An Introduction to Modern Japanese

[antilope]

Connichiwa.

I'm new to this forum.

I'm Italian and I'm studying Japanese by myself using this textbook:

An Introduction to Modern Japanese
by Richard John Bowring, Haruko Uryu Laurie
Cambridge University Press

It's a wonderful book, really thorough but at times a bit... overwhelming.
Why they titled it "an introduction to..." is totally out of my comprehension, since it's probably one of the most exhaustive japanese texts out there.

Anyway... I've just completed lesson 43 (out of 52) and, believe me, things are getting really tough!
I'm getting quite frustrated by the total lacking of answers to the exercises... particularly those ones requiring translations from English into Japanese.

Is there anybody using this same book and willing to double check some of the exercises with me?

[paul_b]

antilope wrote:
Connichiwa.

konnichiwa だけど。

It's a wonderful book, really thorough but at times a bit... overwhelming.
Why they titled it "an introduction to..." is totally out of my comprehension, since it's probably one of the most exhaustive japanese texts out there.

It was written by a British and a Japanese author. They're supposed to be reserved about such things.

Anyway... I've just completed lesson 43 (out of 52) and, believe me, things are getting really tough!
I'm getting quite frustrated by the total lacking of answers to the exercises... particularly those ones requiring translations from English into Japanese.

Is there anybody using this same book and willing to double check some of the exercises with me?

I'm sure quite a few would be willing to check answers that you've attempted. It's requests to do answers _for_ people that tend to be annoying.

[Infidel]

yes, I'm using that book too. Whenever I have a question about it I just come on here and ask. So long as you show you made an effort to answer the question yourself, people are very helpful.

[antilope]

konnichiwa だけど。

Oops… thanks for pointing that out.
It’s just the sort of thing I was crying out for: somebody who diligently checks my romaji spelling!

I'm sure quite a few would be willing to check answers that you've attempted. It's requests to do answers _for_ people that tend to be annoying.

Due to my very poor wording, it seems I got badly misunderstood.
Sorry about that… I’m not a native English speaker.

I’m definitely NOT looking for someone who does something FOR me. Thanks God, I don't need it.
I’m not a pathetic teenage schoolboy trying to avoid doing his homework, you know…
Damn!… I’m 33 years old!

What I really meant to say is that I’d like to know if there’s any thinking creature out there (preferably friendly) who’s presently using the above-mentioned book and is in my same situation.

Apparently, the authors of this otherwise excellent text were not kind enough to provide the answers to their accompanying workbook.
Now.. for 95% of the exercises it contains, it would have been superfluous doing so, but for the remaining 5%... saying that it would have been greatly appreciated is a gross understatement!

Only someone who’s going through the same things knows perfectly well what I’m talking about…
and chance are there that he or she needs somebody else to COMPARE his/her answers with.

I don’t know if I made myself clear enough now, but it’s the best I can do and I’m sorry if I upset anyone.



By the way, thank you for the warm welcome.
I’m deeply touched…

“Non ti curar di lor, ma guarda e passa.” - Dante Alighieri - Inferno - Canto III v.51

[paul_b]

antilope wrote:

I'm sure quite a few would be willing to check answers that you've attempted. It's requests to do answers _for_ people that tend to be annoying.

Due to my very poor wording, it seems I got badly misunderstood.
Sorry about that… I’m not a native English speaker.

No, no. You weren't misunderstood at all - although I think you
may have misunderstood my answer. I just commented about that
because a quite a few _other_ people seem to have been doing that
recently.

[Infidel]

While you can probably find other people using the book, finding someone as far along as yourself will be the difficult part.