Dirty Japanese: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*ck Off!" | 
 enlarge | Author: Matt Fargo
Publisher: Ulysses Press
Category: Book
List Price: $10.00
Buy New: $1.88
You Save: $8.12 (81%)
New (23) Used (6) from $1.88
Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 17497
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.5
ISBN: 1569755655
Dewey Decimal Number: 495.67
EAN: 9781569755655
ASIN: 1569755655
Publication Date: April 26, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
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Product Description
Invaluable for those traveling to Japan, this guide features useful sidebars featuring English expressions commonly used in Japan. Pronunciation guides, a reference dictionary, sample dialogues, and an offensiveness-rating system from "use at will" to "use at your own risk" also help readers learn to communicate effectively.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT July 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have a fairly large collection of Japanese language textbooks (many of which I've bought at Amazon over the years). Much to my surprise, I've found that I consistently use all of them and none of them collect much dust.
However, with this particular title, I've finally found a real dud among my Japanese language learning texts.
The biggest problem is the lack of an index (which pretty much means that, while some people may find the book funny to thumb through, they won't find it useful as a reference book).
The second big problem is that the author injects far too much of himself into the book. He very loudly and aggressively wants us all to know that he is the hippest person to ever walk the streets of Japan.
That, combined with his endless, jarring hip hop/street slang is very distracting and annoying (it was annoying enough almost two decades ago when the middle-class Vanilla Ice tried to convince us he came from the 'hood; it's even more annoying now).
I would also fault the author's grasp of the Japanese language. His "English" translations of a lot of phrases include many expletives that simply aren't there in the original Japanese text.
Last, but not least, is that the author doesn't seem very well informed about Japan. He informs us that Japanese cops don't carry guns (not true) and that they're the biggest jerks in the world. The fact is, if the Tokyo police were indeed "jerks" to the author, he richly deserved it (as he gleefully spends much of the book talking about all the fights and reckless trouble that he got into while in Japan). For the record, I've visited Japan and found it to the safest, most peaceful nation I've ever seen. The Japanese people are some of the most polite folks on earth--but you'd think they were all a bunch of violent thugs after reading this book.
The world still needs a good comprehensive reference book that rounds up Japan's trendy language and street slang. This book isn't it.
 Beware... June 2, 2008
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I am a student of the Japanese language so I bought a copy of "Dirty Japanese" thinking it would nicely round out my education, which is mostly from staid textbooks. Well, I showed it to a bunch of my Japanese friends, and they were laughing their a**es off at the extent to which many of the phrases in the book were either inaccurate or simply dated. I admit this book is somewhat humorous to read even if you don't speak Japanese at all, but beware, you might not be learning anything useful by reading it.
 Good Book May 29, 2008
I work for the Union Pacific Railroad as a Locomotive Engineer, this book will surely help in passing the time. Theres a Spanish one coming out here soon which will help me out in Mexico. I was just wanting to see how it was put together to help me decide if i should purchase it. This book looks like it will make for some laughs.
Very funny book with some minor flaws. May 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found this book and I am a student learning Japanese. I found this book to be very humorous, especially in the order they put them in. I like the little side sections they put in such as the tan-tan-tanuki drinking song. I find this very enjoyable and I think many other people would find this book wonderful and humorous to read also unless you have no sense of humor.
Very funny! April 5, 2008
I would recommend this book to anyone who actually wants to go to Japan and be able to speak casually (as opposed to what is taught in college classes) to people at clubs, on the street, etc. Sometimes it's frustrating when you can't learn exactly what you *want* to say, especially if you're wanting to hit on that cute Japanese guy/chick in class and you want to impress them. Even if you're not going to use it, it is very interesting and funny to read. This is for people who already have some knowledge of the Japanese language. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who isn't familiar with Japanese sentence structure.
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