Colloquial Japanese [antikvár]

PREFACEThere are some excellent Japanese courses now available. Most of these, however, are designed for intensive instruction with trained teachers over several years of study. Consequently they introduce grammatical features at a relatively slow rate. It is hoped this entirely new edition of Colloquial Japanese will meet the need of students, whether self-taught or taking formal courses in the language, who require an overall understanding of spoken Japanese within a relatively short period. The book is based on the assumption that fluency in a language can be achieved only through the acquisition of the basic grammatical framework. This does not necessarily mean the rote learning of grammatical tables. Here the grammatical points are introduced in simple dialogues and are reinforced and tested in the exercises. The student with little interest in grammar should be able to acquire the basic grammar of the language by memorizing the dialogues. On the other hand, it is hoped the book might also be useful as a handy practical reference grammar, even for students who have achieved a degree of fluency in Japanese.The treatment of grammar incorporates a number of new ideas, which should make the learning of the language easier.I hope in some small way this book might help to spread a knowledge of one of the world's major languages and lead to a better understanding of Japan and the Japanese.Hugh Clarkevn