Japanese Stories for Language Learners: Bilingual Stories in Japanese and English (MP3 Audio Disc Included)
- Downloads：3491
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-08-07 08:53:50
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Anne McNulty
- ISBN：4805314680
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
A great story can lead a reader down a rabbit hole of discovery--especially if it's presented in two languages！ Beautifully illustrated in a traditional style， Japanese Stories for Language Learners offers five compelling stories with Japanese and English language versions appearing on facing pages。 Taking learners on an exciting cultural and linguistic journey， each story is followed by detailed translator's notes， vocabulary lists， and grammar points along with a set of discussion questions and exercises。 The first two are very famous traditional folktales: Urashima Taro （Tale of a Fisherman） and Yuki Onna （The Snow Woman）。 These are followed by three short stories by notable 20th century authors: Kumo no Ito （The Spider's Thread） by Akutagawa Ryunosuke （1892u1927）， Oborekaketa Kyodai （The Siblings Who Almost Drowned） by Arishima Takeo （1878u1923）， and Serohiki no Goshu （Gauche the Cellist） by Miyazawa Kenji （1896-1933）。 The latter stories are unabridged and unedited except for the addition of furigana pronunciations above the kanji characters。
Reading these stories in the original Japanese--and hearing native-speakers read them aloud in the accompanying free audio recording--helps students at every level deepen their comprehension of the beauty and subtlety of the Japanese language。
Reading these stories in the original Japanese--and hearing native-speakers read them aloud in the accompanying free audio recording--helps students at every level deepen their comprehension of the beauty and subtlety of the Japanese language。
Reviews
Jodie "Bookish" Cook
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 Book ReviewTitle: Japanese Stories for Language Learners by Anne McNulty & Eriko Sato Genre: FictionRating: 3。5 StarsI recently reviewed another set of short stories in Japanese and I decided to review the other two collections I have as well。 I will follow the same process as before and review the stories individually before averaging out the ratings for the collection overall。 Urashima Taro - ****Urashima Taro is a Japanese folktale about a fisherman and it dates back to the 8th century。 Urash Book ReviewTitle: Japanese Stories for Language Learners by Anne McNulty & Eriko Sato Genre: FictionRating: 3。5 StarsI recently reviewed another set of short stories in Japanese and I decided to review the other two collections I have as well。 I will follow the same process as before and review the stories individually before averaging out the ratings for the collection overall。 Urashima Taro - ****Urashima Taro is a Japanese folktale about a fisherman and it dates back to the 8th century。 Urashima Taro one day spots some children tormenting a baby turtle and returns it to the sea where it belongs thinking nothing more of it， until several years later the now fully grown turtle returns and as a sign of thanks takes Taro to the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the sea。 He spends some time there with a beautiful princess drinking and having feasts but he is worried about his elderly parents and wants to return home。 Before he leaves the princess gives him a treasure box and tells him never to open it。 Upon returning he realises everything has changed and he can’t find his parents so he opens the treasure box only to turn into an old man and he realises that during the time he was at the Dragon Palace hundreds of years have passed on land。 Urashima Taro reminded me a lot of Pandora’s box and it was very quick to read both in English and Japanese。 Snow Woman - ****Snow Woman or Yuki Onna in Japanese is another folktale about a female yokai （demon） that appears on snowy night and it dates right back to the Muromachi period around 1336-1573。 In this story we are following two lumberjacks， Minokichi and Mosaku。 One day a freak blizzard forces them to wait out the storm in the ferryman’s hut as he has already left and they fall asleep。 Upon waking Minokichi realises that Mosaku has wondered out in the storm where a woman in a white kimono is watching。 She agrees to help him as long as he tells no one about her shortly after she leaves he faints to awaken to find Mosaku dead。 A few years later he is returning from the same forest and he meets a beautiful woman named Oyuki and they hit it off。 They are shortly married and Oyuki gives birth to ten children before Minokichi remembers the woman in white and realises his wife looks a lot like her。 He tells her the story from that night that the woman in white told him to never tell。 It turns out that the woman in white and Oyuki are the same person and since Minokichi has told the story she should kill him but she doesn’t asking him to take care of their children before disappearing。 Again， this had a very Pandora’s box feel to it in that Minokichi was given instructions that he couldn’t follow and as a result he lost both his friend and his wife。 The Spider’s Thread by Ryunosuke Akutagawa - ***The Spider’s Thread tells the story of Buddha and Kandata， one day while strolling through Paradise， Buddha gazed down in Hell and saw Kandata， a thief and murderer struggling in the Pool of Blood。 Buddha sees that despite his horrible deeds Kandata once spared the life of a spider and in Buddhist culture all lives have equal weight and worth and so decides to drop a spider’s thread down into Hell for Kandata。 Kandata sees it and at once begins to climb however a great distance separates Hell from Paradise and he has to rest when he notices hundreds and thousands of other sinners climbing the thread。 Fearing the thread will break， Kandata claims it as his own and tells the others to get back down into Hell。 At this moment the thread snaps and all the sinners including Kandata are plunged back down into Hell。 Buddha has been witnessing all of this from Paradise and reflects that trying to escape Hell rather than facing punishment for one’s deeds and Kandata’s selfishness broke the thread and Buddha continues his stroll through Paradise。 Understanding this story is easier if you have some knowledge of the story of Buddha and Buddhism but the meanings are clear through that we must all face punishment for our wrongs in order to be reborn and trying to evade those punishments only leads to more punishment。 The Siblings Who Almost Drowned by Takeo Arishima - ***The Siblings Who Almost Drowned is a story set during the doyo season where a brother and sister along with their friend M are heading down to the beach for one final swim even though they are warned against it by their grandmother because of the large waves。 When they get to the beach everything seems fine for a while but they quickly realise they are getting pulled further and further out to see and begins swimming for the shore。 However， while M and the brother are good swimmers the sister is not and soon finds herself in trouble。 The brother wants to go back for her but knows if he does that they will both drown so he continues swimming to the shore where they can get help。 Once he reaches the shore the brother realises M has found a young man who immediately swims out to his sister and brings her back to the shore alive。 However， the sister won’t even look at her brother and bursts into tears when their grandmother arrives even the mysterious young man doesn’t talk to the brother and he realises that he did a shameful thing in leaving his sister behind。 Afterwards the young man returns home with them while his grandmother thanks him but he still doesn’t speak a word before leaving。 The brother reflects later in life that even though the young man was strange and his friend M was murdered one thing that still terrifies him is thinking of his beloved sister sinking beneath the waves。 This story has strong theme of survival and family which I really enjoyed but I would have liked to have known more about the mysterious young man。 Gauche the Cellist by Kenji Miyazawa - ***Gauche the Cellist was an interesting story although I didn’t really understand it that well。 We follow Gauche who is a cellist in an orchestra but he is worst player and often gets shouted at for it by the conductor。 Every night Gauche practises over and over for hours， however one night a cat comes to his house and asks Gauche to play for him which he eventually does after some arguing。 This continues for many nights with different animals appearing to hear Gauche play and some even offer him advice on how he can become a better musician but he doesn’t take any of this seriously。 The night before the orchestra’s big performance， Gauche is visited by a mouse and her sick child and asks Gauche to heal him but he has no idea what the mouse is talking about。 She explains that sick animals often hide under his house while he is playing and they miraculously get better and he agrees to play for her child and even gives them bread before they leave。 On the day of the performance everything goes perfectly and Gauche even gives an encore where he plays amazingly， however， the piece of music he played was a piece he played for the cuckoo who he treated badly and he feels horrible about it。 I am not quite sure what the moral of the story was here but it was certainly interesting to read。 Overall， the stories in this collection were interesting especially the sections about the authors or where the folktales originated from。 The Japanese used in this collection is pretty simple although you do require some knowledge on kanji as it only provides hiragana translations once or twice for the same kanji so it is expecting you to remember how the kanji is pronounced。 。。。more
Emma Tibbits
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Didn’t actually finish fully but I read enough I figured I might as well count it。 I wish the text was larger in the kindle version。 For the stories themselves I thought the ones they picked were adequate。 I’d say this is a book for an advanced reader rather than intermediate to advanced like the book suggests。 It has a lot of formal language as well as older kanji usage which can be confusing to someone who hasn’t read much Japanese literature。 But fun to be exposed to new stories and test my a Didn’t actually finish fully but I read enough I figured I might as well count it。 I wish the text was larger in the kindle version。 For the stories themselves I thought the ones they picked were adequate。 I’d say this is a book for an advanced reader rather than intermediate to advanced like the book suggests。 It has a lot of formal language as well as older kanji usage which can be confusing to someone who hasn’t read much Japanese literature。 But fun to be exposed to new stories and test my abilities。 。。。more
Jared Pangier
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It has been about a year since I read something of this length in Japanese， and that time I used my Kindle so that I could touch every other kanji to figure out what it said。 It was a painstaking process。 Since then， I have been using Wanikani daily to study kanji。 When I saw this book Japanese Stories for Language Learners: Bilingual Stories in Japanese and English， it caught my eye。 I wanted another challenge and I wanted to see if my kanji study was paying off in helping me read Japanse more It has been about a year since I read something of this length in Japanese， and that time I used my Kindle so that I could touch every other kanji to figure out what it said。 It was a painstaking process。 Since then， I have been using Wanikani daily to study kanji。 When I saw this book Japanese Stories for Language Learners: Bilingual Stories in Japanese and English， it caught my eye。 I wanted another challenge and I wanted to see if my kanji study was paying off in helping me read Japanse more fluently。At first， the going was slow， but fortunately， the book is seemingly arranged in increasing order of text length and complexity。 In arranging the book that way， with five short stories in total， I could see my reading fluency and understanding progressively grow throughout the reading， giving me more confidence in my ability。 I also enjoyed the story selection， especially the final story セロ弾きのゴーシュ， which is zany and filled with hope。 The format of the text is also nice， a bit like NoFear Shakespeare， with the English text on the right and the Japanese text on the left。 Generally， the content is aligned， though more work could be put into that。 Each story is followed by Japanese-English definitions and explanations， as well as a challenge activity and discussion questions。 Occasionally， some of the romaji has been done incorrectly but I still found this section to be useful for learning。The book also comes with a CD of Japanese， which I plan to listen to later， maybe。For language learners and those interested in classic Japanese stories， I recommend this book。 。。。more
Helen Hnin
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This was so nice。 I didn't expect this book to has authentic Japanese stories so it was like a nice surprise。 It was hard to get through the last three stories。 （Obviously） I think I'll revisit this book a few times in near future to learn the glossary and the grammar systematically。 This was so nice。 I didn't expect this book to has authentic Japanese stories so it was like a nice surprise。 It was hard to get through the last three stories。 （Obviously） I think I'll revisit this book a few times in near future to learn the glossary and the grammar systematically。 。。。more
Sara Chittenden
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For someone studying Japanese， this bilingual reader is great！ My only qualms are with some formatting choices。 The glossary and questions that come after each story are sort of clunky to read， and I feel like that information could have been presented in a more efficient way。
Nicki Markus
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Japanese Stories for Language Learners is an excellent resource。 Though it's a little advanced for me at present， with the help of the notes and English text， I can slowly read the stories。 Meanwhile， the accompanying CD lets you hear them being read， aiding with aural comprehension and pronunciation。 I plan to go through this book once now but then return to it again once my studies advance， so I can attempt to read more without help from the English translation and notes。 Japanese Stories for Language Learners is an excellent resource。 Though it's a little advanced for me at present， with the help of the notes and English text， I can slowly read the stories。 Meanwhile， the accompanying CD lets you hear them being read， aiding with aural comprehension and pronunciation。 I plan to go through this book once now but then return to it again once my studies advance， so I can attempt to read more without help from the English translation and notes。 。。。more
Miriam Cihodariu
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I am not studying Japanese but I liked this bilingual book of stories （complete with extra explanations and exercises following each story） a lot。 Even if I'm not planning on learning Japanese anytime soon， the linguistic glimpses offered on the side are cute and a great starting point for making further connections between words and concepts and languages and world views。 You know how it is when you're faced with the particulars of a new tongue :）。As for the stories themselves， they were really I am not studying Japanese but I liked this bilingual book of stories （complete with extra explanations and exercises following each story） a lot。 Even if I'm not planning on learning Japanese anytime soon， the linguistic glimpses offered on the side are cute and a great starting point for making further connections between words and concepts and languages and world views。 You know how it is when you're faced with the particulars of a new tongue :）。As for the stories themselves， they were really nice （the first ones at least）。 They are handpicked to represent Japanese culture and presented sort of chronologically。 Therefore， the first two ones are folk tales and the later ones are from classic literature， from older to newer。 The newest ones are not really my cup of tea since they belong to a period of time when Japanese authors were influenced by a Kafkaesque sense of the absurd。 But the first stories are lovely！ The very first one， about a fisherman and a turtle， is a particular favorite of mine。 It resembles a story from my own country's folklore a lot （it's called 'Tinerete fara batranete si viata fara de moarte'， aka 'Youth without aging and life without death'）。 It's about finding a passageway to a fairyland-like place where everything is joyful and you enjoy yourself for a few years， and you are given the option to remain there and live forever。 But because you miss your loved ones， you return only to discover that hundreds of years have passed in the 'real' world even if it was only a couple of month's time for you。 While grieving and lost， Death or simply Time catches up with you too and you suddenly age and wither in just a glimpse of a moment。 This story （without the sad conclusion） also features in a video game inspired by Japanese lore: Okami。 Check it out if you'd like， it's very cute。 :） 。。。more
Jane
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The stories in this book are fascinating and very unusual。 I can imagine it was difficult to translate some of the very old stories into English。 I am lucky to have an advance copy of this book， and I enjoyed it very much。
Anne
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