All About Particles?
Is there any 1 book that will have me set on particle usage for the years to come? I've been studying for 2 months pretty rigorously.
I'm at RTK #1400. Looking forward to getting done with it so I can focus my attention more toward grammar and Core2k6k/connecting readings with the kanji I've learend so far.
Thanks

Well, after RTK I decided to work with the dictionaries of Japanese grammar from Japan Times. Conjunctions, expressions, suffixes, counters and other grammar concepts are as important as particles which the books cover as well.

EDIT: You can access the three tomes online on Scribd.

I felt like Tae Kim's guide would give me a good jumping off point for grammar in general, but that I'd probably need additional focus on particles specifically.
Thanks for the suggestion though, I'll def. look at the dictionary of basic grammar more closely.

All About Particles is the best book IMHO.
It pretty much has all the particles you'll EVER need to know.

Here's what you can do:

Whenever you read, circle all the particles in each sentence.
Then use the book to figure out the proper usage for each particle.
Do it enough times and things get easy real fast :-).

[Zgarbas]

Seconding All about particles. It won't take you too far though (definitely N4, maybe N3?)
The dictionaries of Japanese grammar also cover particles, and so does Tae Kim and any regular textbook. I think it's better to focus on a general source and having All about particles as an extra resource to reinforce the particles though.

chamcham Wrote:All About Particles is the best book IMHO.
It pretty much has all the particles you'll EVER need to know.

Here's what you can do:

Whenever you read, circle all the particles in each sentence.
Then use the book to figure out the proper usage for each particle.
Do it enough times and things get easy real fast :-).

I looked through this book and loved the presentation but found A Dictionary of Japanese Particles from Kodansha to be more comprehensive, including more particles as well as particle compounds.

As for Tae Kim's guide, what's the difference between 'Complete Guide to Japanese' and 'Japanese Grammar Guide' and how do they differ?

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Particle-...0834804042

Japanese Particle Workbook is quite useful

It isn't as authoritative as some of the other books, but it gives a general outline of the usage of a number of particles as well as many cloze delete type problems for you to fill in.

Wow, thanks, I hadn't seen that one.

delta Wrote:

chamcham Wrote:All About Particles is the best book IMHO.
It pretty much has all the particles you'll EVER need to know.

Here's what you can do:

Whenever you read, circle all the particles in each sentence.
Then use the book to figure out the proper usage for each particle.
Do it enough times and things get easy real fast :-).

I looked through this book and loved the presentation but found A Dictionary of Japanese Particles from Kodansha to be more comprehensive, including more particles as well as particle compounds.

As for Tae Kim's guide, what's the difference between 'Complete Guide to Japanese' and 'Japanese Grammar Guide' and how do they differ?

Well, "All About Particles" is 1/3 of the size of "A Dictionary of Japanese Particles from Kodansha" (128 pages vs 386 pages). So of course the latter is more comprehensive.

"All About Particles" is concise and to the point. You can't go wrong with it.
Both books are cheap enough that buying both wouldn't be a problem.

chamcham Wrote:All About Particles is the best book IMHO.
It pretty much has all the particles you'll EVER need to know.

Here's what you can do:

Whenever you read, circle all the particles in each sentence.
Then use the book to figure out the proper usage for each particle.
Do it enough times and things get easy real fast :-).

I never thought about circling all the particles :O That's such a simple, yet genious idea! I'm going to try this and report back after some time doing this. Thanks chamcham

Another idea, if you use Anki:

Grab a *bunch* of "fill in the correct particle" type questions, and drop them in.

Or roll your own by grabbing sentences from somewhere else (like Yahoo dictionary or ALC), and yank out particles randomly. That'll also work.

chamcham Wrote:

delta Wrote:

chamcham Wrote:All About Particles is the best book IMHO.
It pretty much has all the particles you'll EVER need to know.

Here's what you can do:

Whenever you read, circle all the particles in each sentence.
Then use the book to figure out the proper usage for each particle.
Do it enough times and things get easy real fast :-).

I looked through this book and loved the presentation but found A Dictionary of Japanese Particles from Kodansha to be more comprehensive, including more particles as well as particle compounds.

As for Tae Kim's guide, what's the difference between 'Complete Guide to Japanese' and 'Japanese Grammar Guide' and how do they differ?

Well, "All About Particles" is 1/3 of the size of "A Dictionary of Japanese Particles from Kodansha" (128 pages vs 386 pages). So of course the latter is more comprehensive.

"All About Particles" is concise and to the point. You can't go wrong with it.
Both books are cheap enough that buying both wouldn't be a problem.

Well, it could be that one book just presents more example sentences, but that's not what I am pointing out. I'm saying that a DOJP is more comprehensive in that it has more entries / covers more particles. Anyway, you are right, both are cheap or 'free' if you allow yourself to read them in Scribd.

By the way, what's the difference between Tae Kim's 'Complete Guide to Japanese' and 'Japanese Grammar Guide'?

I'm getting 'All About Particles' in the mail soon, Amazon reviews were good and it wasn't a bad price, I'll try to remember to give some feedback on it for this thread.