NTC's Basic Japanese: A Communicative Program in Contemporary Japanese by LynnWilliamsReview by: Hiroshi NaraThe Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Apr., 1992), pp. 59-63Published by: American Association of Teachers of JapaneseStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/489448 .

Accessed: 10/06/2014 04:02

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

American Association of Teachers of Japanese is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.157 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 04:02:58 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese

it is, the only commentary we get is what comes through implicitly in the translations. And for the great majority of the practice readings, there are not even translations.

In much the same way that the kanji lists offer no more than read-

ings and English glosses for the the new material, too much of this book remains on the surface of technical Japanese, overly concerned with the

writing system and the words used to write technical Japanese, and dis-

appointingly little with the way technical Japanese works. We feel

disappointment, but at the same time we are deeply thankful, because without Basic Technical Japanese we would not now be in position to be-

gin exploring beneath the surface on our own.

NTC'S BASIC JAPANESE: A COMMUNICATIVE PROGRAM IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE, Level 1, by Lynn Williams. Lincoln- wood, Illinois: National Textbook Company, 1992. Pp. xi + 347. $26.60 (hardbound).

Reviewed by Hiroshi Nara

In the introduction to this textbook, Williams says that Basic

Japanese embodies years of experience in Japanese teaching and that it is a response to a need for communicative Japanese. It is supposed to con- tain a number of lively, stimulating, and communicative activities. Williams also says that the book has been designed to be completed in one academic year. Also claimed is that all four skills (speaking, lis-

tening, reading, and writing) are developed from day one. No claim is made in the book itself as to what level this book is suitable for. The

publisher, however, says that it is intended for college instruction and that the three-volume Basic Japanese will cover essentially the same material as Japanese: The Spoken Language, Part I. The first volume, Level 1, is out and the other two volumes will follow shortly.

The book is divided into nine topical sections, and each section con- tains two to ten smaller chapters called units. These ten topical sections are "Greetings" (3 units); "In the Classroom" (7 units); "School Life" (5 units); "Time, Days and Numbers" (9 units); "The Weather" (3 units and an "extension unit"); "Myself and Others" (8 units); "Families and

it is, the only commentary we get is what comes through implicitly in the translations. And for the great majority of the practice readings, there are not even translations.

In much the same way that the kanji lists offer no more than read-

ings and English glosses for the the new material, too much of this book remains on the surface of technical Japanese, overly concerned with the

writing system and the words used to write technical Japanese, and dis-

appointingly little with the way technical Japanese works. We feel

disappointment, but at the same time we are deeply thankful, because without Basic Technical Japanese we would not now be in position to be-

gin exploring beneath the surface on our own.

NTC'S BASIC JAPANESE: A COMMUNICATIVE PROGRAM IN CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE, Level 1, by Lynn Williams. Lincoln- wood, Illinois: National Textbook Company, 1992. Pp. xi + 347. $26.60 (hardbound).

Reviewed by Hiroshi Nara

In the introduction to this textbook, Williams says that Basic

Japanese embodies years of experience in Japanese teaching and that it is a response to a need for communicative Japanese. It is supposed to con- tain a number of lively, stimulating, and communicative activities. Williams also says that the book has been designed to be completed in one academic year. Also claimed is that all four skills (speaking, lis-

tening, reading, and writing) are developed from day one. No claim is made in the book itself as to what level this book is suitable for. The

publisher, however, says that it is intended for college instruction and that the three-volume Basic Japanese will cover essentially the same material as Japanese: The Spoken Language, Part I. The first volume, Level 1, is out and the other two volumes will follow shortly.

The book is divided into nine topical sections, and each section con- tains two to ten smaller chapters called units. These ten topical sections are "Greetings" (3 units); "In the Classroom" (7 units); "School Life" (5 units); "Time, Days and Numbers" (9 units); "The Weather" (3 units and an "extension unit"); "Myself and Others" (8 units); "Families and

59 59

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.157 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 04:02:58 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Volume 26, Number I

Friends" (10 units); "Homes and Daily Activities" (5 units) and "Health" (2 units). Not all the units are uniform in structure. Some have dialogues followed by vocabulary and activities, while others are intended for review with no new material.

The book is nicely illustrated with black and white snapshots of scenes from daily life in Japan, line drawings, and pictures of realia such as a train ticket and a meishi. The layout of the page and format of the text resemble those of college-level textbooks of more commonly taught languages. Some of these pictures are a bit dated-a small nui- sance. In this reviewer's judgment, however, the textbook fails to ac- complish any of the goals stated in the Introduction. The failings are so enormous that one wonders why this textbook was published in the first place.

First of all, it contains numerous factual errors and misleading statements. Just to sample a few, on p. 8, Williams says that Japanese people learn 1800 kanji in their basic schooling, when in fact Japanese high school students learn 1945 kanji by the time they graduate from high school. On p. 52, we learn that students in Japan do not "usually study English until they enter high school; but the desire to be good at English, and the parental feeling that children will not succeed in get- ting good jobs unless they have good English, prompts most of them to attend private English lessons right through Primary School." Scores of other factual errors are sprinkled throughout virtually all the cultural notes in the book. In addition to the doubtful relevance of presenting in- formation having no bearing on the language per se in a language text- book, it raises a more disquieting question as to whether the author has much in-depth knowledge about Japanese people and culture.

Unfortunately, the matter gets worse when it comes to linguistic ac- curacy. The one-line explanation for sayoonara tells us that it is "said to your school principal, or on a formal occasion" (p. 38). In fact most grammatical and usage explanations are inadequate, simplistic, and misleading, and not as innocuous as the case of sayoonara. For instance, when introducing the idea of particles with a sample sentence hon o kudasai, Williams writes (p. 67-68):

Ask yourself who is being spoken to? The answer is you, therefore you are the topic. What is the object wanted? The answer is the book. Therefore, in a very explicit sentence, we would say: Anata wa hon o kudasai.

Would we really say that very explicit sentence? Is Anata wa hon o kudasai what lies underneath hon o kudasai?

60

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.157 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 04:02:58 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese

In reference to a sentence watashi wa se ga takai desu, the particle ga receives the first explanation as follows (p. 194):

[Being tall] is the one thing about yourself that you want to mention in the sentence, and which you want your listener to focus on. This is why you use the ga particle because ga signals to peo- ple to take particular note of the thing in front of it.

If you think about it, it's much the same with the other use of

ga [in watashi wa inu ga suki desu] ... So, whenever you want to talk about one particular thing

about yourself, you must put ga after that part. This is the most comprehensive explanation of ga provided in this text- book. About wa, the author writes simply that this particle "signals what you are talking about" (p. 25). And o "follows the object or thing that you are talking about" (p. 67). If students are unfortunate enough to learn about particles from this book, they will come away very con- fused about how particles work. Simplistic and grossly inadequate ex-

planations are commonplace in other areas of grammar as well. The textbook provides coverage of some of the basic grammatical

patterns usually taught in first year university classes, but falls far short of the material covered, for instance, in Japanese: The Spoken Language, Part I. Even when a pattern is covered, the explanation is

sketchy at best, as illustrated above, and provides little in-depth exer- cise material. The book leaves some serious gaps. Among the more

prominent areas of grammar not covered are location expressions beyond X wa Y ni arimasu/imasu, giving and receiving verbs (and thus any- thing on taiguu hyoogen using these verbs), counters such as -tsu, -ko, and -satsu, systematic treatment of special verbs such as gozaru, mairu, etc., -te form (except as frozen expressions), verbs taking two ga parti- cles, telling time using -fun, etc.

Sometimes Williams's explanations have a peculiar slant. When

introducing the kanji for woman, he says: "Onna is a stylized figure of a woman carrying a baby. Note the strong role model that it symbolizes. Only relatively recently has equality for women started to become a

reality for women in Japan. In some situations even now, women are expected to play a subservient role" (p. 195-96). One wonders whether this degree of interpretation is necessary, let alone appropriate.

What will surely appall Japanese teachers is the dialogues. These dialogues are touted as lively and communicative in the introduction, a real vehicle for communication in Japanese. A model dialogue found on

p. 86 runs as follows:

61

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.157 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 04:02:58 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

62 Volume 26, Number 1

K: Konnichi wa. Nani o shimasu ka. S: Piano o renshuu shimasu. K: Soo desu ka. S: Hai soo desu. Sayoonara.

On p. 145, there is the following dialogue: A: BIRU san, Ohayoo. B: Kyoo umi ni ikimasu ka. A: lie. B: Naze desu ka. A: Ame deshoo.

Here, Williams teaches erroneously that deshoo can be used as a re- sponse to a why-question. This may appear outrageous but is not as as- tounding as the following found on p. 182, in which Kara (K) responds to Dean's (D) query about her birthday.

K: Watashi no tanjoobi wa shigatsu nijuusannichi desu. D: Shekusupia [sic] (Shakespeare) no tanjoobi deshita. K: Soo desu ka. Joozu desu ne.

If you are wondering what is going on, you are not alone. We learn that Dean answered that April 23 is the birthday of Shakespeare, to which Kara responds "Oh, really? You are clever, aren't you!" We are then asked to learn the phrase joozu desu ne and add it to future conversa- tions in this way.

These dialogues and others in the book are so bizarre and outland- ish (some are simply incorrect) that they do not even approximate real linguistic behavior. No attention is paid to the natural flow of conver- sation, hesitation noises, aizuchi, or other little things good speakers of Japanese do when speaking. These and all other dialogues are remi- niscent of the peculiar, stilted dialogues often presented in junior high school English textbooks in Japan, or put another way, sound as if tran- scribed from conversations between two intermediate students of Japa- nese struggling to communicate in Japanese. On this point alone, the textbook is unsuitable for class use.

Errors in readings further undermine this reviewer's confidence in Williams's proficiency in Japanese. Is the Japanese man's name roman- ized as "Kennichi" (and the hiragana [tXt ;_ tj ) appearing on p. 154 in- tended as a real Japanese name or a mis-rendition of the more common t'/, 1, ti ? And why is the seventeerth of the month given as juunana- nichi in the chart on p. 183 and in the appendix?

Although relatively minor, the Japanese in the textbook is riddled with more than the average share of typographical errors. To cite a

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.157 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 04:02:58 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese

few, Brent in katakana has shi instead of n (p. 20), and that shi is small as if it were part of a /CyV/ sequence. Also, the middle kana of Sasha is tsu instead of shi (p. 306). The word for Taiwan, which hap- pens to be given in katakana for some unknown reason, is rendered as

X '7 ". ^Y7,, which is hardly used nowadays to refer to the now for- mer Soviet Union, is rendered as 7Y7. There is no explanation of the basic phonetics of Japanese. All material in Japanese in this textbook is written with spaces between words.

Lastly, a question must be raised as to whether this textbook is truly intended for American college and university students. The dia- logues, selection of photographs, and illustrations suggest that the textbook might have been designed for junior high school or high school students, perhaps for use in Australia or New Zealand. In the English text and the selection of vocabulary, these two countries are dispropor- tionately represented and, although there is nothing wrong with that in principle, the book feels foreign when read.

It is rare to find so little that is good about a textbook. Riddled with mistakes, lacking a coherent body of knowledge about the lan-

guage which can serve as a foundation for further study, and marred by aberrant dialogues, it cannot be used at any level. It disturbing to find that the field of Japanese language teaching is still in an embryonic stage which allows a book of this quality to be published as a textbook. Moreover, it is disheartening to think that the large amount of resourc- es which must have gone into this project could have been used to pub- lish a more worthwhile textbook.

TALKING BUSINESS IN JAPANESE, by Mami Doi et al. Tokyo: The

Japan Times. Pp. xiv + 121. Y2,500 (paper).

Reviewed by Tamae Prindle

Japanese business acumen has attracted international attention, envy, and even criticism. American businessmen are encouraged to learn from Japanese business culture, but that is easier said than done. To do so requires the combined knowledge of language, business, and general culture. Seen from an academic standpoint, diverse fields of study im-

few, Brent in katakana has shi instead of n (p. 20), and that shi is small as if it were part of a /CyV/ sequence. Also, the middle kana of Sasha is tsu instead of shi (p. 306). The word for Taiwan, which hap- pens to be given in katakana for some unknown reason, is rendered as

X '7 ". ^Y7,, which is hardly used nowadays to refer to the now for- mer Soviet Union, is rendered as 7Y7. There is no explanation of the basic phonetics of Japanese. All material in Japanese in this textbook is written with spaces between words.

Lastly, a question must be raised as to whether this textbook is truly intended for American college and university students. The dia- logues, selection of photographs, and illustrations suggest that the textbook might have been designed for junior high school or high school students, perhaps for use in Australia or New Zealand. In the English text and the selection of vocabulary, these two countries are dispropor- tionately represented and, although there is nothing wrong with that in principle, the book feels foreign when read.

It is rare to find so little that is good about a textbook. Riddled with mistakes, lacking a coherent body of knowledge about the lan-

guage which can serve as a foundation for further study, and marred by aberrant dialogues, it cannot be used at any level. It disturbing to find that the field of Japanese language teaching is still in an embryonic stage which allows a book of this quality to be published as a textbook. Moreover, it is disheartening to think that the large amount of resourc- es which must have gone into this project could have been used to pub- lish a more worthwhile textbook.

TALKING BUSINESS IN JAPANESE, by Mami Doi et al. Tokyo: The

Japan Times. Pp. xiv + 121. Y2,500 (paper).

Reviewed by Tamae Prindle

Japanese business acumen has attracted international attention, envy, and even criticism. American businessmen are encouraged to learn from Japanese business culture, but that is easier said than done. To do so requires the combined knowledge of language, business, and general culture. Seen from an academic standpoint, diverse fields of study im-

63 63

This content downloaded from 91.229.248.157 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 04:02:58 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions