Every Wednesday we discount a book as low as it can go for 24 hours or so. Today’s Super Suiyoubi deal is Beyond Polite Japanese.
I think any student of Japanese should get this book at some point–not recommended for beginners, though; even Picasso learned the rules before he broke them.
This book has fun words like 義理チョコ (chocolate given out of a sense of duty or obligation on Valentine’s Day) and 社会の窓 (One’s fly; barn door) as in
社会の窓が開いてパンツがまる見えだぜ。 shakai no mado ga aite pantsu ga marumie da ze.
Barn door’s wide open and you can see his shorts.
I had never heard the second example, but I will be sure to watch for chances to use it. This book is full of similar fun words.
Anyway, the cover price is $17; Amazon sells it for $12.75; we are selling it today (only) for $9. That is 47% off. Cheap at The Japan Shop.
I was looking at the stats for the download section and was amazed to see how many people have downloaded files.
The average file rating is 4.042 out of 5 stars
There are 47 files in the database
There has been a total of 57,555 downloads
The newest file is Japanese Beginner Phrases Podcast 9
The highest rated file is Chapter 5 with a rating of 5 out of 5 stars
The lowest rated file is Listening Practice #2: Golden Week with a rating of 2 out of 5 stars
The most downloaded file is Grammar PDF: Hou ga ii with 4,339 downloads
The least downloaded file is Japanese Beginner Phrases Podcast 9 with 12 downloads
The average number of downloads each file has is 1,224.574
Note: The links above are direct links, but it is ‘prettier’ to find them through the main download page: HERE
We have 47 files for download. Many of these are ebooks with audio, but there are a few PDF lessons and other miscellaneous items.
I got an advertisement from Oxford University Press with a special sale on the OED. The Oxford English Dictionary is, well, the mother-of-all-dictionaries.
Oxford is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the dictionary’s completion. It was started in 1857 and the original 10 volumes was completed in 1928. It has since grown to 20 volumes and is widely considered the most authoritative voice on word definitions and etymology.
Well, the advert had it on sale for $895 and the first 100 people to respond would get a 6-month subscription to the OED online.
This was a good deal, I thought, until I saw on Amazon it was even cheaper. I don’t think you get the 6 month subscription, but, hey, you have the books! The Oxford English Dictionary (20 Volume Set)
There is also a CD version, but some of the reviews I’ve read aren’t too favorable.
It would be nice to have it as a stand alone electronic dictionary. The Oxford Dictionary of English (also excellent, but a different beast in itself), is installed in the Casio XD-GP9700 and a few other models, but so far no one that I know of has the OED. One day there will be a perfect electronic dictionary.
I mentioned a few months back that I was experimenting with podcasting and iTunes. Well, we just uploaded #8 and have up to #12 in the can waiting for Clay to add to the site and update the XML file.
The other day I went to the podcast’s home in iTunes (Clicking here will open iTunes and go there) and discovered a comment. Whohoo! Our first comment. The commenter had mixed feelings about it because he saw it as more of an advertisement for the site due to the small number of podcasts.
Well, I absolutely admit it is an advertisement for TheJapanesePage.com :) I’m not above that. But I thought we had seven podcasts which isn’t a bad start. I hadn’t done one in two months because of the move from Japan to Florida, but I had been fairly consistent in getting one or two up a month before then.
Turns out I added the podcasts to TJP, but forgot to update the XML file which tells iTunes when a new podcast is there. Oops. I have fixed that and added another podcast with up to #12 coming soon.
The Nintendo DS (lite) has been a welcomed toy, I mean tool for Japanese language learners.
I didn’t realize it until just now, but Nintendo has just released a new version of the hardware called the DSi (Hmmm… a mirror image of Apple?).
It sports two video cameras, a smaller frame, bigger screens, an SD card slot, better sound, and a built in Internet browser. Sounds nice, but unless the screen is markedly improved, I’ll sit on my (old) DS for now.
It would be nice if the screen had a higher resolution–and it may well be; my only dislike about the current DS is reading small text can be a chore.
Here is the Japanese site and there are several English sites with information (do a Google search for ‘Nintendo DSi news’).
It started yesterday. Suddenly his emphatic ‘No!’ has become a very polite, “No, thank you.”
“Makoto, let’s go use the bathroom”
“No, Thank you.”
“Makoto, eat your food.”
“No, Thank you.”
We are not sure where this politeness came from–and I admit it is better than his previous answer–but we wish he would hurry up and learn, “Yes, Please.”
演歌を聞くと、日本の文化に触れながら日本語の勉強ができるので、一石二鳥だ。
Listening to enka, I learn about Japanese culture and I am able to study Japanese at the same time. I kill two birds with one stone.
I think any student of Japanese should get this book at some point–not recommended for beginners, though; even Picasso learned the rules before he broke them.
