Review & Giveaway 18: Writing Japanese Katakana

Here’s another review of a book I’ve received from Tuttle Books!
As usual, they have agreed to give (gave) one free copy of this book to a random visitor to my blog!

The book I’m reviewing today is titled “Writing Japanese Katakana (An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook)” by Jim Gleeson.

Writing Japanese Katakana (An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook)

I will put the details of the free drawing for this book at the end of this post.

The written Japanese language has three scripts: hiragana and katakana (collectively known as “kana“) and thousands of kanji.

The script that is taught in this book is katakana. This script is mainly used for writing foreign words (such as English), onomatopoeic words and also it’s used for emphasis (in a similar way that italics are used in English).

I’d recommend learning hiragana before katakana, just as Japanese children do…so, if you don’t already know hiragana, there’s still time to enter the drawing for the free copy of the (a) hiragana study book in this series. (Click here)

“Writing Japanese Katakana (An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook)” is a good book for those who wish to learn Japanese. When studying Japanese, you should start by learning to read and write hiragana…and then, you should study katakana next.
Not only will it help you to be able to read signs, menus, etc in Japan…but knowing and using katakana will help you to pronounce foreign words and onomatopoeia in the way that Japanese people understand them.

This book has plenty of spaces for you to practice writing the katakana characters as you learn them…which is the best way to remember them.
It also has you write some example sentences using the characters you’ve learned up to that point.

“Writing Japanese Katakana (An Introductory Japanese Language Workbook)” can be purchased through Amazon here.

But, as I said above, Tuttle Books has agreed to give (gave) one random visitor to my blog a free copy of this book.

To enter the drawing for the free book, submit this form by 2015 August 31st:

***** Updated August 31st, 2015 *****

This special promo ended on 2015 August 31st. One random winner was selected and contacted directly by Tuttle Publishers (via email) with the details about the free book.

Thank you to all who entered, but only the winner was contacted.
*****

Review & Giveaway 16: Japanese Kanji Made Easy

Yet another book from Tuttle Books!
Once again, they have agreed to give (given) one free copy of this book to a random visitor to my blog!

(Click here to read all of my reviews and giveaways.)

This book is titled “Japanese Kanji Made Easy: Learn 1,000 Kanji and Kana the Fun and Easy Way (with audio CD)” by Michael L. Kluemper.

“Japanese Kanji Made Easy: Learn 1,000 Kanji and Kana the Fun and Easy Way”

I will put the details of the free drawing for this book at the end of this post.

The written Japanese language has three scripts hiragana and katakana (collectively known as “kana“) and thousands of kanji.
This book introduces useful 1000 kanji and kana in an easy-to-remember method with illustrated pictographs.
Each kanji has the English meaning written, as well as the pronunciation in romaji (English alphabet).
It even has a CD so you can listen to the correct pronunciation of each word!

I already know all of the kanji (and of course, kana) in this book, but I can tell that it would make learning them easier than the straight memorization way that I did!

If you’re interested in learning Japanese, this book would be immensely helpful to you!

“Japanese Kanji Made Easy: Learn 1,000 Kanji and Kana the Fun and Easy Way” can be purchased through Amazon here.

But, as I said above, Tuttle Books has agreed to give (given) one random visitor to my blog a free copy of this book.

To enter the drawing for the free book, submit this form by 2015 May 10th:

***** Updated May 10th, 2015 *****

This special promo ended on 2015 May 10th. One random winner was selected and contacted directly by Tuttle Publishers (via email) with the details about the free book.

Thank you to all who entered, but only the winner was contacted.
*****

Foreign celebrities messages to Japan

Lady Gaga, the American singer arrived in Tokyo yesterday to promote a new album or perform a concert.

I’m not a fan of Lady Gaga. I’m not sure why she came here exactly. I wouldn’t have given her arrival here a second thought…until I saw what she did to her arm and purse.

Before her flight landed in Tokyo, Lady Gaga had someone (probably a Japanese passenger on the same flight) write on her arm and her white handbag (that was probably an expensive designer brand) in Japanese カタカナ (“katakana“) script.

And then she paraded through Japan’s Narita Airport showing off her bag with 「アイ　ラブ　スモール　モンスター　　東京ラブ」 (“I love small monster. Tokyo love“) written in black permanent marker on it, and her arm with 「アイ　ラブ　リトル　モンスター」 (“I love little monster“) written on it.

Whatever that’s supposed to mean!!

Many foreign celebrities come to Tokyo and show off tattoos, or T-shirts with Japanese writing.

“I love little monster” written on your arm or 「一番」 (“Number One“) on your T-shirt is just as ridiculous in Japanese in Japan as it is in English in a “western country”.

「一番」 ("Number one") T-shirt

Just a few things…

Just a few random items…

• My second daughter will return home this evening from her 林間学校 (field trip) to 新潟 (Niigata). 🙂
• A couple days ago, there was another big 地震 (earthquake) in 岩手県 (Iwate Prefecture)…the same area that had a big earthquake last month (you can read my post about that earthquake here).
• A few more people have agreed to do interviews for my site. I’ll post them as soon as I get their responses to my questions.
• Did you notice that anytime you see 漢字 (Japanese kanji characters) on my site, if you hover your mouse over it, the ふりがな (kana characters that show the proper reading of kanji) appears? Does this help you?
• What are you favorite places, events, things to do in the Tokyo area? Just wondering.