Japanese Stories For Language Learners

A great story can lead a reader on a journey of discovery—especially if it's presented in two languages! Beautifully illustrated in a traditional style, Japanese Stories for Language Learners offers five compelling stories with English and Japanese language versions appearing on facing pages. Taking learners on an exciting cultural and linguistic journey, each story is followed by detailed translator's notes, Japanese vocabulary lists, and grammar points along with a set of discussion questions and exercises. The first two stories are very famous traditional Japanese folktales: Urashima Taro (Tale of a Fisherman) and Yuki Onna (The Snow Woman). These are followed by three short stories by notable 20th century authors: Kumo no Ito (The Spider's Thread) by Akutagawa Ryunosuke (1892-1927) Oborekaketa Kyodai (The Siblings Who Almost Drowned) by Arishima Takeo (1878-1923) Serohiki no Goshu (Gauche the Cellist) by Miyazawa Kenji (1896-1933) Reading these stories in the original Japanese script--and hearing native-speakers read them aloud in the accompanying free audio recording--helps students at every level deepen their comprehension of the beauty and subtlety of the Japanese language. Learn Japanese the fun way—through the country's rich literary history.

Learn about Japanese culture while improving your language skills! Japanese Folktales for Language Learners presents 22 traditional stories in parallel Japanese and English versions on facing pages, with detailed notes and exercises aimed at beginning to intermediate learners. This book can be used as a language reader and will be of great interest to anyone wishing to learn more about Japanese culture and folklore. The stories in this collection gradually increase in length and complexity as the book progresses. They include: "The Candy-Buying Ghost" - A female ghost mysteriously buys candy every night from a small village shop, until one night she reveals her true identity and her tragic story. "The Old Man Who Made Trees Blossom" - Regarded as one of the ? ve greatest Japanese folktales, this touching story tells of a kind old man who uses his magical powers for good. "The Abandoned Mother" - An elderly woman is abandoned at the top of a mountain by her own son, a reference to the old practice of senicide in Japan. Vocabulary lists, cultural notes, exercises and discussion questions help to reinforce an understanding of the stories and bolster language skills. Free online recordings of all the stories are provided.

Are you on your way towards learning Japanese and need a new challenge? We're constantly trying to improve and master new skills, and the Japanese language is no exception. We have created the next level of Japanese stories for the students who have already surpassed the beginner level: Intermediate Japanese Short Stories! In this book we have compiled 10 challenging, compelling and fun stories that will allow you to expand your vocabulary and give you the tools to boost your grasp of the wonderful Japanese tongue.How Intermediate Japanese Short Stories works:?Each chapter possesses a funny, interesting and/or thought-provoking story based on real-life situations, allowing you to learn about the Japanese culture.?Having trouble understanding Japanese characters? No problem - despite being Intermediate Japanese, we have still included a romanization to help guide you through your learning process, just like in the beginner stories!?The summaries follow the story: a synopsis in Japanese and in English of what you just read, both to review the lesson and for you to see if you understood what the tale was about. Use them if you're having trouble.?At the end of those summaries, you'll be provided with a list of the most relevant vocabulary involved in the lesson, as well as slang and sayings that you may not have understood at first glance! Don't get lost trying to understand or pronounce it all, either, as all of the vocabulary words are Romanized for your ease of learning!?Finally, you'll be provided with a set of tricky questions in Japanese, allowing you the chance to prove that you learned something in the story. Don't worry if you don't know the answer to any - we will provide them immediately after, but no cheating!We want you to feel comfortable while mastering the Japanese tongue; after all, no language should be a barrier for you to travel around the world and expand your social circles!So look no further! Pick up your copy of Intermediate Japanese Short Stories and level up your Japanese language learning right now!

A dual-language edition of Chinese stories—many appearing in English for the first time This new volume of eight short stories offers students at all levels the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of contemporary literature from the world’s most spoken language, without having to constantly to refer back to a dictionary. The stories—many of which appear here in English for the first time—are by well-known writers as well as emerging voices. From a story by Li Rui about the honest simplicity of a Shanxi farmer to one by Ma Yuan exposing the seamy underside of contemporary urban society, they are infused with both rural dialect and urban slang and feature a wide range of styles and points of view. Complete with notes, the stories make excellent reading in either language. Note: For each short story in this eBook edition, the full English translation is followed by its original Chinese text.

No language is easy to learn without reading - even if you know all of the rules and have watched the videos - you'll still have trouble. Diving into interesting material (such as stories) can be the difference between mastering a language and never leaving the basic level.For this reason, we have created another Japanese Short Stories for Beginners title to ensure you can acquire even more learning in this wonderful language that has opened up so many doors.Gain vocabulary that will help you better enjoy your shows and video games, meet interesting people and even land you the Japanese job of your dreams with our twenty easy-to-read and entertaining new stories!How Japanese Short Stories for Beginners works:?The book consists of twenty chapters: each with a funny, interesting and/or thought-provoking story based on real-life situations, allowing you to learn a lot about the culture.?Having trouble understanding Japanese characters at first glance? No problem - we provide you with an alternative chapter layout that contains the English translation below each paragraph, allowing you to fully grasp what you're reading!?The summaries follow each story - a synopsis in Japanese and in English of what you just read, both to review the lesson and for you to see if you understood what the tale was about. Use them if you're having trouble.?At the end of those summaries, you'll be provided with lists of the most relevant vocabulary involved in the lesson, as well as slang and sayings that you may not have understood at first glance! Don't get lost trying to understand or pronounce it all, either, as all of the vocabulary words are Romanized for your ease of learning and pronunciation!?Finally, you'll be provided with a set of tricky questions in Japanese, allowing you the chance to prove that you learned something in the story. Whether it's true or false, or if you're doing the single-answer questions, don't worry if you don't know how to solve them - we will provide the answers immediately after, but no cheating!

A dual-language edition of Japanese stories—many appearing in English for the first time This volume of eight short stories, with parallel translations, offers students at all levels the opportunity to enjoy a wide range of contemporary literature without having constantly to refer back to a dictionary. The stories—many of which appear here in English for the first time—are by well-known writers like Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto, as well as emerging voices like Abe Kazushige, Ishii Shinji, and Kawakami Hiromi. From the orthodox to the cutting-edge, they represent a range of styles and themes, showcasing the diversity of Japanese fiction over the past few decades in a collection that is equally rewarding for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students of English or Japanese. Complete with notes, the stories make excellent reading in either language.

Learning Japanese is hard and everyone says so. But not with this Japanese book. You may ask yourself how to learn Japanese fast without spending too much time with studying dry Japanese grammar. The answer is, learning Japanese with a cultural interesting short story book will definetely enhance your general understanding of the Japanese language and improve your Japanese vocabulary. There is no quick fix on how to learn Japanese the best way, but If you need a practical "learn Japanese workbook" get this Japanese learning book in ebook format, paperback or hardcover. Whether you're a just starting out or are already familiar with the Japanese language, this book will help you with expanding your Japanese vocabulary and improve your reading skills while having fun. This book contains 50 entertaining and culturally interesting Japanese short stories for beginners and intermediate Japanese learners. The Japanese stories are written in Hiragana, Katakana, and about 250 basic Kanji characters which correspond to the advanced beginner and low intermediate levels. The stories are followed by line-by-line English translation, which will certainly speed up the the learning process quite a bit. This book also includes a reading guide that explains the basics of the Japanese language and its characters. You get many practical examples on how to read the characters and you can also use this book as a language learning tool or Japanese text book to advance with your Japanese skills at your own pace. 1. The Tokyo Fish Market 2. Buddhism in Japan 3. Lost in Tokyo 4. Teaching in Japan 5. Karaoke Japanese Style 6. Saving Face 7. Faux Pas in the Restaurant 8. Just a Couple of Drinks 9. Humour Is if You Still Laugh 10. A Special Geisha 11. A Happy Marriage 12. Under the Lamp Post 13. Group Learning 14. I Marry My Office 15. Dialogue - Today We Have Rabbit 16. Dialogue - Dining European Style 17. The Tourist Guide 18. Inexpensive Shopping in Japan 19. Born in Michigan 20. Easter 21. Foreigners in Britain 22. Kindness 23. My Hobbies 24. Studying Abroad 25. A New Recipe 26. Social Media 27. Vegan Food 28. Bad Luck 29. Our Hotel 30. In the Theatre 31. Dialogue - Where is Our Cat? 32. A Special Public Swimming Pool 33. On Fridays We Go Swimming 35. Best Friends 36. The Order 37. Food Poisoning 38. New Year's Eve in Europe 39. The Circus 40. The Car Accident 41. A Japanese in Munich Japanese Short Stories for Intermediate Learners 42. The Polish Maid 43. Americans in Germany 44. The Treasure in the Forest 45. The Barbecue Evening 46. How to Find a Billionaire on a Cruise Trip 47. Crowdfunding for a New Kitchen 48. A very Catholic Irish Family 49. I Meet You in the Sauna 50. Classic Story: The Legend of Princess Kaguya (Japanese novels series second version) There are many Japanese books out there, but this book will entertain and help you in many ways. Learn Japanese with stories and start your journey of active Japanese learning TODAY!

An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young and adult learners of Japanese. "Olly's top-notch language-learning insights are right in line with the best of what we know from neuroscience and cognitive psychology about how to learn effectively. I love his work - and you will too!" - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers Short Stories in Japanese for Intermediate Learners has been written especially for students from low-mid intermediate (ACTFL) level of Japanese. Mapped to B1 and approaching B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories are designed to give you a sense of achievement and a feeling of progress when reading, and most importantly - enjoyment! What does this book give you? - Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary - Controlled language at your level to help you progress confidently - Spoken dialogues in a range of polite and casual forms in real settings to help you to improve the flow and accuracy of your spoken Japanese. - To help you advance your kanji recognition skills, furigana is used to support reading higher level or unusual kanji and for the first appearance for common kanji. - Common vocabulary from levels 4 and 5 of the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) along with vocabulary carefully chosen from the higher levels help you learn useful new expressions and progress through the intermediate reading levels. - Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, without feeling overwhelmed or frustrated - Practical tips help you to unlock the meaning of Japanese sentences and new kanji words successfully. - Beautiful illustrations accompanying each story, to set the scene and support your understanding - Pleasure! Research shows that if you're enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!' With intriguing plots that will spark your imagination and keep you reading, Short Stories in Japanese for Intermediate Learners will take your grasp of Japanese to the next level with key features to support and consolidate your progress, including: - A glossary for bolded words in each chapter - Full plot summary - A bilingual word list - Comprehension questions after each chapter. As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Japanese for Intermediate Learners will accelerate you journey towards fluency. Use the codes inside the book and ebook to access a bonus story for free and the discounted audiobook on our Language Readers Library site or in the Language Readers app.