way are really great
Were these reviews helpful? Let us know

There's a problem loading this menu at the moment.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.

Look for similar items by category

Feedback