Cons:
using this as a language learning course book requires careful consideration; not really a dictionary nor a language learning course; all words in full Japanese script (kana & kanji) with no transliteration or pronunciation help, meaning that beginners will need another resource to be able to read the vocabulary; any use requires a lot of memorization; language learning resources in book clearly intended for classroom study; clearly intended for Japanese students learning English

The Oxford Picture Dictionary English/Japanese isn’t so much a dictionary as it is a topicalized, themed vocabulary book with exercises and suggestions for further study. If you’re learning to speak Japanese, its glossy, colorful, picture-driven pages with matching vocabulary words may help you expand and contextualize your understanding of Japanese words.

The book’s content – roughly 200 pages – is broken down into general language categories like people, food, work, means of study and plants & animals. Subcategories take up one to two pages apiece, and tackle more specific topics like daily routines, feelings, a family reunion (people) or a grocery store, a restaurant (food).

Some pages have large illustrations while others have a range of drawings in smaller, thumbnail-like boxes. The pictures are always in full color. In every case, numbers or letters within each picture indicate the concept associated with a particular vocabulary word found below or to the side of the image (so a #20 on a girl’s rain boots is easy to locate below the picture: “20. rain boots”).

This “dictionary” goes a bit beyond vocabulary by including helpful questions to stimulate vocabulary use, practice and further discussion. A few pages even include reading exercises and further activities, although these really show how the book is intended for ESL learners, since all questions and readings are in English only.

Japanese words are written in full script, including kanji and kana, which makes the vocabulary difficult to read for beginners (impossible if you haven’t studied katakana and hiragana, and just plain difficult if you haven’t mastered kanji or, at least, bought a kanji reference dictionary). The book ends with brief tidbits about grammar and pronunciation, along with a most useful vocabulary index (both English and Japanese), giving page numbers for every vocabulary word in the book.

The Oxford Picture Dictionary presents a colorful, sleek, organized and highly visual overview of a good deal of basic Japanese vocabulary. It even crafts questions and activities to help students learn words, and the book is fully searchable through the index. With all this useful material, what are the downsides? It’s not really a dictionary, and requires too much memorization to be used as a lesson coursebook as is.

The Japanese script without any furigana or transliteration makes it a chore at best to decipher each word, especially words in kanji. The text is clearly aimed at ESL learners, and leaves its other potential audience – Japanese learners – in the dark by failing to include the kind of information you would need to read these words. If you’re happy settling for a snazzy, thematic vocabulary reference that requires a bit of work to use, you’ll likely be satisfied with your purchase. If you want more, you can supplement this book with OPD Lesson Plans, OPD: Low Beginning Workbook and OPD Classroom Activities, although these were all created for teaching ESL.

Cons:
takes an experienced student or casual reader to get something out of this; some of these expressions are dated or highly impractical; phrases are given in romaji only (rather than kana and kanji, as would be seen in Japan); not really a dictionary, phrasebook or lesson course – simply an instructive pleasure read

Books like Dirty Japanese and Outrageous Japanese show us there’s a market for resources that teach us gaijin the naughty, raunchy, gritty, raw lingo heard throughout urban Japan. Japanese Street Slang takes this study in a new direction by offering a prose exposé of Japanese phrases, with short essays that tie language use to Japan and its unique social scenes.

Over the course of 175 pages, author Peter Constantine takes readers on an alphabetized, explanation-rich ride through scores of phrases. Each phrase gets the spotlight for a page or so, during which the author explains where the phrase comes from, how it’s used (and by whom!), then contextualizes words and phrases with sample sentences and other slang options. All of this material is woven together in a straightforward, readable manner. You’ll doubtless find yourself snickering at quirks or raising and eyebrow at obscenities along the way.

At the end, a Japanese word list with page numbers allows you to find any of the phrases covered in the book. There’s also an index of topics (cities, people & cultural items). Don’t miss the introduction, either. It gives a rundown of Japanese slang, dialects and language functions heard on the street.

It’s a bit unfortunate that the book’s uniqueness works against it for the main audience – Japanese language learners. It’s not really complete enough to count as a dictionary, too verbose for a phrase book, too methodical and linguistic for a guide to Japanese culture, and provides no pacing or practical application to be used as a language course. Additionally, many of these amusing phrases will strike Japanese ears as vulgar, out of date, or both.

All in all, Japanese Street Slang offers readers an enjoyable and informative ride through the world of Japanese slang. Students aiming to speak informal Japanese (rather than read about it) should try a more linguistically pertinent resource like Beyond Polite Japanese.

Hodges’ & Okazaki’s Japanese Kanji Flashcards provide a systematic way to learn over 1000 kanji characters by studying hundreds of flashcards. Cards are color coded to three levels of proficiency as measured by the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (levels 4 through 2 – it counts down in difficulty). Although I have yet to write a full review of this resource, I compare these cards to the competition in my review of Tuttle’s Kanji Cards.

It’s also worth your while to sneak a peek at some customer images of one flashcard. If you’re going to spend hours upon hours learning and practicing kanji on the path to reading Japanese, it’s worth considering which product you’d rather work with before you buy.

It’s also worth noting that both series have kana syllabary cards (Tuttle and White Rabbit Press).

Cons:
uses romaji for all character readings and examples; some info placed awkwardly on cards; study with index cards helps reading recognition much more than writing

Tuttle offers Kanji Cards in four volumes to help learners as you struggle to memorize the thousands of characters needed to read and write everyday Japanese. As I will mention at the end of this review, you should check out and compare Japanese Kanji Flashcards (White Rabbit Press) to see which kanji flash card series has the best features for you.

Hundreds of flashcards in each set present a routine way to remember your kanji, then test your memory. Every card deals with one character. On the front, you’ll find the character printed large, some compound words that include the character, the radicals, and multiple reference numbers to help you find that character in any major kanji dictionary or resource.

The second side has the on and kun readings in romaji, along with the romaji readings of the compound words that include that character from the front of the card. You’ll find English translations of the character and compound readings on this side. Also, at the very bottom, the character is written stroke by stroke, giving you stroke count and order.

It’s a simple, effective method for studying the massive number of characters. Cover up one side and quiz your ability to remember what the character sounds like and means. Cover up the other to test your memory of what the character looks like. Combine Kanji Cards with a writing practice workbook for a well-rounded, on-your-own approach to reading and writing kanji.

If you’re a discerning student, you might take issue with the use of romaji transliteration, you won’t like that Tuttle’s Kanji Cards list stroke order on the back of the card (with semantic rather than compositional information), and you may find that you prefer the structure of these cards. If that’s the case, you’re better off with Japanese Kanji Flashcards Vol. 1 and Volume 2. Also, keep in mind that both series have kana cards (Tuttle and White Rabbit Press).

Cons:
vocabulary index cross-referencing page numbers would have been convenient; certain phrases are very specific, others less useful for non-native speakers

The Ultimate Japanese Phrasebook is a friendly, organized list of 1800 Japanese phrases by theme/topic. The book is accompanied by an audio CD with mp3 readings of the Japanese phrases.

The book starts with an introduction for “newbies”, giving two pages full of short tips on pronunciation, word order and how Japanese particles work. Then, you’ll have the opportunity to browse through any of 20 chapters covering scores of conversation topics. Each topic includes as many as a dozen phrases.

The organization and use of space is commendable. The formatting sets topic headings/titles apart, making them easy to locate. Phrases in each topic are numbered, and set apart by unobtrusive dotted lines. Phrases occupy three lines – first, bold English, second, large font, readable Japanese script with furigana above kanji, and lastly, the romaji (foreigner-friendly transliteration) reading of the Japanese phrase.

The authors choose to include believable phrases that are relevant to each topic (including realistic examples you won’t find in your average phrasebook, like: “Should we pay here or at the register?”; “Could you send me the link?”; “I can never remember how to say that”). They’re neutral with respect to formality and gender. Unfortunately, some are too specific for every reader, but the range of phrases covered should alleviate any sense of irrelevance. MP3 track names from the disc are listed by each topic title, so it’s easy to keep up and listen to Japanese speakers as they pronounce the phrases.

The Ultimate Japanese Phrasebook provides one of the most thorough, organized, comprehensive and interesting phrase book experiences I’ve come across in Japanese. A certain type of traveler will miss the cultural notes of more popular business and travel phrasebooks available, but this one’s hard to overlook, and easy to recommend.

Cons:
book’s content is entirely limited to emotional expressions; won’t please anyone looking for a dictionary or a phrasebook, since it straddles the fence between both; extra proverbs struck me as a bit out of place

Love, Hate and Everything in Between introduces you to a range of emotional expressions and phrases in Japanese. This work presents a nonstandard dictionary of expressions arranged by topic.

The book is divided into two main parts. The first covers “uncertainty to love”, with phrases ranging from ambivalent to infatuation and excess. The second runs the other half of the gamut, from derision to sarcasm to anger and betrayal. Along the way, you’ll find colorful phrases for nearly every emotion you’ll want to express.

Each page deals with just a few such expressions. You’ll see Japanese phrases listed in bold romaji, then Japanese script. Then, indented below that, there’s a translation, an explanation, and one or more lengthy, contextualized sample sentences using the expression.

A few pages near the end also list a couple dozen emotion-related proverbs and sayings. The alphabetical index lists Japanese phrases in romaji transliteration and English, along with page numbers. The table of contents also lists the thirty or so general emotional topics for quick reference.

If you’re looking to supplement your studies of the Japanese language with a book that offers easy access to Japanese expressions covering a range of emotions, Love, Hate and Everything in Between is your guide book. That this quasi-dictionary is readable, has relevant examples, explanations and is well organized and indexed is just a plus if you enjoy the content.

Cons:
novel-like format presents so many kanji one after another (memory overload?); presents no good way to pace yourself through the text; index includes no traditional way to look up kanji; presents extra info which may be burdensome rather than helpful to some students (but keeps this minimal)

Kanji, kanji, kanji. If you’re like many of us learning to read & write Japanese, your mind is full of them (if not, it will be).

Read Japanese Today: The Easy Way to Learn 400 Practical Kanji wants to provide you with a unique way to learn 400 “basic” or “common” characters. And I don’t mean supposedly unique – I, as a reviewer, found it a distinct and potentially effective way to tackle your early characters.

What makes it unique? Before we get to that – the main focus of the book – let’s look at the introduction. This book begins with a helpful 23 page intro to how Japanese kanji writing works, how characters are built, their Chinese origin, their pronunciation and how to write them. It’s mostly in words, but you’ll find large-print kanji in line with the text in most paragraphs.

The sections (chapters) keep this format of paragraphs with kanji characters interspersed in line with the text (so they flow naturally along with the reading, not separated in some box or picture). The real focus here is a mental association between form and meaning. The author will tell you in a paragraph that such and such a character, originally drawn like this __, depicted such and such a thing. Because of that, it means… and is now written ___.

It’s best understood by example. “To form the kanji for a sword the Chinese drew a sword as __ then squared it off to ?… The Chinese started with the sword ? then, onto the blade, added a mark \ to emphasize the meaning blade. They wrote the new kanji in final form like this ?, meaning blade” (p. 43). Note: if boxes or ? marks appear on this site, they are kanji characters in the book.

In other words, Walsh talks you through the basic history of 400 kanji, focusing on their derivations in a way that makes them memorable and recognizable. This is especially great for visual and auditory/explanation-based learners who can grasp these kinds of associations.

The book ends with kana tables, and index of kanji by order of presentation in the text, an alphabetical index of kanji by English meaning. There’s nothing like a radical or stroke index, so you’ll have to know what a kanji means to look it up.

In the end, learning kanji will require lots of rote memorization and practice. You might have to get over crutches like this some time, but Read Japanese Today is a helpful treat at this point that will ease some of the pain. Furthermore, it’s mainly historically accurate and relevant, unlike the memory associations encouraged by resources like Kanji Pict-O-Graphix.

Cons:
missing helpful stepping stones like stroke-by-stroke illustration of how each character is written; fewer compound examples and usage examples than newer dictionaries; grid table of 8 characters per page gives equal attention to all kanji and won’t jive with some students; no index by radical

O’Neill’s Essential Kanji is a Japanese kanji character dictionary, covering all the basic use characters along with some of the kanji found in proper names. For some perspective on Japanese writing, see my page on learning pronunciation, writing & grammar.

The bulk of the dictionary presents eight characters per page on a grid with three columns and eight rows. In the first column, you’ll find a large, bold, calligraphic version of the character. You’ll also see small stroke numbers next to every stroke of the character. The second column contains a standard pen-written version of the character, along with any variants. The third box holds a bunch of information about the kanji.

In that third column, you’ll find onyomi and kunyomi readings, official kanji index numbers, and original Chinese readings of the character. You’ll also see two compound words written out containing that particular kanji. The compound character examples are also given in romaji with English translations.

The introduction talks at lenght and in heavier, academic language about the characters chosen, the structure of the entries, tips for using the dictionary as a study guide or a test book, and tips on how to practice writing the kanji.

The appendix has a romaji-kanji index (allowing you to look up any character alphabetically, by its pronunciation). There’s an index of radicals by English translation, and an index of all characters by stroke count. This book has no radical index (the classical way to look up kanji), which will alienate purists.

With so many other good beginner kanji dictionaries for sale (I’ve recommended both the Kodansha and Nielson), I will steer you away from Essential Kanji as your primary kanji dictionary, unless you meet certain criteria. Specifically, you must 1) appreciate & prefer the grid-like, tabular presentation of characters; 2) need fewer extra phrases and compound word examples demonstrating each character in use; 3) be content to search for unknown characters only by stroke count or romaji reading; 4) not require a stroke-by-stroke demonstration of how to write characters; 5) care about the etymology of each character. If you meet most of those requirements, and you’re looking for a Japanese kanji dictionary covering the beginning 2,000 characters, this one’s recommended.

Cons:
see cons for Barron’s Japanese Grammar; Japanese text is now printed in black rather than stand-out dark red; more of a well-crafted grammar reference than a lesson guide

Part of Barron’s Foreign Language Guide series, Master the Basics: Japanese expands the contents of Akiyama’s Japanese Grammar. Since the heart of the book repeats the entirety of Japanese Grammar, it’s worth evaluating my review of that book first.

This lesson guide is bigger than the pocket sized Grammar, allowing for larger print and more space for notes. Apart from changing title and section colors from red to orange and Japanese examples from red to black, I don’t notice any changes to the text.

The star addition here is a series of practice activities at the end of the book that test your knowledge of each of the twenty-two chapters. Additionally, there’s a short diagnostic in the beginning that claims to illuminate how much you already know from the starting gate.

The lengthy test at the end of the book has a range of question types. All these questions test your understanding of a specific Japanese grammar topic. Each page of the exam tests you on a specific unit in the book. You’ll answer multiple choice and fill in the blanks but also do matching exercises, a word search and a crossword puzzle.

Unless you’re set on the small size or the red text, this book is recommended over the original Barron’s Japanese Grammar. It offers all the same great info, well laid out and well indexed, enlarges the text and gives you a better way to use the book by adding practice exercises. For beginners and early intermediate Japanese language learners, this is a great grammar resource.

Cons:
invites students to use this as a practice or lesson book, but doesn’t offer much guidance on how to pace yourself; many examples simply a review for advanced students, while often too challenging for beginners (but start learning sooner!); topics are function-based rather than conversation-driven, which hurts a certain type of learner

Japanese language students run into a very particular, frustrating problem. They find that they can learn and understand the nuts and bolts of Japanese grammar – the verbs, the particles, even the sentence structure. Yet they have trouble trying to formulate a good, fluent Japanese sentence that expresses the same ideas we can convey in English. What gives?

The author of The Handbook of Japanese Verbs (also reviewed on this site) has helpful solution called Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication. The book begins with forty pages of Japanese expressions broken into twelve sections. These twelve sections cover an array of language functions. Then, each of those expressions/sentences is analyzed in a series of twelve chapters.

Each chapter, or set of expressions, focuses on one language topic (like the ability to identify people and things, or making comparisons). Key sentences from the introduction are presented in gray boxes in English, then directly below in Japanese.

Beneath that key phrase, there’s an explanation of what’s going on in the sentence, and how to form similar sentences. Then, the author gives relevant practical examples in fluent Japanese, each with an English translation. This is followed by a practice exercise that asks you to translate similar structures from English to Japanese (with answers directly below – no peeking!).

This formula of presenting potentially challenging Japanese sentences, discussing how they work, giving examples, then asking you to participate in activities, continues throughout the rest of the book. It’s a simple formula, but it elevates the book from a sit-on-your-shelf reference to a practical guide to dealing with a very complex aspect of the Japanese language.

The book ends with an appendix of Japanese numbers, those devilish counter and measure words, and adjective and verb conjugation tables. On top of that, there’s a good index in the back, and the list of Japanese expressions at the front, all cross-referenced with page numbers. You’ll have little trouble finding what you’re looking for when you come back later.

The Japanese is given in full script (kana and kanji), along with romaji and English translations for every sentence. Presumably because of the romaji, kanji do not include furigana readings, unlike in Kamiya’s other books.

Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication presents intermediate and late-beginner Japanese students with a thorough, well organized, well indexed invitation to understanding how sentences work in Japanese. The choice of sample sentences alone makes this an intelligent acquisition. The effective explanations and practice exercises serve as an open invitation to anyone struggling to create expressive, long, fully-formed Japanese sentences. Start to add variety and fluency to the way you speak the language with this product.