{"id":42244,"date":"2017-12-12T16:01:05","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T20:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=42244"},"modified":"2017-12-17T12:14:22","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T16:14:22","slug":"jq-magazine-book-review-speak-and-read-japanese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2017\/12\/12\/jq-magazine-book-review-speak-and-read-japanese\/","title":{"rendered":"JQ Magazine: Book Review \u2014 \u2018Speak and Read Japanese\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Speak and Read Japanese<\/em> won\u2019t be mistaken for the most thorough guide for learning the language. But it is a nice reminder that injecting humor into language learning can go a long way.” (Stone Bridge Press)<\/p><\/div>\n

By<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Rashaad<\/em><\/strong> Jorden<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(<\/em><\/strong>Yamagata<\/em><\/strong>–<\/em><\/strong>ken<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, 2008-10) <\/em><\/strong>for<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>JQ<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. <\/em><\/strong>A<\/em><\/strong> former<\/em><\/strong> head<\/em><\/strong> of<\/em><\/strong> the<\/em><\/strong> JETAA<\/em><\/strong> Philadelphia<\/em><\/strong> Sub<\/em><\/strong>–<\/em><\/strong>Chapter<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em><\/strong>Rashaad<\/em><\/strong> is<\/em><\/strong> a<\/em><\/strong> graduate<\/em><\/strong> of<\/em><\/strong> Leeds<\/em><\/strong> Beckett<\/em><\/strong> University<\/em><\/strong> with<\/em><\/strong> a<\/em><\/strong> master<\/em><\/strong>\u2019<\/em><\/strong>s<\/em><\/strong> degree<\/em><\/strong> in<\/em><\/strong> responsible<\/em><\/strong> tourism<\/em><\/strong> management<\/em><\/strong>. <\/em><\/strong>For<\/em><\/strong> more<\/em><\/strong> on<\/em><\/strong> his<\/em><\/strong> life<\/em><\/strong> abroad<\/em><\/strong> and<\/em><\/strong> enthusiasm<\/em><\/strong> for<\/em><\/strong> taiko<\/em><\/strong> drumming<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em><\/strong>visit<\/em><\/strong> his<\/em><\/strong> blog<\/em><\/strong> at<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>www<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong>gettingpounded<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong>wordpress<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong>com<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Your JET experience (hopefully) included a lot of Japanese study. Whether you remember what learned is another story. But it might have helped to concoct some humorous words and phrases to help you best retain the new vocabulary.<\/p>\n

Enter the world of mnemonics, courtesy of author Larry Herzberg<\/a>. The longtime professor has created a language guide titled Speak<\/em> and<\/em> Read<\/em> Japanese<\/em>: <\/em>Fun<\/em> Mnemonic<\/em> Devices<\/em> for<\/em> Remembering<\/em> Japanese<\/em> Words<\/em> and<\/em> Their<\/em> Meanings<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

You might be wondering, just what are mnemonics? They\u2019re tools language learners might find indispensable in preventing the meanings of new words from escaping their minds. Early in Speak<\/em> and<\/em> Read<\/em> Japanese<\/em>, Herzberg mentions that such memory hooks have served as the best method of learning new vocabulary in foreign languages for him, for if he could tie the sound of words he was trying to learn to a word in English, he was more likely to retain the new vocabulary.<\/p>\n

So is Herzberg\u2019s work a productive tool for language learners? Well, much of the book is an English-Japanese dictionary featuring the translation of many common words and better yet (for hardcore Japanese learners), detailed breakdowns of each word\u2019s kanji as well as literal translations for some terms. You might not have known that hikouki<\/em> (airplane) is literally translated as \u201cflying-going machine\u201d and shinshitsu<\/em> (bedroom) means \u201csleeping room.\u201d And those wanting to improve writing kanji will be pleased to discover a chart of radicals toward the end of the book.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As for the mnemonics Herzberg includes, they run the gamut from the helpful (For ten<\/em>, the author writes, \u201cA perfect ten on a scale 1-10 is an excellent score\u201d) to the funny (For yuube<\/em>, you\u2019ll be treated to \u201cYou, babe, were so fun last night!\u201d) to the seemingly bizarre and long-winded. But most importantly, while reading the book you should remind yourself to create your own mnemonics as what might suffice for Herzberg in learning Japanese might not work for others.<\/p>\n

Speak<\/em> and<\/em> Read<\/em> Japanese<\/em> won\u2019t be mistaken for the most thorough guide for learning the language\u2014at times, it comes across as a largely glorified glossary (the Japanese terms defined in the book are listed in alphabetical order) and lacks grammatical tips. But it is a nice reminder that injecting humor into language learning can go a long way.<\/p>\n

For fans of Chinese and Japanese language, culture and literature, Stone Bridge Press is currently offering special holiday bundles of related books from now through December 25! Click here<\/a><\/em><\/strong> for more details. For more on <\/em><\/strong>Speak and Read Japanese, <\/em><\/strong>click here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0more<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>JQ<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>magazine<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0book<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0reviews<\/em><\/strong>,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>click<\/em><\/strong> here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Rashaad Jorden\u00a0(Yamagata–ken, 2008-10) for\u00a0JQ\u00a0magazine. A former head of the JETAA Philadelphia Sub–Chapter, Rashaad is a graduate of Leeds Beckett University with a master\u2019s degree in responsible tourism management. For more on his life abroad and enthusiasm for taiko drumming, visit his blog at\u00a0www.gettingpounded.wordpress.com. Your JET experience (hopefully) included a lot of Japanese study. Whether you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,40,291,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articlejournalism","category-books","category-jq-magazine","category-language-study"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pkZ7m-aZm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42244"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42267,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42244\/revisions\/42267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}