Frank and the Obaasan, a Japanese Reader for Beginners [Digital Download Only]

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READ real Japanese Today!

Are you a beginner to upper beginner level student of Japanese? If so, this reader is for you. Every word is defined and important grammatical patterns are explained in plain English. If you can read hiragana, you are ready for this book.

BONUS! Get FREE Sound Files of each story. Listen while reading. The link to the MP3s is found on the last page.

The Storeis:
While on an intergalactic spy mission, Frank the alien loses control of his spaceship and plummets to Earth. Japan to be precise. Lacking Essential repair materials, Frank must learn the earthling’s language and find earth equivalents of the materials needed to repair his ship.

With only a limited knowledge of Earth ways—and the Japanese language—Frank discovers a number of interesting things, not the least… natto. Join Frank and his new-found buddies in this multi-planetary adventure!

* All Japanese kanji have furigana
* 15 complete episodes. Each story is presented in real Japanese (with furigana) and with a running gloss which breaks down all vocabulary and grammar points.
* ENGLISH SUMMARY: Finally, we have included a simple and mostly literal English translation for you to check your understanding (Don’t cheat! Work through the Japanese first!).
* Short stories makes reading full Japanese texts possible.
* Download the FREE MP3s to listen while you study.

Frank and the Obaasan is a fun (certainly not serious) reader for beginners of Japanese. If you are looking for Japanese reading material that is fairly easy but not written for children, this is a resource for you.

Finally, we invite the reader to contact us with questions or requests for future Japanese readers. You will find our personal email addresses in the book. To your Japanese!

What are you waiting for? Ninja up your Japanese. Click “Buy Now” now!

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Good for beginners

Hi, actually I just started to use it. By now I can only say it is a good practice for me from a “reading” point of view, thanks a lot for your help. It is not easy to find this kind of material for starting with japanese language.

Feeling afraid of start reading Japanese? Definitely should try this!

From my point of view this one is way more begginer friendly than kids books since even they are wholly in hiragana (almost) those books uses words you won't see in daily life or in your studying textbooks, despite having done minna no nihongo 1 and 2 and anki decks for a long time now, I totally found it to be super useful.
A series like this way, gradually increasing difficulty, is what I initially looked for, so glad you did.
I'd definitely recommend this set to people who wants to start reading normal Japanese and not words like "little prince" or using おる.

Great for beginners

This should be the first reader for beginners who already know hiragana and some basic Japanese grammar and vocabulary. The first chapters are very easy to understand. Later on the level rises but for beginners it's still okay (I guess).

I also like it that the chapters start with the Japanese text before splitting it up sentence by sentence, so there's less temptation to cheat. Please keep this in your next readers as well.

One thing that irritates me is the lecture at the beginnging of each chapter not to look for the roumaji before reading the Japanese text. Here I think, once is enough. Also it might be a good idea not to repeat the the furigana on and on for already introduced kanji, e.g. after chapter 2, you should know how to read 私, so the furigana could be left out. That goes especially for single kanji. Just an idea for future revisions.

All in one it's a great reader.

Absolutely worth buying

If you are fine with non-hard copy versions of the books, this is perfect.
Only wish they had a set for JLPT N4 and above as well.

What's not to love!

This is great! You get the stories, translations, extra explanations of context, plus audio with both fast and slow pronunciation. I have been interested in Japanese for some time, and this has gotten me motivated to learn more than ever. You only need to have learned the hiragana syllabary more or less to get started. Plus, it's a lot more interesting to read these stories than only learning from textbooks or apps.

Love it!

I have a BA in Japanese but have forgotten so much over the years. I've been wanting to get back into re-learning the language and ran across The Japan Shop.

I love the way everything is broken down and explained in everyday plain English. Which makes it much easier for me to review what I already knew (and have forgotten!). Clay and Yumi have done an amazing job putting all this together. I wish The Japan Shop had existed during my college days. I would have learned so much more!

Excellent content and price!

No others words. All EXCELLENT! Keep going!

Frank and the Obaasan, a Japanese Reader for Beginners [Digital Download Only]

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