Auxiliary Books for Grammer

Japanese
#1

Sup y’all, I was looking around in my bookstore the other day while debating if I will move onto Quartet or Tobira, and decided to casually glance at some of the other books they had.

I noticed one book, by the Japan Times called
“Learn through 20 situations: Keigo for Tailored Japanese Communication”

This made me remember a book I have called “The Handbook of Japanese Verbs” published by Kodansha. Also floating around in my Google drive is a PDF book that focuses solely on particles once we reach the more N3 stage and each sentence can have multiple the same particle(something I struggle with when it comes to speaking/writing).

Anyway, I was curious if yall also had some good book recommendations for dealing with specific peices of Grammer. I am of the belief that everyone explains things slightly differently and as such, having a nice little library to reference is good.

#2

Wanikani has a blog where they review Japanese study tools, including reference books.
[#]Japanese Learning Resources Database

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#3

Grammar specifically? no, but I’ve a few good recommendations for phrasing and just general terms. books like 大人の語彙力ノート by 齋藤孝 (Takashi Saito)are nice if you know enough to understand basic japanese phrases. They take casual or less formal phrases and tells you how to make them more formal. if you’re less experienced, i found “The Ultimate Japanese Phrasebook” by Nagamura Tsuchiya is a fun and useful read.

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#4

That’s a lot of resources! A lot of em tend to be online which is not what I’m currently looking for due to my current ability to use them, but if you have any specific recommendations I’ll give em a look!

I’ll write these down and see if my store happens to have them off hand. They have a pretty decent sized collection of Useful phrases type books.

#5

You can filter on tags like ‘reference book’ or ‘print book’
Ones that look like they might be helpful:
japanese-english-translation-an-advanced-guide
にほんごで 文化体験ぶんかたいけん
THE ROUTLEDGE INTERMEDIATE TO ADVANCED JAPANESE READER
生活者としての外国人向け 私らしく暮らすための 日本語ワークブック
Dictionary of Japanese Grammar
にほんご速読チャレンジ100 中級
Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns for Teachers and Learners

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#6

I really like the dictionary of basic Japanese grammar (its the yellow one) - I use it to get a second/third perspective of the grammar point whilst I am learning it.

Basically, I cover the new point in Genki, then consult Bunpro and add it to my reviews, then check it in the DoBJG so I have a good understanding.

I know you want physical media but I also check the point in immersion kit which is online so I can see the point in context.

When I was in Japan, I picked up a cute book on onomatopoeia which is fun to browse through but my favorite purchase was a graded reader called “read real Japanese” which has essays from my favorite authors.

I think graded readers might be a good option to look at and you can check Natively for their level and reviews from other learners. They are nice to have on the bookshelf and a lot come with audio files now.

I hope this helps :slight_smile:

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#7

When you pick up a graded reader, also pick up a kids book . I bought this one after I saw 3 episodes 番組 on air.
I think it would be fun to read a chapter, than watch the anime to check understanding.

I read 20 volumes of manga, and 8 seasons of anime before reading a light novel like this- if you have a similar amount of experience, might be time to put a novel in rotation.

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#8

I do a fair amount of manga reading, although my listening is my weakest. I picked up an idea some months back from another poster who, when reading, would add 15 words a day and stop. Then the next day, pick up from the page before the 1st word and read again until 15 new words. I’m doing that but only about 5-10 since I’m still relatively low level and learning about 15 words a day via the 2k decks. So
I just continue reading and I look for Grammer, but then reset the next day. It has helped me understand exactly what is happening a little bit and it is helping my reading comprehension. I was reading childrens books at first but the lack of kanji actually made it harder for me. At least with my

I intend to hit about n3 this late summer(at least in vocab and reading), take the test this winter, and I wanna graduate to the “stories in 5 minutes” style books that I’ve seen. My students like to read them. Basically a collection of short stories so I intend to read a story, mine out the words, and then reread it. I will have to find the japanese name later, but its more or less that when translated.

Albeit, I have seen children books of say other Popular anime or movies that have been turned into book form, I’ll have to take a look into those maybe.

I really should get graded readers with audio but I’m just so stingy I don’t wanna spend the money on something that is “easy” even when I know it is perfectly my level, and I’ll be struggling with it anyway.

/End rant

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#9

RougeLite Reading

Same thats why shonen manga → book from middle school age section. They both have kanji with furigana.
I read the manga/anime: Dragon Ball, Sakamoto ですが, Shirokuma Cafe, Sweetness and Lightning, Blue Excorist, Hitori Gohan, Ice guy and his Female co-worker, Dungeon Meshi, Card Capter Sakura, Red Hair Snow White, Natsume Yuujin Cho, Hayato the Combat Butler, Kotaru Lives Alone, 日常 and Usagi Drop, attack on middle school and 6 Ghibli movies.
They all had plenty of furigana. The visuals also helped me understand

#10

Yea, that’s what I do since I work at a middle school actually, albeit, these students like their light novels lol. Read through the entirety of Yotsubato, and was excited to read book 16 the day following its release, because it matched my reading speed at the time. Was trying to read some pokemon but found it to be slightly challenging, gonna go back once I learn specific vocab related to it, but I already picked up all the first 36 books lmao. Recently found extra big Konjiki No GASH! Or Zatch Bell and picked up the first 3 volumes of it. So far, the first few chapters have been relatively easy. I also have a book on Ramen but the mangaka/publisher really said “fuck the illiterate” and gave me zero furigana so I intend to return end of summer as well.

In terms of anime I mostly just have on repeat a variety of shows I liked and have access to. "One-Punch man, Konosuba, Chibi Muriko, Doraemon, Hajime no Ippo, Overlord, and then whatever show of the week I watch in English. Try to listen for the words or Grammer I read in the English. But I gotta have some mental ease for my old mind.

Wanna find comedy shows as I heard recently that Comedy helps learn a language as they are using all the modern slang and phrases, and even if its not funny to you, as a learner, it’ll imitate the current vernacular.

But alas, I’m picky with my media sometimes.