Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure

I fell into the trap. There are way better books to learn Japanese, so relatively inferior ones like this rely on the manga appeal. The manga "way" is just an explanation of the language with ad hoc images taken from some obscure mangas which the author read, which just don't add anything particular to the discussion. I'd say that probably it would have been better to use phrases specifically designed to explain the concept, and not to search for them in mangas (but it's not as cool I guess). Any argument that it teaches real Japanese from the manga phrases is just ridicolous nonsense.I mean, it's not particularly bad, and probably I wouldn't have been so harsh if the book were just called "Introduction to Japanese" or something like that, but the reference to the manga seems just a smart move, not anything that makes this book special.

This book takes a very original approach to learning.It's presentation is excellent but aims to cover a lot and hence covers each area very briefly. To this end, there are no excercises, word lists or anything here to reinforce learning. That onus falls on the reader. This is not a text book in the classic sense. It's a book that takes on the language and tries to explain it with real examples.Each mini-lesson (of which there are hundreds) is presented with a frame from an actual published cartoon. The text from the frame is translated into Romaji and also a directly translated English from and a final translated English form (truer to what was implied by the original Japanese text). This has been done excellently.However, it is not particularly suitable for beginners. I think it's best used as a primer for intermmediate level or as a reinforcer to be used alongside other texts. Vocabulary is presented haphazardly, as its dicated by the cartoon in question, not by the normal order a learner would expect. But this is no ordinary book.The author explains things well in general (in a few places he gets tongue-twisted) but beware that he isn't afraid of grammar. So if you are unsure about indirect objects, active verbs and all the rest of it, this might scare you a bit and you might need a very quick swot up on such concepts in English first.Another unsual approach was that he introduces "normal speaking form" alongside "polite speaking form" from the off. This is something that I haven't seen before and works really well. Most text books focus on the rather starchy sounding polite form, which is great to avoid bloopers but not so good when you suddenly realise "normal speaking form" is significantly different. This book would soften that blow.Another plus point is that , since the author grew up in Japan, he gives useful insights in how things sound or why such-and-such is often used. You won't find that elswhere.Overall excellent, but a little random in it's approach and you would need other books to learn the language. But this would be a great help to any learner. Especially good for visual learners.

I love this book!Firstly, a little about my background: I've been wanting to learn japanese for a good few years now, teaching myself and only getting so far.I've been going to a night class now for about a year, however I always find it difficult to reconcile what I learn in class with what I hear spoken in movies and Anime. Standard speech is used so infrequently by natives in real life that i think if i wasn't so determined to learn I would have given up long ago.THIS BOOK promises to introduce you to all basic structures as they appear in published manga. What's more it does it in a structured and easy to comprehend way.In my first sitting I made it to chapter 6 and was amazed at just how much I had picked up that I could recall hearing about a hundred times in any given anime. What's more, I understood the vast majority of what I'd read, and the daunting task of moving from standard polite speech to REAL japanese as it's spoken was such a small, simple step, I'm annoyed with myself for not doing it sooner.This book is as amazing as I'd hoped it would be. I can't wait to devour the whole thing. Even if I don't pick something up 100% the first time, there are full, structured translations the whole way through the book to help you get it right. It's also the most enjoyable japanese textbook i've ever read, and i've tried a few.Since I'm not an absolute beginner, I can not give an accurate opinion on it's suitability for a beginner. However I will say that if you are considering learning japanese as it's spoken in the REAL world, this book is the one for you. HOWEVER, I would strongly reccommend you invest in a dedicated language textbook (japanese for busy people is an excellent choice here), or a part-time class at an adult learning centre.Buy it! You won't regret it!

The book was suprising big with lots in it, I was very surprisedSo much stuff explained properly lots and lots of real examples.