Lecture Books about Japanese


My native language is German, as most of my books. But You can find books in English and other languages as well.

German - Japanese

Langenscheidt
Kanji & Kana
Lehrbuch und Lexikon
der Japanischen Schrift

Hadamitzky, Wolfgang
1980 ff.
ISBN 3468493916
Das Einsteigerbuch! Es war 1986 mein erstes Lehrbuch überhaupt, und ich habe damit *ohne Lehrer* die Regeln dieser Schrift gelernt - das geht wirklich, im Gegensatz zu Arabisch, denn die Regeln sind ziemlich klar und einfach! Für jedes der 1945 gebräuchlichen Zeichen gibt es die korrekte Reihenfolge der Striche und Verbindungen, dann das Druckbild und noch einige Komposita. Ein echtes Lexikon ist es aber nicht; dann wäre es 5-mal so dick ...

Die neue Auflage hat verbesserte Zeichen-Indices, die darauf Rücksicht nehmen, dass man viele Zeichen sehr leicht verwechseln kann.


English - Japanese

Tuttle
Kanji ABC
A Systematic Approach
to Japanese Characters

Foerster, A + Tamura, Naoko
1994
ISBN 0804819572
The English issue of Langenscheidts´ "Kanji & Kana", but with another character index sorting than the classic 214 radicals. That system is interesting, but only for Non-Japanese...
... I lent it to a friend ...
German - Japanese

Buske
Japanisch intensiv I, II, III
Foljanty D., Fukuzawa H.
1980
ISBN -
Einerseits bis heute das fundierteste und gründlichste Japanisch-Lehrbuch in deutscher Sprache (drei Bände!), andererseits durch einen "linguistisch-wissenschaftlichen" Stil gewöhnungsbedürftig (was eine "Kopula" ist, weiss nur ein Linguist. "Desu" (ausgesprochen: "dess") ist eine, die man mit "sein" (bin/bist/ist/sind/seid/sind) übersetzen kann.)

English - Japanese

Kodansha
Effective Japanese Usage Guide
Hirose, M. + Shoji, K.
1994
ISBN 477001919X
A lecture book for advanced learners, who already can read and write Kanji.

700 pages with many helpful examples.


English - Japanese

Kodansha
Living Japanese
A Modern Reader

Bookman, M.
1995
ISBN 477002035X
A lecture book for advanced learners, who already can read and write Kanji.

Japanese texts in newspapers and books are more complicated than allday chats. On 130 pages, You find texts about economy, politics and literature.


English - Japanese

Kodansha
Communicating With KI
The "Spirit" in Japanese Idioms

Garrison, J. + Kimiya, K.
1994
ISBN 4770018339
A lecture book for advanced learners, who already can read and write Kanji.

"Ki" (also referred as "Qi", "Energy" or "Spirit") is maybe the most important key :) to Japanese phrases.

On 144 pages You find 200 based on "ki".


English - Japanese

Kodansha
How to Sound Intelligent in Japanese
de Wolf, Charles
1993
ISBN 4770017472
A lecture book for advanced learners, who already can read and write Kanji.

120 pages with phrases from all major sciences and arts.


English - Japanese

Kodansha
Read Real Japanese
Ashby, Janet
1994
ISBN 4770017545
A lecture book for advanced learners, who already can read and write Kanji.

160 pages (in real Japanese order, that is: read from back to front!) containing 8 essays and explanations.


English - Japanese

Kodansha
T-Shirt Japanese versus Necktie Japanese
Two Levels of Politeness

Fukuda, Hiroko
1994
ISBN 4770018347
A lecture book for advanced learners, who already can read and write Kanji.

150 pages explain You the nuances and pitfalls of Japanese polite phrases. A general rule is frankly: never to be frank! :)

It can be said that those phrases, which are very important indeed in allday life, cannot really be translated into any Western lnaguage, because we simply no longer have such expressions...


English - Japanese

Kodansha
Flip, Slither, Bang
Fukuda, Hiroko
1993
ISBN 4770016840
A lecture book for advanced learners, who already can read and write Kanji.

120 pages of "Flip, Slither, Bang" :)

This is Manga language, but also used in informal situations, but only to people You know VERY good :)


English - Japanese

Kodansha
Beyond Polite Japanese
Yonekawa, Akihiko
1992
ISBN 4770015399
A lecture book for advanced learners, who already can read and write Kanji.

Wow, even Japanese can say things like "WTF!!!". I liked this book :)


English - Japanese

Yenbooks
Using Japanese Slang
Kasschau, A. + Eguchi, S
1995
ISBN 4900737364
A lecture book for advanced learners, who already can read and write Kanji.

Yet more 250 pages about how to say "WTF!" in Japanese :)


English - Japanese

Yenbooks
Outrageous Japanese
Seward, Jack
1994
ISBN 4770017545
A lecture book for advanced learners, who already can read and write Kanji.

And yet more 250 pages about how to say "WTF!" in Japanese :)

Japanese can get REALLY angry :) And by the way, as a German, I also learned how Brits and Americans say things like these ... hee hee