Lonely Planet: Japanese

Lonely Planet Phrasebooks

by Lonely Planet, Yoshi Abe

Order the freshest "fugu," survive a "karaoke" session and know how deep to bow. Go beyond the shrines, sushi and subway and discover Japan through its language and people.
Our phrasebooks give you a comprehensive mix of practical and social words and phrases in more than 120 languages. Chat with the locals and discover their culture - a guaranteed way to enrich your travel experience.

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

260 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1989

About the author

OUR STORY
A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime – across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end – broke but inspired – they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1500 copies and Lonely Planet was born. One hundred million guidebooks later, Lonely Planet is the world’s leading travel guide publisher with content to almost every destination on the planet.

Reviews

[Yaotl Altan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta es otra maravillosa publicación de Lonely Planet con datos elementales del japonés: hiragana y katakana, formación de sílabas para hilar vocablos, frases de uso común, etc. para iniciar el nado en las aguas del idioma japonés. Lo recomiendo mucho.

[hana m · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really improved my Japanese speaking skills! The phrases in the book range from learning the names of fruits to being able to check in at a hotel! So excited to go to Japan over the Summer with my new Japanese skills.

[VampireNovelFan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This it a very useful pocket reference to use when travelling. I just wonder how easy these phrases are to remember for a person that knows absolutely no Japanese. For me it comes easier because I have studied the language as well as the sentence structure, so a lot of it is just remembering the vocabulary. I think another point that any traveler needs to keep in mind is that Japanese focuses on intonation as well. If someone uses the wrong intonation, it could completely change the meaning of the word. Unfortunately, this book doesn't really express that. For example: "kAmi" (with the stress on the "A") means "god", whereas "kamI" (with a stress on the "I") means "paper". Usually context will help, but it's just a point that travelers should be aware of. I would recommend other references that also include audio so that you can hear how the words sound.

[Naqib · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started to learn the language using this phrasebook. It is useful in various way. But I come to realize that no matter how many phrases you memorize and written down, one need to listen and speak the language. Being a bilingual person, I should have known this earlier. Otherwise, this book is quite useful actually.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Jul 16 2010] Pretty good for a phrasebook. There were a few wrong pages though -- pages 67-68 were in Chinese! The audio is a nice addition; I hope they add an audio component to their other phrasebooks (languages that we only learn a little of specifically for travel).

[Sanchez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must...learn ...japanese...

[John Hoffoss]

Very helpful while I was in Japan. Probably won't use this again, though.

[Liliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative little book defiantly going to use it for my Japan trip

[Genevieve]

i have 2 editions of this but i guess GR will only let you list one edition per title :(

[Tim Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great helper for the Japan-interested

[Jubo]

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es un imprescindible, sin ninguna duda, para viajar a Japón. Al ser un país donde prácticamente nadie habla en inglés ni te entienden, se agradece tener a mano con librito como éste, bien estructurado, donde todo se encuentra de forma rápida y con frases hechas de uso continuo. Sin duda, fue mi salvavidas en más de una ocasión.