Making Sense of Japanese What the Textbooks Don’t

March 2, 2010 by  
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Making Sense of Japanese is the fruit of one foolhardy American's thirty-year struggle to learn and teach the Language of the Infinite. Previously known as Gone Fishin', this book has brought Jay Rubin more feedback than any of his literary translations or scholarly tomes, even if, he says, you discount the hate mail from spin-casters and the stray gill-netter.

To convey his conviction that the Japanese language is not vague, Rubin has dared to explain how some of the most challenging Japanese grammatical forms work in terms of everyday English. Reached recently at a recuperative center in the hills north of Kyoto, Rubin declared, I'm still pretty sure that Japanese is not vague. Or at least, it's not as vague as it used to be. Probably.

The notorious subjectless sentence of Japanese comes under close scrutiny in Part One. A sentence can't be a sentence without a subject, so even in cases where the subject seems to be lost or hiding, the author provides the tools to help you find it. Some attention is paid as well to the rest of the sentence, known technically to grammarians as the rest of the sentence.

Part Two tackles a number of expressions that have baffled students of Japanese over the decades, and concludes with Rubin's patented technique of analyzing upside-down Japanese sentences right-side up, which, he claims, is far more restful than the traditional way, inside-out.

The scholar, according to the great Japanese novelist Soseki Natsume, is one who specializes in making the comprehensible incomprehensible. Despite his best scholarly efforts, Rubin seems to have done just the opposite.

Previously published in the Power Japanese series under the same title and originally as Gone Fishin' in the same series. ....read more

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Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine Oxford Textbooks

February 21, 2010 by  
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Following publication of the first edition in 1993, the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine rapidly established itself as the definitive textbook on the subject. Each edition has received widespread critical acclaim, and the book is used across the world by the wide range of health care professionals involved in the care of patients with a terminal illness, or chronic, progressive conditions. Existing readers who automatically turn to the textbook will welcome this updated edition of their familiar reference, while it will prove a fascinating read to a new generation of palliative care professionals.

The rapid development of the specialty means the textbook is always thoroughly revised between editions, and the fourth edition is no exception. The original editors, Geoffrey Hanks and Nathan Cherny, are joined by four new editors who are leaders in the field and represent a more global editorial approach than ever before. The multi-disciplinary nature of palliative care is emphasized throughout, while an entire section looks at the individual professional roles that contribute to the best-quality palliative care. Ethical issues are explored, including topical chapters on the controversial issues of witholding and withdrawing life-sustaining therapy, and euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Communication issues and the psychiatric, spiritual, and psychosocial issues so integral to modern palliative care are covered in depth. As palliative care has become an established and accepted specialty, there is the need for the evidence-base to match other areas of clinical medicine, and a section looks specifically at research in palliative care. The treatment of symptoms is comprehensively covered, with particular focus on the management of pain. Specific chapters are devoted to the role of palliative care in non-malignant diseases and conditions, while education and training are highlighted as critical to future best practice.

The Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine has continually evolved, keeping pace with the changing face of palliative care, and this new edition ensures that it remains at the forefront of the specialty. No hospital, hospice, palliative care service, or medical library should be without a copy. ....read more
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Integrated Korean Beginning 1 2nd Edition Klear Textbooks

February 13, 2010 by  
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This is a thoroughly revised edition of Integrated Korean: Beginning 1, the first volume of the best-selling series developed collaboratively by leading classroom teachers and linguists of Korean. All series' volumes have been developed in accordance with performance-based principles and methodology - contextualization, learner-centeredness, use of authentic materials, usage-orientedness, balance between skill getting and skill using, and integration of speaking, listening, reading, writing, and culture. Grammar points are systematically introduced in simple but adequate explanations and abundant examples and exercises. Each situation/topic-based lesson of the main texts consists of model dialogues, narration, new words and expressions, vocabulary notes, culture, grammar, usage, and English translation of dialogues. In response to comments from hundreds of students and instructors of the first edition, this new edition features a more attractive two-color design with all new photos and drawings and an additional lesson and vocabulary exercises. Lessons are now organized into two main sections, each containing a conversational text (with its own vocabulary list) and a reading passage. The accompanying workbook, newly written, provides students with extensive skill-using activities based on the skills learned in the main text. Integrated Korean is a project of the Korean Language Education and Research Center (KLEAR) with the support of the Korea Foundation. In addition to the five-level Integrated Korean textbooks and workbooks, volumes include Korean Composition, Korean Language in Culture and Society, Korean Reader for Chinese Characters, Reading in Modern Korean Literature, and Selected Readings in Korean. ....read more
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