A Dictionary of Japanese Particles

by Sue A. Kawashima

For English-speaking students of Japanese, particles are perhaps the most difficult aspect of the language to learn. It would be no exaggeration to say that, for most people, they can never be completely mastered. Thus, the study of particles is a lifetime undertaking, and students need a
lifelong companion to help them along the way. That companion is A Dictionary of Japanese Particles .

Covering over 100 particles in alphabetical order, the dictionary explains the meanings of each (most have more than one) and gives sample sentences for each meaning.

Illustrations are provided where necessary for clarification. There are also exercises at the back of the book for those who wish to test their knowledge of particle usage. Appendices and endpaper charts are provided for easy access.

A Dictionary of Japanese Particles is an essential reference work, meant to be used over the years as students continue to confront puzzling particles.

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

346 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 1999

Reviews

[Punk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hold on to your butts because the romanization in this is jacked up. The introduction describes it as "basically" following the Hepburn system. You get to discover for yourself that this means it transliterates おう (ou) as oo and えい (ei) as ee, which boggles the mind and will also fuck up your Japanese. And, yeah, I know I shouldn't be paying any attention to the romaji, but it's the biggest text on the page and the Japanese is small, like magnifying glass small, and my eyeballs alone aren't powerful enough to read it. The kanji are accompanied by furigana, but it is, as is traditional, also too small to be read by human eyes. ENHANCE!!

And, yes, if you're wondering, I actually did read this dictionary of Japanese particles. Here's the good news, mixed with more bad news: The endpapers have a handy chart of all the particles covered in the book complete with page numbers for quick reference, and that, along with the two glossaries—English-Japanese and Japanese-English—work as indexes. But neither are cross referenced, so if you're looking for gurai, you have to know to look under kurai for it.

Or you can just flip through the book. Particles are in ABC order, but the pages don't have headwords, which is a problem because if you just open the book there's no easy way to tell what you're looking at. The edges of the pages do have little printed tabs to tell you what letter you're under, though, so at least you know where you are in the alphabet. Entries use an outline structure that relies on a baroque system of numbers and letters in slightly different fonts to differentiate usage definitions and which is unparsable if an entry goes on for longer than a page and most do. Like does this 2) belong under B) or 1. or is it maybe its own thing? That is not for you to know at a glance.

There are multiple full-sentence examples for every usage, which increases the chance of your recognizing the vocabulary and getting their purpose, but the English translations are often awful, unnatural and awkward, and don't do an adequate job of demonstrating the particular flavor a particle can bring to a sentence. Tofugu does a much better job of offering natural interpretations of particles that may otherwise be made entirely of vibes.

I found the entries for が and も to be especially helpful, covering which particles they may replace, or be replaced by, but the は entry is unusually brief, and it dodges the old は vs が issue by simply not speaking of it. I would have liked more detail about all the work は does, especially which particles it regularly shoves aside, and all the nuance it can bring to a sentence, but, as I said, nuance isn't something this book is very good at.

At the back are extensive exercises meant to test your knowledge of particles, complete with answer key. I did the "は or が" section and found it to be a good review.

3.5 stars, rounded down for the punishingly tiny Japanese, bizarre romanization, unnatural English translations, lack of headwords, and muddled layout.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grammar dictionaries are one of the most useful tools for students of a foreign language, and they stay handy later for a quick look-up when doing translation work. This book is a good guide through the world of Japanese particles with well-chosen/formulated example sentences that are slightly more complex than bare-bones examples yet not so complicated as to obscure the grammar they're meant to illustrate. The dictionary also manages to cover a wide number of particles and variations; though the number of illustrative sentences for certain particles is unfortunately low. This book is probably most convenient as a quick look-up tool, but for studying Japanese the example sentences do make for useful flashcards. The inclusion of drills at the back is also a nice touch (and again good for flashcard study [info-deletion, if you're familiar with the concept]).

[Rai Keyri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish the author separate the most commonly used Japanese particles from the not-so common. It's like she kept adding the not-so common and other usages or examples to lengthen the book, which I think can be easily summarized. I also wish she gave examples on how the particles are used in their daily regular shortcut conversations and not the polite form or keigo which they don't really use in their daily conversations in Japan.

[Glynis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Japanese use of particles is as mysterious and confusing as the English use of "the." Try to explain the various meanings and nuances of "the" to a non-native speaker. For non-native learners of Japanese, the particles are every bit as confusing and there are a ton of them. Each particle has its own shade of meaning; fascinating and frustrating.

I don't know that one could actually read and retain this whole book. Well, unless you were one of Those people. However, it was interesting to flip through. Even with a simple skim, some of the whys and hows have made my understanding of the particles a bit better--and how cool is that?

[Timolin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My professor wrote this book and when she said that the examples given were from questions posed by her students, it was absolutely true! Anyone who wants to understand the Japanese language and to put sentences together smoothly, this is the book for you!

[itsumoAoi · Rating 3 out of 5]

still in a slow progress XD...anyway, a good book - no doubt - unlike common dictionary, this one enhanced with complete examples and practice pages (with key answer)