This is a concise and effective Japanese phrase book and guide to the Japanese language with color pictures and accompanying exercises for each section.

In this modern jet age, one can reach any part of the world within a day or less. Although English is widely spoken, it is very helpful to have some knowledge of the language of the country which you are visiting in order to make your trip more enjoyable by communicating with the local people and understanding their culture. Intended for beginners who wish to learn to speak Japanese at a very basic level within a few hours, this book is written in a clear and simple yet versatile way. With approximately 350 basic words and examples of how they are used in practical conversation speech, one can acquire a fundamental working knowledge of spoken Japanese from this book, so you can express yourself in simple Japanese sentences.

This book has several exercises for each lesson. And, to get acquainted with Japanese culture, the student may enjoy the photos which the author has provided as a visual aid. Complicated grammatical explanations are omitted since detailed explanations sometimes discourage people from actually speaking. Only the essential points in pronunciation and grammar are given, and the Japanese phrases and sentences are repeated presented in each lesson so that the student can easily learn the phrases and practice using them without hesitancy or discouragement.

Key features of Practical Japanese are:

Over 350 essential Japanese words and 96 pages of practical conversational usage.
25 carefully structured lessons to reinforce Japanese vocabulary and Japanese grammar.
Accompanying practice exercises for every lesson.
All words and phrases are shown in written Japanese—Kanji and Kana (Hiragana and Katakana), Romanized Japanese (Romanji), and English
Over 200 simple illustrations.
A concise pronunciation guide.

Businesspeople, tourists as well as the student or prospective foreign resident in Japan, young or old, will find this Japanese phrasebook a helpful and enjoyable tool in speaking Japanese for the first time.

Jun Maeda