In Japanese, register -- the way you change your words depending on
who you are speaking to -- plays a key role. The rules of register in
Japanese are far more complicated than they are in English, but until
now there hasn't been a book that lays it all out in an accessible
format. Japanese for All Occasions is a much-needed introduction to
this bewildering aspect of the language, aimed at intermediate students
and above.
Through 57 dialogues, veteran teacher Taeko Kamiya shows learners how
the Japanese change their way of speaking according to the social
setting or their relationship with the listener, with examples ranging
from casual to superpolite. Chapters are organized by function
("Introducing People," "Identifying Things," etc.) so that learners can
absorb the most common sentence patterns used in daily life at the same
time that they study casual, polite, and honorific styles. Each chapter
presents three similar dialogues that show contrasting styles of speech.
Detailed notes explain the grammar or usage at work in the dialogues,
and quizzes at the end of each chapter allow learners to test their
understanding. Best of all, the book comes with a free CD containing all
the dialogues, narrated by professional Japanese actors.