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 rud