Have you ever struggled to understand Japanese particles? Do you find them a little confusing? Well the good news is that there is an amazing book that teaches them all in an easy to understand way. This is a review of All About Particles which is a relatively unknown, yet powerful book on this subset of Japanese grammar. I had heard good things about it in the past, but never pulled the trigger on getting it for myself until recently. Honestly, I wish I had it from the beginning! Let me tell you why. What Does All About Particles Teach You? This book, written by Naoko Chino, teaches you the…
How to Learn 2,000 Essential Japanese Kanji
Have you tried to learn Japanese Kanji before? Did you feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information you have to learn? Well luckily there’s a book that teaches you how to learn 2,000 essential Japanese Kanji in a step by step manner. The book is aptly named “Essential Kanji” and it’s an older book that was written by P.G. O’Neal while he was teaching Japanese at a London university. I first heard about it when a fellow learner of Japanese told me that it was the only thing he used to learn Kanji successfully. I picked up a copy for myself a while ago, and now I’ll…
Japanese Short Stories for Beginners – Book Review
One of the best ways to learn natural Japanese is to read lots of native content. There is a wonderful resource that you can use called: Japanese Short Stories for Beginners: 8 Thrilling and Captivating Japanese Stories to Expand Your Vocabulary and Learn Japanese While Having Fun. What a name, am I right?! That title basically tells you everything that this book is about, but it doesn’t give you a lot on information on the important details regarding the format of it. If I did not already own it, then the two main questions that I would want to know before getting it would be: Is it written in all…
First 1,000 Words in Japanese – Book Review
Back in the day, a company called Usborne Books came out with a series of books known as “First Thousand Words” for the most commonly used languages that people wanted to learn. I happened to get the First 1,000 Words in Japanese book back when I was a kid. It’s pretty cool and a neat way to learn a lot of Japanese vocabulary, along with how to read Japanese too. I’ll go over the basic format of the book and then share my thoughts on the best way to use it. What’s The Format Of The Book? The book assumes that you know absolutely no Japanese when you start reading.…
Review of the Japanese for Dummies Books
How many of you have ever used one of the “for Dummies” books that take a complicated topic and break it down into a way that is easy to understand? Well there’s one for Japanese too! I decided to do a review of the Japanese for Dummies books so you could see if they are worth using or not. There are two books that you can get, the full book (which I have) and the second book that is called “Japanese Phrases for Dummies.” It’s the exact same material in both, the difference is that the “phrases” book doesn’t contain the audio lessons and activities that are in the full…
A Review of Remembering The Kanji by James Heisig
Perhaps the most well-known book on learning Japanese kanji is Remembering the Kanji written by James Heisig. It is a book that teaches you the meaning of all “general-use” kanji (a little over 2,000 of them) by using what he calls “imaginative memory” in creating stories with the individual parts of the kanji (from here on referred to as “radicals”). You may have heard of this technique before, using mnemonics to create crazy, silly, and weird stories with the kanji’s radicals. It’s so effective that you quickly memorize the kanji, and then with a little reviewing here and there, remember them forever. How does it work exactly? What are the…
The Perfect Book to Practice Japanese Sentences With
When you are first starting out with Japanese, it’s fine to just learn new words individually. But once you’ve gotten a feel for the language, you really want to practice Japanese sentences as a whole so that you can learn new vocabulary and gain a working understanding of the grammar of the language. The problem that most people have is finding a good source of Japanese sentences to learn! You could use a textbook, but the example sentences are usually minimal. You could use a dictionary, but it tends to be a little stiff and boring. Luckily there are some fantastic resources out there, and I happened to stumble upon…
5 of the Best Books to Learn Kanji for 2018!
So you want to learn some Kanji, do ya? Well you’re in the right place! Whether you’re reading this at the end of 2017, or the new year has already begun, you’re probably looking to kanji up your brain. So I’ve created this list for 5 of the Best Books to Learn Kanji for 2018 based on my own collection of materials and what I think of each one. Each of the below sections will give a brief explanation of the book, followed by the things that I really like about them, and also some of the things that I think they could have done better. After that, I will…
The #1 Recommended Japanese Manga for Beginners
A lot of people who are learning how to read Japanese want to get a copy of a good manga to practice on that’s not too difficult to understand, but still has an interesting story. A very common recommendation is for them to pick up some children’s books that are easy to read, but unfortunately they’re also kind of boring. But don’t worry! There are actually a few manga that are particularly good for both ease and enjoyment. By far the #1 recommended Japanese manga for beginners that I see everyone suggest is Yotsuba-to. And I have to say, I agree! I won’t give away any story related spoilers, but…
Tae Kim’s A Guide to Japanese Grammar – Review
If you spend any time at all learning Japanese and looking around the internet for good learning materials, you tend to run into the same names over and over again. Tae Kim’s A Guide to Japanese Grammar is one of those books that I had heard was good every time it was mentioned, but I never really got around to checking it out for myself until recently. I picked up a copy of it on Amazon the other day and started reading it. And let me tell you, this book is GOOD! But what makes it one of the best books for learning Japanese? Why has it gained a rank of 4.6…
