Kodansha's Communicative English-Japanese Dictionary

Kodansha's Communicative English-Japanese Dictionary

Long awaited, Kodansha's Communicative English-Japanese Dictionary is the result of 15 years of research and development. With over 22,000 entries and 19,000 example sentences and phrases, it is by far the most comprehensive and practical dictionary of its kind. Within the pages of this bookare most of the words needed for ordinary and even sophisticated conversation. That is because great care has gone into the selection of the entry words and their meanings. This dictionary contains not only high-frequency English words with full Japanese equivalents, but also a number of technicalterms, buzz words, and vocabulary related to Japanese culture. It also presents a large number of interjections, idioms, and phrasal verbsthe words/phrases at the very heart of the English language. More importantly, The Communicative strives to present only natural Japanese equivalents. TheJapanese language in it, therefore, ranges from colloquial to formal, masculine to feminine, and humble to polite. Most of the equivalents are readily usable in everyday speech, making the book extremely useful as a tool for conversation. This dictionary also features furigana superscript. Furiganais the small script that appears above the kanji characters, indicating their pronunciation. Furigana is made up of hiragana, the basic Japanese syllabary, which most people learn in the first two weeks of studying Japanese. Thus, anyone who can read hiragana can use this book even if they do notknow a single kanji character. Also included are 27 illustrations of items with parts labeled, a map of Japan, special entries on Japanese usage, and appendixes explaining the various forms of Japanese verbs and other grammar points.From the PublisherDesigned specifically to meet the needs of English-Japanese learners who wish to communicate effectively in Japanese, this groundbreaking new dictionary goes where none has gone beforeinto the sphere of the colloquial language. Through its thousands of example sentences, the dictionary shows how, precisely, common English words and phrases translate into natural, real-life Japanese.About the AuthorPeter Sharpe was born in Plymouth, England. A graduate of Exeter University, where he earned an MA and a Ph.D. in linguistics, he has lived in Japan for more than 15 years. Presently he is a professor of linguistics at Takushoku University in Tokyo.