Learn Japanese Today

Today we’re looking at Japanese Street Slang by Peter Constantine. This book contains some adult content, not pictures or anything. Just really vulgar Japanese. I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re under 16. See parents, I tried.

I know what you’re thinking. Why learn slang? Well that would be a good question if this was a textbook broken up into chunks of vocab and grammar you have to memorize before you can go on to the next chapter. I’m going to go ahead and say it. The point of this book isn’t to learn slang, it’s to learn why slang is how it is.

Peter Constantine, a British linguist most famous for his voluminous work in literary translation, brings his fascination and passion for language as the driving force of the book. The book is half-dictionary, half-chapter book as it is an alphabetical series a 1 page or longer essays for a series of slang words. These essays delve into the niche group each slang word started among, its linguistic origins, usage, and it even provides a number of example sentences.

An Amazon.com product review described this book by saying “the explainations of the words and expressions are too long: more vocabulary could be included instead of a mass of explaination.” The same review goes on to complain about how the slang is outdated and needs to be researched again. I think this is kind of missing the point of the book. It was written in 1992, so most of the slang is outdated and most would be weird for you to say, but that’s really only a problem if you wanted a slang textbook. The slang in Japan changes daily, and the only way to have a completely up-to-date knowledge is to live there. This book gives you, rather than extremely temporary vocab lists, fascinating linguistic essays that really help you understand the way Japanese slang works, a topic shyed away from by Japanese and linguistics textbooks alike. Plus, it’s a damn fun read.

Ease of Use: 7

The chapters are organized in alphabetic order by romanized Japanese (starts with A). If you know the word you want in Japanese, then it’s very easy to find it. However, if you’re looking for a certain word in English it can be sort of frustrating. There is an index in the back, but the print is small and its hard to find the right page. In the sequel to this book, “Japanese Slang: Uncensored,” the words are grouped by content and by the groups that use them, and I think this is a much more effective organization structure.

Authenticity: 4

Most of this slang is out-of-date, and not stuff you want to incorporate into your vocabulary. That being said, the process by which words become slang in Japanese remains very much the same today. Some of these words (mune, suri, unko…) I still hear all the time today, and most of those aren’t really slang, but really the Japanese word for dirty/criminal things, which textbooks are terrible at teaching. If you’re unsure of a word, ask a Japanese friend. If you don’t have one, work on your social skills. In the meantime, use a dictionary. I guess.

Quantity of Knowledge: 9

There are all sorts of great tidbits of information, especially about the more vulgar side of Japan, that you just can’t find anywhere else. For example, in the etymology of the word he meaning “fart,” Constantine presents this authentic haiku.

Waga oya no
Shinuru toki ni mo
He o  kokite

Even as my father
Lay dying
I farted

I kid you not. You need to get this book for that haiku if nothing else.

Price: 9

I’m not kidding you, right now you can get this book on amazon for $0.26. No joke. You still have to pay $4 shipping and handling, but come on. They’re practically giving it to you. Click here.

Fun: 9

This book is great fun. Aside from the bonus of learning slang words to use with your buddies outside of class, or more importantly, your buddies in Japan, this book also teaches you a lot of interesting stuff about the seedy underbelly of Japan in a really hilarious way. Totally worth it, even for non-students of Japanese who have some interest in either Japan or linguistics.

Overall: 7.7

That probably seems like a pretty random number. That’s probably because it is. I didn’t feel comfortable giving this book an 8 because of how outdated/culturally niched it is, but all things considered it’s really fun and really educational. But don’t tell your parents/senseis I told you about this. Oh wait. Yes you should. I could use the hits.

I covered some of this yesterday in my review of １００万回生きたねこ , but I think its important to know how to use multiple sources outside of textbooks to improve your Japanese. Just like my article on learning Japanese from TV and movies , this article will provide you with some solid tips for reading Japanese picture books.

Use the pictures (duh):

Seems obvious, but don’t just give the pictures a passing glance. Really try to understand what’s going on and look at the emotions and physical details of the characters. Think of the picture as kind of a subtitle, a direct translation of the written word, except into a colorful drawing instead of another language. Try to look at the picture as you read down the page. When you get to the end of the page, think about what things in the picture haven’t been talked about and see how they match up to the words you don’t know. Could they contextually match up?Any words that you still don’t know should be looked up in a dictionary.

Be Careful of Kanji and Kana:

Children’s books often use very few kanji, and some none at all. It’s important that if you learn a new word in hiragana, you look up its kanji right afterward so you can connect them in your mind. Using mostly kana makes it much easier to look up words out of a children’s book, but don’t forget that most of those words have a kanji too.

Two Atama are Better than One:

Read with someone else. Struggling for meaning just from context develops a specific part of the brain that isn’t used very often outside of immersion situations, so having someone to help you is really nice. You might think about things in different ways, and figure out more stuff through teamwork. It’ll also help you remember better. This is actually a really fun thing to do with your friends when you have some time to kill, give it a try.

Read it Again!

I know it seems like I’m a big advocate of repitition, but I really try to only push for things that are fun and easy to do multiple times, like read a children’s book. Reading once you know the story makes it a lot easier to put words into place, and it really doesn’t take that long. Just try to read your favorite Japanese children’s book every month or so, or however long it takes you to forget some of it. It’s perfect for reading yourself a bedtime story.

I had a ridiculous 13 hour-day at the paper, and I’m just super tired. But I could never get tired of this book.

Today I’ll be reviewing one of the great Japanese ehon (picture books), Hyakumankai ikita neko by Yoko Sano. The title of the book means “the cat who lived 1 million times,” and the story follows him through his lives with different owners. I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll cut right to the chase.

Ease of Use:  8.5

I think most of us could figure out how to read a picture book, but for those of you who can’t, there might be something to help you if you don’t understand what’s going on…(hint: pictures). Oh wait, that was more of the answer than a hint. Use the pictures to guide you’re understanding and make guesses, then try to only use your dictionary after you’ve read the whole page. I’ll be writing an article about getting the most out of children’t books tomorrow.

Authenticity: 8

１００万回生きたねこ is one of the better children’s books for you to read, as it still uses a decent amount of kanji. Many children’s books use no kanji at all, and learning the hiragana for a word that’s normally written in kanji makes you equally illiterate as far as that word is concerned. So this is good. Another good thing about children’s books is that they are usually designed to teach kids to read, which means they can teach you how to read too. In order to do this, these books often use a very basic vocabulary without any fancy show-off words, which is exactly what any Japanese student needs. Don’t get used to the spaces and abundant hiragana though, the real world is a scary, unspaced, and kanji-filled place.

Quantity of Knowledge: 5

It’s a children’s book. Gimme a break. It’s just really short, it isn’t especially devoid of learning compared to other children’s books, it’s just short.

Price：5

The best way to get this book is to buy it when you’re in Japan. I got mine new for 1400 yen ($13), but if I shopped around I probably could’ve gotten it down to 1000 ($9.50). I saw it in the states at Mitsuwa, my local Japanese marketplace, but it was around $20, and this kind of overpricing isn’t uncommon for Japanese books sold in the states. You can buy it at amazon.co.jp for 1450 yen new and 850 used, but then you have to pay for shipping too, so it’s tough. If you’re school/town has a library with East Asian books in it, you should raid it for children’s books. They’re really hard to get anywhere else.

Fun: 10

I think this is kind of a misuse of the fun category, but I don’t particularly care. The book isn’t so exciting that you want to read it again as soon as you finish it, but it does have a really nice story, and I get a lot of satisfaction from reading a really good story entirely in Japanese. I think you will too.

Overall: 7.8/∞

You don’t quite get the bang for your buck as far as knowledge/$ with this book, which is way I don’t feel like I can score it higher, but you do get something more than just language skills. You get a story you can play back in your head any time you want or tell to others, and you get the satisfaction of feeling like a kid again as you struggle your way through a picture book. It’s really a beautiful experience. I promise you it’s worth the money.

Remember how I had that tidbit about -っぽい a couple posts ago, and I said it’s something you don’t really find in textbooks. Well, they have it in this book. 13 Secrets for Speaking Fluent Japanese by author and translator, Giles Murray, shown below rocking out a very stylish purple shirt.

This book basically kicks ass. Each secret has it’s own chapter and they range from manga translation, to children’s word games, to detailed explanations and histories for some of the more interesting loan words. The chapters I found most useful were the chapter containing 41 prefixes and suffixes you probably won’t find in textbooks(like -ppoi), and the synonym generator chapter, which teaches you four other ways of replacing a word you don’t know, so your conversations can go more fluidly without a dictionary. I have started applying these secrets in conversation and my Japanese has gotten noticeably better. For a detailed outline of all the secrets, check out Giles Murray’s website here.

Anyways on to the fun part of the review:

Ease of Use: 8.5

Each secret is well organized, usually with a lesson at the beginning, followed by some way to test what you’ve learned, and then a list of vocabulary used at the back. Each secret is pretty clear about what it offers, but this really isn’t the kind of book you can look in for a certain piece of information like a dictionary. You just have to read it and see what you learn.

Authenticity: 9

The real strength of this book is in teaching you all sorts of ins and outs of authentic Japanese that would be hard to cover in a textbook. There’s a lot of stuff in this book that I’ve tried out and found immensely useful and accurate in conversation with Japanese people. However, you should be careful with the included Blackjack manga, as well as manga in general. A lot of the vocabulary used is archaic or niche-slang, not stuff you would generally use.

Quantity of Knowledge: 9

For the size of this book, there’s so much useful knowledge, including idiomatic expressions and fluency tips, that it’s really hard to find consolidated anywhere else. Each secret feels fully fleshed out, and the vocabulary lists and glossary give you a little something extra to study after you’ve read the book.

Price:9

Right now you can get this book for $7-$12 on Amazon, and it’s easily worth that. When I first bought it at Borders it cost $17, and I still don’t regret it at all.

Fun: 10

This is easily the most fun Japanese learning book I’ve ever used . I’d often find myself reading it instead of watching TV, and I think that really speaks to its strengths. The book is written with such an air of frivolity and humor that you just don’t want to run out of secrets. Trust me, it’s so good.

Overall: 9.3

There’s never a dull moment with this book, and it stands up so well to multiple rereads. If you don’t have the extra $10, check the library or borrow it from a friend. You need to read this book.

To buy it online, click here

For other books by Giles Murray, click here

I’ll try to get some of those up in the future. I hope you enjoyed the first review!