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kyotomylove's review against another edition
For nearly 40 years i am obsessed with Japan and i am obsessed with everything concerning language. Never in my wildest dreams i would have thought that this book would bore and annoy me. I tried several times to get into it, but the whining teenage voice of the narrator made it impossible. I am deeply disgusted by this book.
checkie's review against another edition
4.75
This is a great book for any lover of language or linguistics. The book acts as a memoir, focussing on Polly Barton's journey in moving to Japan and learning the language there, taking one of fifty Japanese words as stimuli for each section. Despite my lack of any knowledge of the Japanese language, or any second language for that matter, I found Barton's writing on language and translation fascinating, particularly the intricacies and nuances of the etiquette surrounding language and words. Barton has an unusual and fascinating perspective on the process of learning a language given the fact that she only began to learn the language as an adult, after graduating from university. It made me feel like there is hope for me yet!
sarah_v's review against another edition
informative
reflective
4.75
The philosophy parts went largely over my head, but I absolutely loved this book for not making me feel so alone in the journey as a language learner. How Barton described her thought process when being asked if she is fluent in Japanese, how difficult it is to know if you have reached fluency made me breathe such a huge sigh of relief (or more accurately nuzzle my face in the book and agree loudly "YES!").
I really appreciated the nuanced discussions of being a privileged person in a foreign country, and battling the feeling of being other. This book also helped understand the work of translation better and demystified it for me.
I really appreciated the nuanced discussions of being a privileged person in a foreign country, and battling the feeling of being other. This book also helped understand the work of translation better and demystified it for me.
hayleighlouise's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
ariannefowler's review against another edition
I wasn't in the right mood for this. I'll try to come back another time because the subject does interest me and I liked the way Barton writes.