Bilingual Book help??

[mjr]

Ok, as a few of you know, I live in the United States.

My son has an interest in Japanese that he has developed over the past few years. It's more about the entire language (reading, writing, speaking) moreso than just speaking. We had considered Rosetta Stone, but that's only about speaking, as far as I know.

We've gotten him some English/Japanese dictionaries, a Japanese Folk Tale book (bilingual) and a few other Japanese-related things in the past, and we know he likes them, but they're not quite as colorful as he'd probably like.

He's asked for Japanese and math stuff (not combined).

I've been considering trying to find more Japanese gifts (including bilingual books) that he'd like.

The problem is, most books I find are completely in Japanese, and not really colorful.

Anyone have any advice or suggestions?

What I'd probably really like to see is something like the "Stink Moody" books or maybe the "Captain Underpants" series as bilingual (English/Japanese) books...

Help??

[AnaKhouri]

I've heard that manga is actually a good way to learn Japanese, if he likes that. A lot of it is apparently written in hiragana, which is easier to learn than kanji, and is a good step up.

[mjr]

manga

We've actually tried Manga...for some reason he didn't take to it. We think it's the format (too "comic book" like).

[EricKei]

I took it for three years back in college (more than a decade ago...), and while I do recommend learning "all three parts," I feel that something like Rosetta Stone may be a good place to start while you look for a proper kana (=hiragana + katakana, collectively) learning workbook (once he has those down, he can start in on Kanji). This may have just been my experience, but I found the spoken language much easier to pick up than, say, German or Spanish. -- no conjugation by person, no gender of nouns (Thank Gord!), almost no plurals, almost no irregular verbs (aside from 'to be', naturally), and no future tense per se. The written forms, on the other hand, skew the other direction. It requires something like 2200-2400 kanji to read an average newspaper/to be considered functionally literate; this takes years, even for native speakers. (I recall maybe 200 >_<). That being said, I enjoyed learning what I did.

For books that are in both Japanese and English (often on opposite pages), the term I've most frequently seen used is "taiyaku." Maybe searching for stuff with that term may help?

As a side note -- Yes, manga/anime/video games to tend to feature more simplistic, easier-to understand Japanese, and can be of some help as a basic learning tool. Just a fair warning, though -- the way characters speak in many of them (ESPECIALLY "fighting" genre stuff like Dragon Ball) will probably get one laughed at...maybe not in public...but my Sensei's mentioned that the vocabulary and politeness levels often come across as rather harsh and crude, even offensive (think Rocky-Balboa-speak crossed with an R-rated action film level of "crude"). For an English-speaking example, imagine carrying on a conversation with somebody who spoke like Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam (minus the accent), using their terminology and meter. They would be understandable, but perhaps trying.

We do have an actual Japanese speaker or two on these boards, they would definitely be able to provide more useful insight than I can on the subject ^_^; I'll check with the other mods to see if they recall whom.

Also, about how old is your young student (e.g., under 10/teen/older)? This might affect the level of texts suggested.

[fireheart]

We've actually tried Manga...for some reason he didn't take to it. We think it's the format (too "comic book" like).

There are a few manga series that are/were released as light novels. Full Metal Panic and Haruhi Suzumiya are the only two I can think of that would be VAGUELY appropriate (The worst of FMP is Kurz's tendency to hit on anything female and the occasional questionable dialogue). Please Twins would NOT be appropriate

One trick that I know is used in Finland (I believe) to help children develop the relationship between oral and written (or Finnish-English) is to run a program in one language and have the subtitles in another. So for instance, you can have the Japanese anime running with English subtitles or vice-versa. If you do have a movie with Japanese dub/subs available, try running it with the subs.

Just be careful if you DO go ahead with this though: some anime DVDs will do the captions more like a "Hearing Impaired" user than actually translating the Japanese-on top of that, some things tend to get lost or modified in translation: for instance in the Negima anime, there's a scene that goes like this:

Kaede: so it's na-meh? (nah-meh)
Fumika: No, it's "name" (nayme)
Kaede: Oh I'm bad with these important tongues.

The English version is arguably funnier, but goes like this:

Kaede: So Hamlet was a pastry?
Fumika: no, he's Danish, as in from Denmark!
Kaede: Oh, I thought it was symbolic or something.

[mjr]

proper kana (=hiragana + katakana, collectively) learning workbook (once he has those down, he can start in on Kanji).

Well, he already does the hiragana and the katakana, he works on Kanji also.

"taiyaku."

Thanks! I'll definitely look for that!

They would be understandable, but perhaps trying.

We do have this one book "Learn Japanese the Manga Way" (or something like that). He looked through it once, I believe, and hasn't really picked it up since.

Also, about how old is your young student

He's 8. He'll be 9 in April.

[Fudgethatkay]

I speak Japanese. My writing isn't the best (5th grade Kanji) but I can get around just fine when I go there.

Books helped me a ton, but he will have to tackle each of them separately.

Once he learns how the language is set up, then learning the basic writing of katakana and hiragana, as long as he puts hard work into it gets easier.

Start him off verbally, and find books in romaji. Make sure you can use children shows on youtube (that helped my friend)

I can look around for other resources later, I'm at my friend's now.


Also, I was 8 when I started. When I was 17 I met Princess Akiko of Mikasa, at 19 I helped interpret for Rikkyo University Baseball team, and just this September, at age 22, I interpreted for the Junior High Boys International League.

As long as he keeps its up, he can have similar opportunities.

Depending on your town, there may be a Buddhist temple or center that gives lessons as well.

[Seshat]

Do be careful with both anime and manga: you probably know this already, but in case you don't; both are aimed at a full range of ages. And some of it is incredibly violent, some incredibly pornographic, some both.

Even anime and manga which is targetted at 8-9yos in Japan is not necessarily culturally appropriate for 8-9yos in America or Australia or Britain. Watch it with him, be prepared to answer PG questions.

(Naturally, it is culturally appropriate to their kids. Cultures vary.)

[mjr]

I'd really like to thank everyone for their input. We decided to go with "Elementary Japanese Vol. 1".

Here's hoping he likes it.

[mjr]

Start him off verbally, and find books in romaji.

We'd considered Rosetta Stone, but we thought it was a little pricey for now, and he seems to be more interested in the visual aspects of the language (writing and reading) than he is the grammar and formalities, at this point. He will occasionally say certain words and phrases, but I think at this point his order is:

1. Reading/Writing
2. Speaking

We do have a bilingual book of Japanese folk tales. It's in English and Japanese (no Romaji in it). He's also recently become interested in the folk song "Sakura, Sakura", and will try to emulate it on my keyboard.

[mjr]

He (my son) also has me wondering to myself if I'm gonna have to pay for TWO college degrees...his primary interest is mathematics (and he's 8), and Japanese is a language interest. These two don't overlap at all, and I don't know if there are any universities here in the U.S. (especially near where we live) that have Japanese as a major...

[Tama]

Whoops, misread.

He may consider doing a semester or something in Japan. That may show him what he wants, if the college he'll be going to has a foreign program.