Basic Connections: Making Your Japanese Flow

Power Japanese

by Kakuko Shoji

Basic Connections provides basic information about expressions and usages that facilitate the flow of ideas and thoughts in written and spoken Japanese. It explains how words and phrases dovetail, how clauses pair up with other clauses, how sentences come together to create harmonious
paragraphs. Since this is a book about the basics it starts with the fundamentals, explaining first the two types of Japanese sentence-"A is B" and "A does B." Then it proceeds to the problem of the modifier and the modified-a matter of "which is which." Wa and ga naturally get considerable play;
after all, it is downright impossible to speak properly without them. There is also a discussion of linking nouns and noun phrases, not to speak of verbs and verb phrases. The book goes on to devote a whole chapter to common mistakes and troublesome usages. The final chapter attempts to pin down
some particularly slippery such as toshite, imada ni, sore kara, whoppers like "Sentence A-te sae inakereba, Sentence B," and many more.

Any beginning or intermediate student, having spent a certain amount of time and energy studying this book, will be able to speak and read Japanese in a much more coherent fashion.

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

152 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Till Raether · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting read even if (like me) you're not on the level yet.

[Jamie CULPON · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I am not a "professional" translator of Japanese, I just read it really quickly and work in video games.

This is my essential reference for the nuances of particles, connectives, and other essential elements of both informal and more formal Japanese writing. I return to this book at least every other year and would hate to have to study for a JLPT without having a copy at hand.

[Federico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una sorta di guida agli aspetti più difficili da comprendere della grammatica giapponese per noi Occidentali. Anche se, chiaramente, si rivolge a un pubblico anglofono, devo dire che sia gli argomenti trattati che il metodo di classificazione degli elementi grammaticali è ottimo anche per noi italofoni.
Una guida che avrei voluto trovare all'inizio del mio percorso di apprendimento di questa lingua.

[Jason Fella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This could be the most important Japanese grammar book you could buy, and I'll tell you why. If you're already learning Japanese, you know how complex the sentence structures and grammar can be. It's one thing to be able to get your ideas across in a reasonably intelligent manner, but it's another thing entirely to make what you're saying flow and sound natural. This book teaches you how to connect ideas and sentences so they more naturally flow into the next one. Now, if you're like me, you might be really good and saying things in Japanese, as long as you don't have to build on what you said the sentence before, or put together one long thought or sentence. This book shows you how to "look ahead" so you can figure out how to construct the sentence from the beginning so that, by the time you get to the end, everything has neatly connected itself along the way.

My only regret is I didn't find this book sooner than I did. It is truly invaluable for the beginning student, and even for the intermediate student, as well. Don't even hesitate to buy this book. It is cheap and EASILY worth the price.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compared to the tomes (Dict of Basic / Int Jp Grammar), this book is a short 150 pages. But, that doesn't mean it's not packed with useful explanations and non-stuffy examples. About half of the concepts are probably what the textbooks would call "beginner"-level (but many with intermediate-level nuances), and the other half "intermediate"-level. The book has one of the best explanations of は vs が that I've seen (though admittedly I haven't seen many). Similar grammar ideas are presented together, so it might be difficult to use as a reference book if you're looking for a quick reminder of something specific though (the ordering seems somewhat arbitrary and there's no index?!).

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a solid resource for grammar reference, but it’s also so straightforward that it gets a bit dry.
It can also get a bit confusing if you’re not intimately familiar with grammar terms and uses in English.
I definitely recommend it as a reference but would keep away from it as a learning/teaching tool.

[Adrienne Seah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Suitable for advanced beginner to low intermediate of Japanese. A typical but concise grammar guide.

[Russ · Rating 4 out of 5]

More useful as a reference book than a straight read. Still has a lot of great advice and examples, though. A handy thing to have on the shelf.