Gil Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Are there any Japanese families on this board? Can anyone who has advanced or native level Japanese please recommend a Childrens Japanese Picture Dictionary that has kana NOT kanji? Something for early elementary, like 1st-3rd grade would be preferable. I've seen reviews on Amazon for the books by Berlitz Kids, Usborne, etc that say that they aren't well done or that the translations are just really wrong. We can't hope to wade through bad translations so I'd like to import a Native level dictionary for my kids to use. If the entry words are used in sentences that would be awesome, but is not required. They are trying to build up some every day vocabulary words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Kinokuniya is a Japanese bookstore. I can't remember where you are, but I'd you are anywhere near L.A. I've been to the store there and they had a variety of children's books. https://usa.kinokuniya.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Here's a list of stores https://usa.kinokuniya.com/stores-kinokuniya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 These little books have kana and are by a Japanese author, used prices are OK for some. https://smile.amazon.com/Junko-Yoshida/e/B004MQ1BPQ/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1544417990&sr=8-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elastimom Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 How about this? https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-English-Bilingual-Visual-Dictionary-DK/dp/1465469184/ref=pd_sim_14_11?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1465469184&pd_rd_r=f7b29de7-fc3e-11e8-8a86-63a2687e5275&pd_rd_w=cdhCc&pd_rd_wg=4BVAQ&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=KM3TEKP3A41ZD1AWDJZ5&psc=1&refRID=KM3TEKP3A41ZD1AWDJZ5 Although not all words have Kana, if you can write Kana from Romanji, they read the same. For example: 耳 (mimi in Kanji) mimi (Romanji) ミミ (re-write mimi in Katakana) Ear (English) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Posted December 10, 2018 Author Share Posted December 10, 2018 6 hours ago, maize said: Here's a list of stores https://usa.kinokuniya.com/stores-kinokuniya It doesn't look like they have what I want online, but I'll try and phone one of the stores this week. Thanks. 6 hours ago, maize said: These little books have kana and are by a Japanese author, used prices are OK for some. https://smile.amazon.com/Junko-Yoshida/e/B004MQ1BPQ/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1544417990&sr=8-1 These seem like toddler board books, which leads me to think that they are not at all comprehensive enough. 5 hours ago, Elastimom said: How about this? https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-English-Bilingual-Visual-Dictionary-DK/dp/1465469184/ref=pd_sim_14_11?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1465469184&pd_rd_r=f7b29de7-fc3e-11e8-8a86-63a2687e5275&pd_rd_w=cdhCc&pd_rd_wg=4BVAQ&pf_rd_p=18bb0b78-4200-49b9-ac91-f141d61a1780&pf_rd_r=KM3TEKP3A41ZD1AWDJZ5&psc=1&refRID=KM3TEKP3A41ZD1AWDJZ5 Although not all words have Kana, if you can write Kana from Romanji, they read the same. For example: 耳 (mimi in Kanji) mimi (Romanji) ミミ (re-write mimi in Katakana) Ear (English) Thank you but no. I don't like that it is from a Western point of view, uses a high rate of loan-words, and the tiny print. We've seen this in the local book store and had already decided against. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elastimom Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 I see. It would bother me to have to deal with the tiny print as well. As for the loan-words, it is very poplar to use them as everyday words, especially in clothing and food items. Things like Skirt, Pants, Jeans, Jacket, Sneaker (we don't add "s" though, LOL), Sandwich, Coffee, Juice, Lettuce for example. We just pronounce these English words with a heavy Japanese accent 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 Loan words are an entirely legitimate part of modern Japanese. This should not surprise us as English speakers, we have a crazy high proportion of our vocabulary that does not derive from Old English https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_language_influences_in_English 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 (edited) I think I might have found something that will work. It does have kanji but it also has the kana for them. The print doesn’t look too small... https://www.amazon.com/dp/4095017082/ref=cm_wl_huc_continue I looked at this site for help finding the dictionary https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/best-japanese-dictionary/ Edited December 10, 2018 by JenneinCA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Posted December 11, 2018 Author Share Posted December 11, 2018 Can anybody give me the correct Japanese interpretation for "Kids Dictionary" or "Early Grades Dictionary"? or an equivalent phrase or two? I've not gotten as far with Google translate as I would've liked, but I'd like to keep combing the internet in my spare time if at all possible. What I'm really hoping to find is a dictionary made for young native Japanese children the kind that would be found in a kids room, or a 1st-3rd grade classroom. We do not want an adult language-learners dictionary. I don't write/read a lick of Japanese and The Boys have only learned the Kana. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAYY Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 By way of introduction, we are a bilingual Japanese/American family living in Japan. A children's picture dictionary is ejiten (絵辞典)or kodomo zukan (子供図鑑). The Junko Yoshida kodomo zukan that PP linked to are really popular but you are right, they are board books meant for younger children (0-4 years). Each one covers specific topics and I think they have a fair amount of vocabulary for those topics. You would just need to get more than one for sure to be sure to cover the topics you want to look at. For example, we have one that covers "around town" (shops, hospital, train station, festivals, etc.) and a general one that covers animals, fruit/veg, vehicles, insects, flowers, body parts, numbers. I'm not sure I would pay 18 USD for them though (the retail price in Japan is 1000 yen but you can easily get them used for around 500) but otherwise they might actually serve you well, if you got most/all of the series (I think there are 4 or 5 of them) . I think this one might be more along the lines of what you are looking for though https://www.kumonshuppan.com/gakusan/gakusan-syousai-jiten/?code=61023 If you click below the picture of the cover where it says 立ち読みする in blue you can see some sample pages (needs flash). It's also on Amazon but with no sample pages. https://www.amazon.com/Kumon-no-kotoba-ejiten-Tooru/dp/4774313386/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544533744&sr=1-1&keywords=kumon+ejiten Here's another that might be what you are looking for https://www.amazon.co.jp/学研-ことば-えじてん-無藤隆/dp/4053032946/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544534199&sr=1-1&keywords=学研絵辞典 The second one has twice as many words (around 3000) as the first one (around 1500). That's just based of the publisher's specs online. I haven't seen either IRL. These are both geared more towards younger kids (3-6) but might work for your boys? This one is for younger kids too though (2-6 is the age range the publisher gives). 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elastimom Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 Learning Japanese is hard...! I'm Japanese, born and grew up in Japan with a set of very traditional parents. I, of course, speak and write Japanese fluently, but I don't even know how to teach Japanese! I tried with my California native husband and failed. I also tried teaching to my two children and failed miserably. Now my son (15yo) is learning Spanish 3 and my daughter (12yo) is learning middle school Spanish and high school Latin 1 and they are excelling 🙄 To answer your questions about the proper interpretation of Kids Dictionary in Japanese, I agree with above poster, JAYY's. Zukan is more focused in one topic/area of things and Ejiten (E is for picture, Jiten for dictionary) has a picture and its word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Posted December 14, 2018 Author Share Posted December 14, 2018 On 12/11/2018 at 8:22 AM, JAYY said: By way of introduction, we are a bilingual Japanese/American family living in Japan. A children's picture dictionary is ejiten (絵辞典)or kodomo zukan (子供図鑑). The Junko Yoshida kodomo zukan that PP linked to are really popular but you are right, they are board books meant for younger children (0-4 years). Each one covers specific topics and I think they have a fair amount of vocabulary for those topics. You would just need to get more than one for sure to be sure to cover the topics you want to look at. For example, we have one that covers "around town" (shops, hospital, train station, festivals, etc.) and a general one that covers animals, fruit/veg, vehicles, insects, flowers, body parts, numbers. I'm not sure I would pay 18 USD for them though (the retail price in Japan is 1000 yen but you can easily get them used for around 500) but otherwise they might actually serve you well, if you got most/all of the series (I think there are 4 or 5 of them) . I think this one might be more along the lines of what you are looking for though https://www.kumonshuppan.com/gakusan/gakusan-syousai-jiten/?code=61023 If you click below the picture of the cover where it says 立ち読みする in blue you can see some sample pages (needs flash). It's also on Amazon but with no sample pages. https://www.amazon.com/Kumon-no-kotoba-ejiten-Tooru/dp/4774313386/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544533744&sr=1-1&keywords=kumon+ejiten Here's another that might be what you are looking for https://www.amazon.co.jp/学研-ことば-えじてん-無藤隆/dp/4053032946/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544534199&sr=1-1&keywords=学研絵辞典 The second one has twice as many words (around 3000) as the first one (around 1500). That's just based of the publisher's specs online. I haven't seen either IRL. These are both geared more towards younger kids (3-6) but might work for your boys? This one is for younger kids too though (2-6 is the age range the publisher gives). Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! The correct terminology is super helpful and they both look good to The Boys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Posted December 14, 2018 Author Share Posted December 14, 2018 @Elastimom@JAYY Can you help us with the terms for leveled childrens readers / school anthologies written for early elementary school? We'd Like, books that kids would practice reading on their own as they go through Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade, etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elastimom Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 Maybe like this? https://www.amazon.co.jp/はじめてのめいさくえほん-全15巻-いもと-ようこ/dp/4265102611/ref=pd_sbs_14_11?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=4265102611&pd_rd_r=3da01433-ff69-11e8-a0fa-fb883d6be6da&pd_rd_w=RuG1t&pd_rd_wg=N4jDa&pf_rd_p=cda7018a-662b-401f-9c16-bd4ec317039e&pf_rd_r=3D0JFGA5MCC414S84C56&psc=1&refRID=3D0JFGA5MCC414S84C56 To find books for young children, some key words here... Picture book : Ehon (えほん) Japanese Old Folk Tale : Mukashibanashi (むかしばなし) *Commonly used as children's first reading books For Kindergarten : Enji or Youchienji For Elementary grade children : Jidou or Shougakusei After 1st grade level, many Japanese children's books start using Kanji with kana. Hope that helps... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAYY Posted December 15, 2018 Share Posted December 15, 2018 (edited) Graded reader is レベル別読物 but I've only ever heard it used in terms of be foreign language reading materials. For materials for a first grader try searching for 一年生 読物 (first grade reading material) or 二年生 読物 for sexond grade materials. Here is a collection of short passages for first graders so you can see what I mean. https://www.amazon.co.jp/10分で読めるお話-一年生-岡-信子/dp/4052022033 To find a list of stories recommended for various grade levels search for 一年生 推薦文庫. It sounds like you want to use materials for native speakers of Japanese but I would also highly recommend the よむよむ文庫 graded readers. They were written for people learning Japanese as a foreign language and they are very well done. You can get them with CDs so you can listen as you read along. Definitely consider these as well. https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Graded-Readers-Level-Audio/dp/4872176243/ref=pd_aw_sbs_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=4872176243&pd_rd_r=fdf63d44-001f-11e9-bcdd-7501865a8e6d&pd_rd_w=DzjVY&pd_rd_wg=4xzRg&pf_rd_p=926ebe02-3236-40c6-ac63-01ad178f498a&pf_rd_r=C7MMEAKAEKMBAKTRK053&psc=1&refRID=C7MMEAKAEKMBAKTRK053 https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Graded-Readers-Level-Audio/dp/4872177118/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544847153&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=japanese+graded+readers+level+0 Edited December 15, 2018 by JAYY 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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