An average phrasebook.December 2, 2008 This isnt the easiest phrasebook to use, but does contain useful tourist and cultural info/tips. it contains a menu reader, a dictonary and grammar rules. One big advantage that I think this book has over others is that it has a page dedicated to the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets/scripts which can make words easier to learn.
a good bookNovember 25, 2007 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found this phrasebook really useful. It was small enough to put in my bag and I used it everyday. Even when I could not pronounce certain things I would just show whomever I needed help from and they understood straightaway. It has both English and Japanese dictionary and it came in handy when I fell ill and had to go to the doctors. This is great for anyone who is going to Japan for the first time.
Poor indexing and unbalanced coverageNovember 12, 2007 5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Having used this in Japan for a couple months, I find this phrasebook fairly useless. We don't even bother carrying it around anymore.
The indexing is poor: meaning that you cannot easily find what you are looking for.
The coverage is unbalanced: why does it spend so much space on phrases for talking to the opposite sex? If you need a phrasebook to ask someone to marry you, then you have a problem! Yet the coverage of useful phrases, food items, etc, is quite weak, with many useless things included and the basics missed out.
The romanization scheme used is non-standard, making it annoying to use in conjunction with other books.
Excellent ResourceOctober 2, 2002 20 out of 20 found this review helpful
I highly recommend this little gem of a book, it contains many phrases which can help even a child to get through Japan. It contains alot of other information too! Buy it! buy it now! :)
handy for everyday use in japanNovember 1, 2001 29 out of 30 found this review helpful
I have basic knowledge of written and spoken Japanese and found this book very helpfull in getting by in day to day things. I lent it to my brother when he visited me in tokyo and he coulnd't have gotten by without it. As most of the Japanese's English is abominable you really need a small pocket dictionary or a phrase book. Size makes this particular book very handy. I would have liked some more young persons words and catchy phrases.
