Everyday Japanese: A Basic Introduction to the Japanese Language and Culture (Language - Japanese)

It is pretty much as it states "A Basic Introduction to the Japanese Language and Culture". It is a simple phrase book that covers pronounciation and tries to give examples, the culture part comes in small parts of chapters dedicated to generalised descriptions.

I don't really know why it calls itself an 'introduction', as this book is really just your typical phrasebook that considers typical tourist/business situations. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty good one at that, practical and with some extras as little insights and descriptions related to the chapter's subject, but it remains a phrasebook.

I bought this book at the same time as the Oxford Beginner's Dictionary. This one is far more useful as, although it does not contain so many words, it has one thing that the Beginner's Dictionary doesn't have: Romanji!

As a total beginner who has only just started to look at Hiragana (one of the three scripts you need to learn to read "proper" Japanese) you need the romanji (using western letters) version for pronunciation. Without them, you are lost! My only criticism is that the romanji is split into every syllable and I find it easier to read whole words, but at least this ties in with the various script forms to help recognition of the sounds of every character.

I'd recommend this book to every beginner and especially for those like me who use podcasts to learn to speak but who also need a low-cost written form to learn the words properly.

While in university as an exchange-student-to-be, I rec'd this from my future homestay in Tokyo. It has since become on of my favorite quick references. Through college, five years in Japan, a Master's degree, and teaching Japanese�@13 years it is still useful. This book has anything and everything, albeit just introductions to each subject, very useful pictures (for visual learners like me), and quite an array of vocabulary. I would suggest it as basicfor anyone needing information about Japan.�@