Basic Technical Japanese

by R. Byron Bird, Nobuo Inoue, Edward E. Daub

Book Overview

Even if you have had no Japanese-language training, you can learn how to translate technical manuals, research publications, and reference works. Basic Technical Japanese takes you step by step from an introduction to the Japanese writing system through a mastery of grammar and scientific vocabulary to reading actual texts in Japanese. You can use the book to study independently or in formal classes.
This book places special emphasis...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0299127303
• ISBN13: 9780299127305
• Release Date: November 1990
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Length: 800 Pages
• Weight: 4.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 8.5" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

The best book for learning kanji beyond Jorden, really.

I basically agree with many of the other reviewers, but want to be a bit more specific. I attended the Cornell FALCON Program many years ago which focuses on spoken Japanese, but the biggest problem thereafter was developing a professional vocabulary for reading. Virtually all textbooks I knew until this one (except the Jorden book "Reading Japanese" which only covers about 550 kanji) rely on "brute force" memorization of largely unrelated kanji compounds which makes it very hard, even with a good dictionary, to learn to make sense of kanji compounds one has never seen before. I'm probably more determined to read Japanese than most, but brute force just isn't remotely time-efficient and it certainly is no fun. This book (a very big pedagogical improvement over its predecessor by the same authors "Reading Technical Japanese") teaches you to recognize the building blocks, much as if you were expanding your English vocabulary by learning common Latin and Greek roots, prefixes, and suffixes for English words. And this approach helps build vocabulary well beyond the target areas of math, physics, chemistry, and biology also--I found I could read geography, economics, etc far more easily. Reading unfamilar material can still be hard work, but this book is FAR more efficient and I think gives a greater insight into the language.It also teaches characteristics of the written scientific language one doesn't pick up in classes on the spoken language.I literally went from not being able to read a Japanese elementary school math or science book easily (even though I probably knew close to a 1000 general kanji before this book, there were gaps in crucial places that made science very frustrating) to being able to read some college-level science text books and regular technical trade journal after finishing this book. And I worked through this book in about a month--that's what I mean by efficient.There was nothing quite like it for business and finance (a great problem) and I wish they would tackle that field as well, or that someone would follow their approach.

The Best Language Text Ever Written?

This book is really well-thought-out and well written. But the best point about "Basic Technical Japanese" is that it pulls no punches regarding the difficulty of the language. The attitude seems to be, "look, this a tough subject, it's a lot of work, we can't and won't make it easy, so let's get on with it." The authors throw a lot of Japanese at the student in a hurry. They introduce the phonetic alphabets (katakana and hiragana) in Chapters 3 and 4. After that, romanized spellings are no longer available, and Japanese words, phrases, and sentences are given as the Japanese read them. Kanji (Chinese characters) are introduced starting in Chapter 5. Following chapters present the grammar and further vocabulary. In other words, Japanese is presented as it really is. This looks (and is) difficult at first. But if the student is persistent and puts in a solid effort up front, he or she soon learns that the writing system, though complicated, really can be learned. One could say that, in addition to presenting the Japanese writing system, the first chapters allow for some early confidence building. It really provides a lift to the student (at least it did to me) to be able to read a little real Japanese after only a few weeks of study.Too many foreign language textbooks try to simply the learning process. Although this may be valid for many subjects, it probably isn't best for languages. Languages just don't have the basic logic that allows for simplified texts. Languages must be mastered by brute force, meaning lots of memorizing and practicing (and this is especially true of Asian languages). The best language books, therefore, explain grammatical points clearly and thoroughly, present a large basic vocabulary, and try to be as comprehensive as possible. "Basic Technical Japanese" does this very nicely.One caveat though. Even having said what I said above, trying to tackle the Japanese language and writing system at the same time is a huge chore. I'd say a student might do well to start with some basic introduction, even one that doesn't introduce the writing system, just pick up a little grammar and vocabulary (in fact, I ultimately went back and did just that). The authors of "Basic Technical Japanese" also give several references that I myself have found very handy in that regard.

It is a complete course of reading and writing tech japanese

This is a marvelous book: in a few weeks you will be able of reading and writing phrases like: "zinc and chlorhidric acid mix to produce hydrogen and heat". Very clear, well constructed with a lot of examples and exercises. It does not need a dictionary or else it is totally self contained.

Excellent book

This book is an excellent book for foreign students who want to learn technical Japanese at any level. This is the best book on technical japanese I have seen.

BTJ makes reading technical Japanese accessible & fun

"Basic Technical Japanese" is a monumental achievement. It allows a newcomer to Japanese, on his or her own, to acquire a reading knowledge as well as a cultural understanding of the language within the technical context. From day one, you will feel a real sense of accomplishment and by the end of the text, you will definitely be able to pick up almost any technical article in Japanese and with your trusty dictionary (suggestions on appropriate dictionaries are offered by the authors) be able to read and understand it. This text is also being used in the classroom. One of my favorite books and a good bargain at this price.