The Handbook of Japanese Verbs

Rating:
Summary: Useful, but not
Review: I bought this book because Amazon was including it at a discount with one of Kodansha's Furigana Dictionaries. Because of that inclusion, I assumed it would have the pronunciations written in kana, I was unfortunately wrong. The structures it introduces seem quite useful, but as a student of the "new method" in which kana literacy is introduced during the first two weeks of learning, reading the book is almost literally painful. Because of that, I've not been able to sit down with it for more than about 5 seconds at any given time.

I find it more disappointing that Kodansha doesn't publish a kana-only edition of this book, because, like I said, it's structures seem quite useful. If such an edition existed, I'd most certainly work my way through its exercises and be giving it a 5 star review right now. I'm not saying that having a roma-ji edition is bad, but providing kana-only as an option would make the book more useful to the new generation of students who are all learning Japanese the same way I am, without ever learning roma-ji in the first place.

Rating:
Summary: Put some variety in your sentence structure
Review: I like the book for three things. Firstly, it is really systematic. Each section begins with the sentence pattern, followed with several examples, and then the exercise section. Secondly, this book comes with Kanji and Romaji. As Kanji is the so-called life-application form of Japanese (i.e. used in Japanese comic books, newspapers, novels etc), the use of Kanji in the book helps me to recognise written Kanji in my favourite Japanese magazines (for eg.). The use of Romaji helps me to know the pronunciation of each word, so it saves me the trouble of having to check the dictionary. Romaji also helps with my listening. Lastly, its syllabus closely resemble my Japanese class materials, and hence it was a great refresher for someone who has learned Japanese for three years (i.e. but that was four years ago).

Rating:
Summary: invaluable for the serious student
Review: I must confess that Japanese verbs had, until this book, been somewhat mystifying to me. The textbooks I've used explain how to conjugate Japanese verbs, but in a clear as mud manner. I also have Tuttle's and have looked at Barron's verb books, both of which are basically just conjugation tables to memorize (Tuttle's being better than Barron's).

But Ms. Kamiya's book is different. She teaches you how to conjugate in a very straight forward way. It's almost easy. The first part of the book works through example conjugations with 5 verbs to try for each syllable ending (answers in the back of the book).

Also, she gives you literally scores of usage patterns with the conjugations, and those make up the bulk of the book. Each and every one of those usages comes with three excellent example sentences. Every few patterns you get 5-10 practices sentences (answers in the back of the book). She's also taken the time to make sentences at a vocabulary level mortal students can understand.

In addition to the answers, the back of the book lists all the usage patterns you've learned in the book and has good-sized J-E and E-J verb glossaries, the J-E being divided by group 1, 2, and 3 + suru verbs.

In addition to being one of the best books for learning Japanese, it's very easy to use. I read it straight through the first time like a novel!

Rating:
Summary: Sugoi
Review: This book was the single most valuable book for learning japanese that i used during my year long exchange in Japan.

Rating:
Summary: Verbs and nothing else, but...
Review: This is a wonderful little book. You need to be at a point in your Japanese studies where working with verbs is a problem before you even bother. And you need to know the hiragana to make best use of the handbook. (Everything is written in romaji in addition to kanji though.)

Now if you know a fair amount of Japanese and if you know your kana, you might think you aren't going to need a book that deals only with verbs. Unlike a (proper) English sentence, a Japanese sentence can comprise nothing but verbs (although some of them might be acting like nouns). If you know why you say kawanai, but kaimasu, then you don't need this book. If you know the difference between sumitai and sumitagaru, then you don't need this book.

But if verbs are giving you a problem or if you are moving from a purely auditory learning system to the written language, then you will want this book. I found the "pattern" treatment of Type I or u-dropping verbs particularly helpful. (I learned it in about half an hour.) Also, since I am working with written Japanese more than spoken Japanese, I am finding the comprehensive list of patterns (over 150) extremely useful. But if I were concentrating on the spoken language I would still need to know which form goes with which auxiliary. And it's all here, presented systematically for easy digestion.

My only complaint is that the practices give too much help with the auxiliaries. It really needs two levels of practice -- one that reinforces verb endings and one that reinforces verb ending + auxiliaries.

Rating:
Summary: A grammar text
Review: This is not a "user friendly" book for the casual learner of Japanese. This is nothing more or less than a small, pocket-book sized grammar text for using Japanese verbs. "Te" forms, "tara" forms, "hoshii" forms are all covered, along with pretty much every other possible conjugation. This is no dictionary, however, so do not expect to learn any new words. Just expect to make better use of the verbs you already know.

The sections are broken down well, and there are very small practice sections at the end of each chapter. For what it is, it is an excellent resource. I would recommend this book to serious, college level learners of Japanese.

Rating:
Summary: Subarashi!
Review: This very friendly little book is a fantastic tutorial in the proper use of Japanese verb forms in nearly all their conjugations and uses. Sample sentences are throughout, most of them quite useful and suitable for memorization verbatim, and workbook style drills accompany every section of every chapter.

This is, however, more of a workbook than a reference; for the latter, look no further than Naoko Chino's "Japanese Verbs at a Glance". For a workbook, however, this has (in my experience) no peer.

"Language learning is overlearning", and with that in mind, Kamiya offers lots of practice and sample bunkei which, when worked through, will offer a truly impressive insight into the mechanics of Japanese verb USAGE (not just academic conjugation).

My last class (I'm a second year student at the Geos School in NYC) taught me the '-nagara' verb ending. By using Kamiya's book at home these past few days I feel confident in my usage of what amounted to no more than a footnote in "Japanese For Busy People II" textbook. Excellent. Now I can tell my girlfriend not to talk with her mouth full!

A fun, fine, and ultimately indespensible book for any (that means all) verb-challenged intermediate students. Kamiya is one of the best teachers I've studied - try to get a copy of her "Japanese Particle Workbook" - another five star title on a stubbornly difficult subject.