Review of Understanding Basic Japanese Grammar by Travers Naran

It's trying to be somewhere between a complement to your existing Japanese textbook or class and a full reference. At any rate, rather than have long detailed explainations, Nishiguchi-san, has a small paragraph trying to give a simple explanation of the grammar feature under discussion then lots of reading examples. In the introduction, he says he wants the students to try to get used to reading and understanding the sentences without relying on the English translations. He does provide some more detailed information in the form of aside boxes, but generally speaking, he doesn't go into detailed explanations.

The most interesting thing about the examples is that they are written in kana and kanji (furigana under the kanji), and once he introduces a kanji with furigana in a set of examples, he doesn't repeat the furigana. So you get to practice your kanji reading skills and learn a few new kanji as well. The vocabulary is kept to the list used for the JWPT III, so it's easy for a beginner like me to use.

So it's not that great at being an authoratitive explaination of Japanese grammar, but I like the examples: they are varied and feel pretty natural. If you procede through the book sequentially, the examples are at the appropriate level. The best way to think of it is as reading practice for the 1st or 2nd year Japanese student (I suspect anyone else would be bored to tears); you could probably use it as speaking/listening practice as well if you have a partner.

I think this makes a nice complement to my textbook and grammar reference books, but I disagree with the book's claim that it can be used as the sole textbook for a Japanese class. That won't work unless the teacher provides a lot more material besides the book.

Grade: B-

Favorite quote: "I believe that unless you use your imagination and intuition, you will never understand the grammar of a foreign language. And I also believe that it is the subtle collaboration between you as a learner of Japanese and me as a educational linguist of Japanses that best promotes that goal [of learning a foreign language]." -- Nishiguchi Koichi, "How to Use This Book"

☆ See all reviews by Travers Naran.