 Learning Japanese is a challenge. And, as many students find out, memorizing sentence patterns, vocabulary, and lists of kanji characters doesn't necessarily make it easy to communicate with Japanese people.
Barriers of culture and social etiquette can be just as difficult to overcome as problems of grammar. Until now, these aspects of learning to communicate with a new culture could only be learned first-hand by trial and error. Japanese Beyond Words was written to fill this gap, to give you the tools you need to effectively communicate in Japanese, with the Japanese.
Long-time Japan resident Andrew Horvat talks about how to truly competent in Japanese by covering a range of topics including:
What your clothes say about you
Business Cards, and why you should be nice to them
When and how to bow
Shoes: they're on, they're off...
What's expected of foreigners
Circumlocution without dizziness
Pronunciation ("read my lips" just doesn't cut it)
How to say no without saying "no"
Social uses of politeness... and rudeness
Behavior at parties and other social gatherings
English in Japanese, and Japanese in English
The differences between men and women
Entertaining and opinionated, as well as educational, Japanese Beyond Words will help you walk, talk, slurp, and bow your way to cultural (as well as linguistic) fluency in Japanese.
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