Japanese Folktales for Language Learners: Bilingual Legends and Fables in Japanese and English (Free online Audio Recording)

by Eriko Sato, Anna Sato (Illustrator)

Learn about Japanese culture while improving your language skills!

Japanese Folktales for Language Learners presents 22 traditional stories in parallel Japanese and English versions on facing pages, with detailed notes and exercises aimed at beginning to intermediate learners. This book can be used as a language reader and will be of great interest to anyone wishing to learn more about Japanese culture and folklore.

The stories in this collection gradually increase in length and complexity as the book progresses. They include:

• The Candy-Buying Ghost - A female ghost mysteriously buys candy every night from a small village shop, until one night she reveals her true identity and her tragic story.
• The Old Man Who Made Trees Blossom - Regarded as one of the five greatest Japanese folktales, this touching story tells of a kind old man who uses his magical powers for good.
• The Abandoned Mother - An elderly woman is abandoned at the top of a mountain by her own son, a reference to the old practice of senicide in Japan.

Vocabulary lists, cultural notes, exercises and discussion questions help to reinforce an understanding of the stories and bolster language skills. Free online recordings of all the stories are provided.

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

320 pages, Paperback

Published October 4, 2022

About the author

Eriko Sato, Ph.D is Assistant Professor of Japanese Linguistics and Pedagogy in the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Sato's research interests include Japanese linguistics and pedagogy, translation studies, and second language acquisition. In addition to several journal articles in these research areas, Sato published a number of Japanese textbooks and grammar/kanji reference books. Sato serves as the advisor for Teacher Certification Program for Japanese, the Executive Committee Chair for the Japan Center at Stony Brook and the Director of the Pre-College Japanese Program.

Reviews

[james · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have learned a lot about sentence structure reading this book. I started on quite rocky grounds, needing much time and referencing and looking-up to make crude sense of simple stories. And just as I got used to the simple grammar, the book increased the complexity just enough to keep me struggling. The struggle was good though. By the end, I was breezing through most sentences, stopping only for new vocabulary.

[Rai · Rating 5 out of 5]

It can be difficult to find good resources for intermediate Japanese learners. I think this book is a great option! Through these stories you can not only practice reading skills, but also learn foundational folklore that is a part of Japanese culture.
Separating each tale into "parts" makes it easy to not get overwhelmed with a large passage all at once, and it makes it easier to locate unknown words in the glossary included after every chapter. The usage of furigana over the kanji makes it easy to keep reading the story even if you don't recognize the character, but only including them on the first instance of the kanji allows for the reader to practice their recognition of new vocabulary. I thought the glossaries were very thorough, even explaining when certain forms of a verb are used. Having the English text next to the Japanese also allows for quick reference without having to turn to the glossary.
The book also includes a useful "how to use this book" introduction, as well as verb conjugation charts in the back.
One thing to keep in mind is that the English versions of the stories are translated to sound entertaining and natural in English, so they're not always a 1:1 translation. Readers with sufficient knowledge of Japanese will be able to realize when changes are being made in exact sentence structure/vocabulary, and why. But those who are just beginning might be thrown off by the differences. Therefore I think this book is best for intermediate learners.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent practice book for intermediate Japanese learners. Each folktale is broken into parts with the Japanese on one side (oriented left-to-right), and the English translation on the other. Kanji come with the furigana, except in cases where it is repeated in the paragraph, and a vocabulary list follows directly after the story. There are also free audio files online, spoken by a human, to assist with learning rhythm and pitch. This is not a book that teaches the basics of grammar. While it does have cultural notes, and the vocabulary helps to translate specific forms (ex. miru following a verb in the "te" form equals...), it works on the basis that you can read hiragana and katakana and already understand the language to a certain degree. The English translation itself is not word for word, instead it is in colloquial form to highlight the differences in logic between it and Japanese. Some discussion questions follow each story to give readers a chance to form their own sentences, but the strength of this book is the practice it provides in reading, comprehension, and reciting.

[Boston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for the Japanese learner who is approaching intermediate. I recommend trying to read the stories as-is with no help first and see what you can glean from context clues, then look at the vocabulary section, and as a last resort read the English translation to check your work. I enjoyed the illustrations and followup questions as well. Folk tales really are a perfect introduction to literature in another language and this reader is packed with them. There is also free audio of each story online to listen to. I am sure I will revisit this to reread both for enjoyment and to see how much progress I've made since my first reading.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as a present. I like folktales, so I wish this book was around when I was an early intermediate learner and studying full time. The way the book is structured really lends itself to a close analysis of grammar and vocabulary. There are word lists so you can add them to a study list like anki etc. and come back to read the stories again to extract the meaning. For more advanced readers, these lists are still helpful as a reference in case you come across something you don't know, or forgot the meaning/reading.

A really well thought-out book.

[Oji Kenobi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book for intermediate level learners of Japanese. The stories are a bit truncated so they lose some humor and drama compared to other treatments of the same folk tales. But shorter versions allow the authors to include more stories. Detailed notes on vocabulary and grammar are very helpful. Shadow the audio files to improve listening and speaking skills. The individual whose voice you hear is an excellent reader. Not too fast, quite expressive.

[Josh Hatch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book for people progressing into reading longer form stories in Japanese.

The formatting of the book is exceptional, and the comprehension questions at the end of each story really help to clarify the content.

I only have two issues with the book, being that some of the stories are quite dull (as expected of a folktale compilation), and that a lot of the vocabulary is very old and not in frequent use, which is 1;

[Valeria Farinella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for comprehensible Japanese input and for kanji reading. Stories are very interesting from the cultural point of view and for the plot.
The only bad thing is the romaji in the glossary.

[Karltheplaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4,5/5)

The stories aren’t always the best, mainly because they’re very short. But for learning the book is great since there is a vocab list as well as an English text by the side.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book of this kind I've been able to find.

[شيمــــاء シ · Rating 4 out of 5]

great first book for those who want to start reading in japanese at around N4-N3 levels but feel intimidated, it contains 21 stories each one is 3-4 pages long varying in difficulty, but you don't need a dictionary because it provides a vocabulary list, culture notes and grammar points as well as a rough translation on the opposite page.