A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar

(I am still learning beginning Japanese--I know enough to be dangerous, but am not even at JLPT5 yet, I suspect--so take this review with a grain of salt.) Calling this book a dictionary is very appropriate, because that's exactly what it is. Having it at your side to look up grammar points (either what something means or how to say something) is invaluable. The explanations are clear and easy to understand, and the example sentences with translations help to solidify and further clarify the meanings of the grammar points and how to use them. There are many times when the explanations in my primary learning sources were confusing or ambiguous, and looking up those grammar points in this book has so far always cleared things up for me. This book won't guide you through learning Japanese, but it doesn't claim to. It does exactly what it says on the cover, and does an outstanding job of it. I absolutely recommend it as a reference to have on hand while learning Japanese. As I advance in my Japanese, I definitely plan to buy the next books in the series as well.

The Dictionary of Japanese Grammar series is simply the best grammar series I've ever come across in any language. The authors do an excellent job of combining complicated linguistic explanations replete with examples of both correct and incorrect sentences. Everything is easy to handle, even for beginners. Japanese grammar does not seem as foreboding and complicated with this excellent book at hand. The only real criticism I have is that some of the English language explanations aren't as clear as they could be. However, this book more than makes up for those occasional dictionaries through its extensive use of examples. Fortunately, the vocabulary used in this book is quite simple and easy to understand. That point alone sets this book apart from most textbook explanations of grammar, in which the authors usually feel the need to use whatever vocabulary was most recently introduced. Here the vocabulary words are simple and at an easy beginner level, allowing the student to focus on the grammar and not on the vocabulary. Seriously - this is the best you'll find in any language. I wish that this series existed for other languages. The key to effective grammar teaching is repetition and extensive full-sentence examples. Others should take note.

I bought the 3 books of this series at the same time to have them as a reference, so I didn't read them from the beginning to the end. I have however checked multiples entries and the grammar is clearly and methodically explained every single time. Each time I use it I feel satisfied with the responses I find to my queries, learn something new, and am happy I bought these books.

This book is an absolute life-changer. I have been studying Japanese for two years and learned from the Nakama series. This book explains a lot of questions we often asked in class with little to no explanation. This is by far the best supplemental material I've found that explains everything in a brief, but clear, manner. It also explains how similar grammar points are related and has different examples and explains how each example might be slightly different. I suggested it to several class mates and they immediately were raving on how this book explained things so easily and thoroughly.

I've been studying Japanese for 3 years now (I'm somewhere around JLPT N3 level), and thought I wouldn't get much out of this book that I already knew. I initially bought it as a reference, but then wound up just reading it straight through. I'm about halfway through it now. It's true that a lot of what I'm reading is review, but it has really been filling in a lot of gaps, clarifying things I've only learned through context, and is also covering grammar I'm not familiar with. "Basic" is not necessarily "Beginner." I never expected a grammar book to be so engaging, but I learn something every time I open it. Unless you're a native Japanese speaker, I can't think of any situation where buying this book would be regretted.

parfait!

If you have a bit of patience and a bit of Autism and narrow focus, these little books about Japanese Grammar in Dictionary format can teach you the language completely well. However I do suggest, you learn a little bit about the basic Japanese beforehand, for example, the Kana (both of them) and Kanji only first batch of Joyo Kanji, and a little basic facts about sentence structure and consolidation of the writing scripts.

Poorly packaged by amazon, just thrown into an envelope and arrived with some corner damage. Obviously not the fault of the authors who put together a great resource.

subarashii

Lo compré para regalar y la persona me hizo este comentario: “superó mis expectativas, es como un diccionario pro, te da ejemplos de como puede usarse la palabra”