My Fun Japanese Book

One of the teachers at my school has kindly taken it upon herself to teach my Japanese several times a week, during working hours no less. In return I take the occasional lesson to go over some of the finer points of the English language (hers is quite good), and in general try to fulfill expectations that I work hard. But the book she recommended I use ("Understanding Basic Japanese Grammar", it does sound a bit dry), while very useful, is also quite funny from time to time. It was written by a professor at the Foreign Students Center at Osaka University, so perhaps he geared it towards what he thought foreigners would do all the time.

On page 6, we learn how to say "I often drink", "I usually drink beer", "I don't drink wine or whiskey" and "I drank beer yesterday evening."

On page 15, the book teaches us how to say "My younger sister got married with her professor."

I'll just list a few more sequentially.

Page 21: "Shall we drink this evening?"

Page 57: "My father came home late last night. He was a little drunk." And, just for laughs, "My elder brother used to be very slim. Now he is a fatty."

Page 84: "I talked with my friend while drinking until three o'clock this morning. We had a very good time."

Page 157: "My friend visited me yesterday. And my expensive whiskey was drunk by him."

Page 166: "I was forced to drink sake by my father."

Page 194: "While I was drunk and in bed, she went home." (My personal favorite)