Japanese for Beginners is a straightforward learning guide which enables beginners to pick up a functional knowledge of spoken Japanese very quickly and easily. This complete Japanese language package has helped many thousands of people learn to speak colloquial Japanese. It is designed for busy people who wish to pick up a working knowledge of Japanese on their own in just a few days, rather than a few years. Japanese for Beginners makes this possible by providing a firm grounding in grammar and sentence structure using dialogues and vocabulary that reflect authentic Japanese situations and manga comic strips to emphasize contemporary culture and humor. Key features of Japanese for Beginners: Practical Japanese phrases help you converse with ease. Comic strips (Japanese manga) and dialogues bring Japanese to life. Exercises help you to practice speaking and listening. Drills and exercises are included in each chapter to help you practice the sentence patterns and vocabulary. About this new edition: Japanese for Beginners is now expanded to include IT, Social Media, mobile phone conversations and texting!

Japanese for Beginners is a straightforward learning guide which enables beginners to pick up a function knowledge of spoken Japanese very quickly and easily. Specifically designed to teach spoken Japanese as it is used in daily life rather than in a formal setting, Japanese for Beginners is perfect for a tourist or business person traveling to Japan or a student who wants to learn Japanese rapidly and effectively. Up-to-date and concise, it features the most well respected and proven approach available. Full lessons break down the more difficult aspects of the Japanese language such as pronunciation and grammar, while the MP3 and audio CD allows for listening comprehension and practice. The writing element focuses on the easy-to-read Latin script (romanji) rather than on the more difficult Japanese script (kanji and kana), cutting down on the time it takes between starting the book and being able to speak Japanese. Key features of Japanese for Beginners include: Practical Japanese phrases help you converse with ease. Comic strips (Japanese manga) and dialogues bring Japanese to life. Exercises help you to practice speaking and listening. MP3 audio CD features native Japanese speakers to help you pronounce Japanese like a pro. Thousands of people need to communicate in Japanese for practical reasons, but don't have the time or opportunity to devote the many years it takes to study Japanese formally. By providing a firm grounding in Japanese sentence structure, using dialogues that reflect authentic Japanese culture and comic strips that emphasize conversations and humor, Tuttle Japanese for Beginners will soon have you on your way to becoming conversational in Japanese. When you consider that the Japanese language is spoken by 125 million people worldwide, and Japan is the world's third largest economy, the advantages of speaking Japanese become clear!

Japanese is a wonderful language, very different from European languages. It is also the gateway to the rich culture of the exciting and complex island nation of Japan. Some people get intimidated by the prospect of speaking Japanese—worried that it’s just too complex and different—but these fears are unfounded. While you can devote a lifetime to the study of this or any language, picking up the basics of Japanese doesn’t require any more than an interest and a willingness to try something new. Japanese For Dummies has everything you need to get off the ground with speaking the language. Author and Professor of Japanese Eriko Sato starts you off with the essentials of grammar and pronunciation, giving you a working sense of the language, before showing you Japanese in action. You’ll then explore vocabulary and expressions through dialogues taking place in situations such as: Introductions and greetings Eating and drink ing Shopping Exploring the town Talking on the telephone Asking directions Getting around Staying at a hotel You’ll also discover social customs, formalities, and manners, from how and when to bow to how to unwrap a present. Whether you simply want to introduce yourself to the Japanese language, say a few words to a neighbor or coworker, or you’re planning a major trip or study abroad in Japan, Japanese For Dummies will enable you to get the basics fast and work towards your own goal at your own pace. You’ll also find out about: How to use karaoke to help you learn Japanese Movies that will introduce you to Japanese culture and language Learning Japanese the “gourmet” way When ignoring “no, thank you” shows good manners Proper table manners Proper body language How to sound fluent And much more! With helpful vocabulary summaries, a mini-dictionary at the end, and an audio CD full of conversations and pronunciations, Japanese For Dummies assumes no prior knowledge of Japanese on your part—providing the perfect guide for a quick-but-thorough, lighthearted-but-not-lightweight introduction to the language.

This is a concise and user–friendly introduction to the Japanese language. Japanese has too often been treated by Westerners as an exotic curiosity, but the reality is that it is a functional language spoken as a mother tongue by more than 125 million people, and ranks as the ninth most spoken language in the world. In the present global age, an age characterized by a vast range of Japanese products including electronic games and anime, more and more Westerners are in one way or another interacting with Japan and Japanese people. But it is nonetheless fair to say that the language, while increasing in popularity as a subject of study, is still not as widely spoken among non–Japanese as we might expect. In this book we would therefore like to "demistify" Japanese, to show how the language is formed and used, and to encourage you to pursue the study of it. Of course it has its challenges, especially with regards to the writing system, but we try to put these in a balanced context. And we like to think that, by describing the various facets of the Japanese language to you, we thereby empower you with a degree of knowledge and familiarity.

This book is a user-friendly language guide for basic spoken Japanese. To effectively learn Japanese and communicate in another culture you need more than the bare bones of the language. You need to understand the given norms of that society, how people interact, how things work, what the system is, how to navigate and manipulate those systems--in short, how to use the language in context. More than a Japanese phrase book, Conversational Japanese provides basic material for practical day-to-day communication. Through hundreds of example sentences and dialogs, as well as thorough explanations of the customs involved, learners will know what to say and do when: Meeting new people. Reserving a hotel room. Buying a train ticket. Offering a gift. Writing emails, business letters, cards and thank-you notes. This book aims to prepare you for situations you are likely to find yourself in if you go to Japan to visit or to work. Every chapter starts with a short introduction giving background knowledge for that topic; then there are dialogues based on rea-life situations which give you the words and phrases you need to manage a wide range of daily tasks from getting on with the neighbors, to buying a phone, shopping on the internet, sightseeing, visiting clients or giving a speech. The Japanese language is kept simple and clear and strikes a balance between Japanese textbook language and colloquial Japanese language. Real life Japanese conversations are untidy and elliptical. Unlike most language books, Conversational Japanese does not restrict the use of kanji (Chinese characters), and the sentences are written in the usual Japanese combination of kana (hiragana and katakana) and kanji. Since learning kanji is a difficult task, Conversational Japanese includes romanji (Romanized Japanese) for each word or phrase. As you progress, using kanji and kana will become easier to remember, and you should be able to pick up new kanji over time. Soon your abilities to speak Japanese, comprehend Japanese, read Japanese and write Japanese will be improved.