Japanese Phrase Book

This book is a great tool to familiarize a western traveler to Japan. Nice comprehensive book, well laid out, good graphics describing a beautiful country.

I found this little Japanese phrase book came in handy during typical everyday situations- dining, asking for directions, greeting people. Useful phrases are grouped by context (situation) which makes it easier to quickly locate the correct expression. Pronunciation guide was good but could be improved. Overall, I would recommend this small phrase book to any English speaker who plans on a short visit to Japan (e.g. on a busniness trip).

Having been to Japan a few times, and exposed to the sound of the language, I can very well see how helpful this nice, concise volume is, and how well the phonetics work. It was well thought out regarding the most common and useful words and phrases, the portability, the division of contents. An easy learning guide, and great to pull and peruse on a short train jaunt.

This book has a lot words in Japanese that you will have to know when visiting a country that speaks the language. If you mispronounce words from the book while speaking to someone, don't worry, they will correct your pronunciation and anunciation. I highly recommend that you get audio tapes so you can not only learn the tranlations from English to Japanese, but you can learn to pronounce them correctly as well. I am currently on a seven month deployment in Okinawa, Japan, as an Infantry Officer in the United States Marine Corps. This book has been a great help and it is small enough to stick in your pocket and read later when you are waiting for an appointment, etc. The trick to learning words from this books is to learn a little at a time.