A tidy little book on Japanese language and usage, which I looked into as a possible pathway to the intermediate level after working through the two volumes of Genki. It is not a textbook in the usual sense, but a set of concise essays or expositions of particular parts of the language. The section on the use of the particles wa and ga, usually called 'subject matters' in a loose sense, is particularly detailed: the author demonstrates the subtle, but very real differences in the sense conveyed by the two particles respectively, and the misunderstandings that can arise if they are used mechanically. It's a short book, so you don't mind if it doesn't actually drill you in higher grammar or new vocabulary. At the end of this short but dense essay, one realizes that an average Japanese sentence has a number of particles and connectors, that are probably not covered in an introductory course, but which have to be sorted out if any sense is to be made! So this book is not for the beginner. ( )

What a treat! Almost 5 stars, if only I wasn't lost for most of it. I don't know how to speak Japanese, and am a rank beginner in terms of learning to read it, so some of the trickier bits sailed past me--but it was astonishing how much I grasped, and how enjoyable it was to read about the intricacies of this language from an opinionated, humorous, knowledgeable author.

I even ran around quoting bits of it to uninterested friends, colleagues, and family, that's how much I liked it. It reads like a series of blog posts of varying lengths on several subjects, and you're sure to find a few of them to your taste, if not all.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! ( )

Docking a star for misogyny and general douche-baggery. ( )

It's too bad this awesome book is out of print because it really helps you to learn to think in Japanese. It should be a required text for every college Japanese course! ( )

It does not seem possible that a book providing a rigorous comparative grammar for Japanese and English could be funny, well paced, and well written. But Making Sense of Japanese does just that. For those in the first three years of the difficult climb to proficiency in Japanese, this book will give you a pleasant lift. Rubin's concept of the "zero pronoun" provides an elegant answer to the enigma of the particles は and が。 ( )