Essential Japanese Grammar (Dover Language Guides) by Bleiler. Everett F. ( 1963 ) Paperback

by E.F. Bleiler

This logical, developmental presentation of the major aspects of Japanese grammar includes all the necessary tools for speech and comprehension. Designed for adults with limited learning time who wish to acquire the basics of everyday Japanese, this grammar features numerous shortcuts and timesavers. Ideal as an introduction, supplement, or refresher.

Genres: Reference, Language, Japanese Literature, Japan, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published June 1, 1963

About the author

Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) (see also Everett F. Bleiler) was an editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" series of science fiction anthologies, and his Checklist of Fantastic Literature has been called "the foundation of modern SF bibliography". Among his other scholarly works are two Hugo Award–nominated volumes concerning early science fiction—Science-Fiction: The Early Years and Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years—and the massive Guide to Supernatural Fiction.

Bleiler worked at Dover Publications from 1955, becoming executive vice-president of the company from 1967 until he left the company in 1977; he then worked for Charles Scribner's Sons until 1987. He edited a number of ghost story collections for Dover, containing what the genre historian Mike Ashley has described as "detailed and exemplary introductions".

Bleiler received the Pilgrim Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction scholarship in 1984, the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1988, the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1994, and the International Horror Guild Living Legend award in 2004.

Bleiler wrote two works of fiction: the fantasy novel Firegang: A Mythic Fantasy (2006), set in the tree of Yggdrasil as well as moving across time and space, and Magistrate Mai and the Invisible Murderer (2006), a detective story set in ancient China, similar to the work of Robert Van Gulik.

Bleiler's son, Richard, is also a science fiction historian and assisted his father on several of his works.

Reviews

[Adriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is almost 50 years old by the time I read it, so a couple of things are way out of fashion in modern Japanese (at least according to my teacher), but it has some of the most concise and easy to grasp explanations of the most important and basic grammatical elements that I’ve ever seen.
Just one quick look thru it and I finally got the difference between 2 particles that had been plaguing me for a year and no amount of explanation from several teachers could clear up for me.
I highly recommend it not just for when you’re learning but as a reference. The quick look tables it includes should be mandatory teaching/learning tools for all foreigners.

[Nancy Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this book. HOWEVER! There is one huge warning that is a major defect of this book: it only focuses on Japanese in the romanji writing system. In order to fully understand how Japanese works, you are highly advised to master katakana, hiragana and begin to learn at least the more important On and Kun yomi pronounciations of the most commonly used kanji.

If you take away the limitations of this book, it's still great. Did you know that Japanese doesn't have a future tense as such? You have to add a word like tomorrow, next week or a specific hour in order to imply something will happen later.

The book explains verb tenses, negative, a basic introduction to politeness degrees in pronouns, some idioms (many people complain the idioms used are sort of unfashionable but native speakers will understand you nonetheless), adverbs, adjectives and the two numerical counting systems.

I really love this book, it has helped me so much speaking to people during my two trips to Japan. It's such a shame they don't release an updated version in kindle because the book is really worth it. My copy is covered with coffee stains and the front cover is falling apart from overuse. One of the few books I read over and over again.