Love, Hate and Everything in between: Expressing Emotions in Japanese by MamikoMurakami; Ernest ReissReview by: Senko K. MaynardThe Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Oct., 1998), pp. 69-71Published by: American Association of Teachers of JapaneseStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/489580 .

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JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF JAPANESE 69

REVIEWS

LOVE, HATE AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN: EXPRESSING EMOTIONS IN JAPANESE,

by Mamiko Murakami, Translated by Ernest Reiss. Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1997. 169 pp. $13.00

Reviewed by Senko K. Maynard

Love, Hate and Everything in Between: Expressing Emotions in Japanese (henceforth LH) is a pocket-sized reference/guide primarily targeted to advanced Japanese language students. In LH, Murakami introduces a

variety of expressions related to Japanese emotions, an area in Japanese pedagogy that has not received the kind of attention it warrants. This historical oversight is due, in part, to a preference toward the proposition- based formalism sustained in linguistics, and also because emotives are

inherently resistant to neat pedagogical compartmentalization and tidy description. Given this context, LH is a welcome addition to the field.

LH is divided into two parts: Part 1, from uncertainty to love, and Part 2, from uncertainty to hate. Part 1 contains 14 categories (e.g., ambivalence, tough love), and Part 2 contains 23 categories (e.g., arrogance and pride, hate). In all I counted 345 entries of emotion-related expressions. The entries consist of various categories and forms including verbs (e.g., homeru), proverbial expressions (e.g., nikumarekkoyo ni habakaru), idiomatic expressions (e.g., hana de ashirau), nouns (e.g., hiasobi), phrases (e.g., uchi no yatsu), adjectives (e.g., itoshii), and sentences (e.g., suki de suki de tamaranat). All entries appear with English translation/explanation and most are accompanied by two or three sample sentences and/or conversation segments.

Entries listed under both parts are arranged from expressions of ambivalent feelings to expressions of intense love and hate. Within each

category, however, entries appear less cohesive, giving the impression that the organization is somewhat arbitrary (they are not arranged in terms of

intensity, nor in an alphabetical order). For example, ekohiiki suru appears 30th in the 34 entries under the category "parents and children" (p.50). Admittedly, arranging emotional expressions in a coherent hierarchy is no easy task; the reader simply needs to keep an open mind as he or she may

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70 I VOLUME 32, NUMBER 2

encounter somewhat unexpected entries at certain locations.

Perusing this book offers opportunities for students to glimpse the

many ways for expressing emotion in Japanese. Explanations are given in

plain, easy-to-understand English, and in many cases accompanying sample sentences offer important contextual information. Based on English translation, even students who are unable to understand Japanese sentences can generally figure out the correct use of the expression. While there is little doubt that LH provides useful self-learning supplementary material fot curious and motivated advanced level students, this book is not without some drawbacks.

Unfortunately, the author occasionally mixes stylistically different

expressions without indicating so. Some sample sentences may needlessly thwart even the competent student's ability to disentangle the mixture of

styles. For example, shiga ni mo kakenai is translated- "lit., not even hang on one's teeth, to pay no attention to; to act as if something or someone is beneath notice" (p. 91). The sample sentence appears: Sutiibu ttara, kaisha no onna no ko no koto nanka shiga ni mo kakenai tte taido toru no yo ne, translated as "That damn Steve acts like the women in the company are

totally beneath him" (p. 91).

Given the casual style portrayed by the example sentence (although another sample sentence offers a less casual style), the uncritical learner may try out shiga ni mo kakenai in casual conversation with a young Japanese friend. It is disheartening to predict the consequences such a marked

expression is likely to create when used in real life. After all, native speakers intuitively choose expressions appropriate to particular discourse, but for students learning Japanese, such knowledge is hard to come by. Given that some (perhaps many) readers may not comprehend the Japanese sample sentences fully, and given that the sample sentences by themselves may not

provide required stylistic information, it would have been helpful if the author closely noted the stylistic features, for example, degree of

familiarity/difficulty and/or spoken/written form. Lack of such notation is

sorely missed particularly because LH claims that "(t)he naturalness of'

sample sentences "helps ensure that readers not only gain passive understanding, but learn to use these phrases for themselves" (back cover). I should hasten to add here that the author occasionally provides use-related information. For example, chooai includes an explanation-"this term is now largely antiquated" (p.51). This kind of careful annotation provides a welcome instruction, indeed.

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JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS OF JAPANESE 1 71

Some of the entries seem less useful than others. For example, if a student of Japanese uses the phrase aibyoo (one's [beloved] cat) (p. 37), I would not be the only native speaker perplexed by it. Although the term introduced immediately above, aiken (one's [beloved] dog), is widely used,

aibyoo is not. Items not broadly accepted such as aibyoo could be excluded with no loss of the book's overall validity of purpose or scope of intention.

Because the index includes all the Japanese expressions of emotion,

allowing easy access to all entries, LH can be used as a reference as well. However, as suggested in the subtitle "expressing emotions in Japanese," including an index of key English emotion words directing the reader to

comparable Japanese phrases would have made LH even more useful.

Although to appreciate the example sentences, students must minimally possess advanced-level proficiency, students of all levels can benefit from this book, especially as a reference source.

Last, but not least, the translator's contribution should be commended. The English translation is clear and, in my opinion, captures the difficult nuances that communicate the subtleties of human emotion. Given that

many potentially useful Japanese pedagogical materials lack concise English explanation, LH succeeds as a useful and important pedagogical tool.

KAIWA NO NIHONGO <DORIRU 6 TASUKU>: JAPANESE THROUGH DIALOGUES FOR

INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS <DRILLS & TASKS>. By Mizue Sasaki and Masami Kadokura. Tokyo: The Japan Times, 1997. xiii, 197 pp. ?2,300.

Reviewed by John Mertz

This is a fun workbook, offering much language and much practice. The content centers on verb-final patterns including -te iru and -te aru;

passives, causatives, and potentials; giving and receiving; -tara and -eba; -sd da, -yo da, -tokoro da, etc. While the workbook was designed to accompany a primary text which bears the same title (Sasaki Mizue, Kaiwa no nihongo: Japanese through Dialogues for Intermediate Learners. Tokyo: The Japan Times, 1996), reliance on the primary text is minimal, so the workbook can be used in conjunction with other texts, either in or out of class. An answer

key in the back allows for some degree of self-study. Exercises in each lesson run the gamut from simple transformation

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