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Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook & Dictionary Paperback – March 1, 2012
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By
J. J. De Cruz
on March 27, 2013
Format: Paperback
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I am quite disappointed with the 6th edition of this LP Japanese phrasebook.
1. they omitted a lot of stuff (like word lists) to make way for cleaner less wordy pages. For example: pg 197 (5th ed) has more items listed for the sentence "My ___ was/were stolen: backpack, bags, credit card, handbag, jewellry, money, papers, passport, travellers cheques, wallet." While in pg. 161 (6th ed.) the very intelligent authors only listed: backpack, bags, handbag, money, passport and wallet. Or in pg. 199 (5th ed.), to the question on Health: "Where's the nearest ___?", they listed night "chemist, clinic, dentist, doctor, ER dept, hospital, medical center, and optometrist", while in the 6th ed, they listed only "night chemist, dentist, doctor and hospital". In order to favor pictures of temples, kitschy graphics, wider fonts and more empty spaces, they dropped out several essential terms leaving you a bit short.
2. the format is counter-intuitive and feels like the authors thought their readers are dumb and dumberers. Why? In the 5th ed., they first pose the base question first and they list the possible objects that can fill in the blanks, hence giving you better context clues as to which part of the sentence is the object vs. the operative sentence. This style gives the reader more intuition in using the base question. In the 6th ed, however, they scrapped most of the wordlist and settled for the 1:1 translation by repeating the question and the phrase without giving you the benefit of distinguishing which is which. For instance, pg. 98 (6th ed) listed "I am attending a conference", "I am attending a meeting", "I am attending a trade fair", and "I am attending a course" and on the opposite column are their redundant translations.Read more ›
1. they omitted a lot of stuff (like word lists) to make way for cleaner less wordy pages. For example: pg 197 (5th ed) has more items listed for the sentence "My ___ was/were stolen: backpack, bags, credit card, handbag, jewellry, money, papers, passport, travellers cheques, wallet." While in pg. 161 (6th ed.) the very intelligent authors only listed: backpack, bags, handbag, money, passport and wallet. Or in pg. 199 (5th ed.), to the question on Health: "Where's the nearest ___?", they listed night "chemist, clinic, dentist, doctor, ER dept, hospital, medical center, and optometrist", while in the 6th ed, they listed only "night chemist, dentist, doctor and hospital". In order to favor pictures of temples, kitschy graphics, wider fonts and more empty spaces, they dropped out several essential terms leaving you a bit short.
2. the format is counter-intuitive and feels like the authors thought their readers are dumb and dumberers. Why? In the 5th ed., they first pose the base question first and they list the possible objects that can fill in the blanks, hence giving you better context clues as to which part of the sentence is the object vs. the operative sentence. This style gives the reader more intuition in using the base question. In the 6th ed, however, they scrapped most of the wordlist and settled for the 1:1 translation by repeating the question and the phrase without giving you the benefit of distinguishing which is which. For instance, pg. 98 (6th ed) listed "I am attending a conference", "I am attending a meeting", "I am attending a trade fair", and "I am attending a course" and on the opposite column are their redundant translations.Read more ›
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By
Ariel
on November 10, 2013
Format: Paperback
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I got this book (based on good reviews) for my son who was going to Japan for a year to study. He left it with me. Then, when I went to visit him for 2 weeks, I brought the book with me and kept it on my person every single second with the possible exception of when I was sleeping. I am no stranger to visiting and living abroad, so I was completely comfortable trying to ask questions and communicate (I went off on my own a lot). People in Japan very significantly appreciated my efforts to communicate in Japanese, and appreciated the fact that I didn't assume everyone spoke English. No way I could have done that without this book, its vocabulary, and its pronunciation guide. If I got a blank look (frequently), I'd hold the book up and point to the word, and the satisfying look of recognition would come into the eyes of my interlocutor. Pantomime and drawing pictures helped too. This booked helped me do everything from avoiding a faux pas by lighting a stick of incense for the dead at a shrine for health to ordering decaf ("decafu") coffee at Starbucks. It's small enough to fit in a roomy pocket (I went during winter, so it easily fit in a coat pocket). The early part of the book provides useful conversational phrases for meeting someone in a bar and having safe sex. I am not making this up. Talk about a full-service phrasebook. Based on this experience, I'd definitely get another Lonely Planet phrasebook if I traveled anywhere else where I didn't speak the language.
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By
zerrubabbel
on May 8, 2013
Format: Paperback
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Now let me say first that I dont own this book [hear me out], nor have I used it, but I am a student of Japanese and I have experience using the language, so I would like to leave potential customers with a few notes, based on what I saw in the preview...
first off, the content seems pretty good, and will either help you in simple travel situations, or get you the help you need... In japan, many places do have good english speakers, and they will try their best to get you the assistance you need... [keep this in mind, because as a traveler with little or no japanese experience, I think this book is a good buy ^.^]
and second, I recommend you learn pronunciation elsewhere... consonants in Japanese are pretty straight foreward, pronounce them as you would in english [ the R should be slightly rolled to sound something like a soft D/ soft L, or somewhere in between], but the vowel guide here will leave you sounding with a pretty heavy accent, so ill run through what I disagree with...
The ones I disagree with are... [and for the record, my english accent is mid-western US] [if this doesnt help, I recommend listening to the language on youtube XDD]
- "I as in bit" ... That short "I" sound doesnt exist in japanese, rather it should be "ee as in bee" but simply timed a little shorter...
- "A as in run", the sound we think of as "uh" like you sat down hard or something... rather it should be like "ah" like you just took a big drink
- "O as in pot" switch to "O as in toe"
- "Ō as in paw" should also be like "toe" but timed slightly longer, and perhaps have a slight U sound at the end ... "U as in boo"
- "U as in put" should be switched to "U as in food" but timed a little shorter ...Read more ›
first off, the content seems pretty good, and will either help you in simple travel situations, or get you the help you need... In japan, many places do have good english speakers, and they will try their best to get you the assistance you need... [keep this in mind, because as a traveler with little or no japanese experience, I think this book is a good buy ^.^]
and second, I recommend you learn pronunciation elsewhere... consonants in Japanese are pretty straight foreward, pronounce them as you would in english [ the R should be slightly rolled to sound something like a soft D/ soft L, or somewhere in between], but the vowel guide here will leave you sounding with a pretty heavy accent, so ill run through what I disagree with...
The ones I disagree with are... [and for the record, my english accent is mid-western US] [if this doesnt help, I recommend listening to the language on youtube XDD]
- "I as in bit" ... That short "I" sound doesnt exist in japanese, rather it should be "ee as in bee" but simply timed a little shorter...
- "A as in run", the sound we think of as "uh" like you sat down hard or something... rather it should be like "ah" like you just took a big drink
- "O as in pot" switch to "O as in toe"
- "Ō as in paw" should also be like "toe" but timed slightly longer, and perhaps have a slight U sound at the end ... "U as in boo"
- "U as in put" should be switched to "U as in food" but timed a little shorter ...Read more ›
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By
Eric Wong
on May 25, 2014
Format: Paperback
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I bought this book because it's compact and it's beautiful graphic design and layout, however after 2 weeks of reading, I discovered a handful of mistakes. For example: on p.266 translation of "finger"; p.245 translation of "shy"; p.246 translation of "speak", p.153 translation of "buy"; p.253 the introduction "ra" should be bold… and there are sporadic mistakes. I'm not sure if there are more mistakes if I keep on reading, it'll be misleading for the beginners who want to learn the correct Japanese. I'm just surprised Lonely Planet would be that careless.
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