@joel: Well, if you go through the ROMANISED version of a textbook, how are you supposed to know that “wa” is written as “ha” in hiragana, eh? :P

「Romanised」じゃない。「ローマ字」です。

Anyway, my point was that since I’ve never looked at the romaji version of Japanese for Busy People, I don’t know when they start introducing kana. If they never do, mind you, then what on earth did you spent fifteen chapters learning?

As for keigo, I’ve gotten the strong impression that the book is somewhat geared towards Japanese-learners who are already working in Japan, and you’ll be quite likely to need keigo in a Japanese workplace. I’m on volume three myself, but I’ve gotten a little stalled…

Or 来た方がいいです – you should come to Australia.

Unfamiliarity with (a) IME on the keyboard and (b) the particle は.

Basically, “konnichiwa” – or, all-too-often, “konichiwa” – in romaji is a well-known Japanese greeting for the West, but when it comes to typing it in Japanese, it’s a little different. If you type “konichiwa” in IME, こにちわ is what you’ll get. It’s not much better typing “konnichiwa” either, because you wind up with こんいちわ…

While we’re on well-known Japanese greetings, don’t even mention “SAI-oh-NAH-ra”. =P

Dunno about Greece, but Japanese ingredients are starting to become very common here in Australia, even in regular supermarkets. If you can find roux blocks, it could be worth trying curry rice – I’ve made that in the past, and it’s turned out quite nice. Nikujaga is good too. There’s also about a thousand recipes for okonomiyaki out there (though most of the ones I’ve seen are really just cabbage fritters or something, so it’s a bit hit-and-miss there).

My suggestion is come up with your own mnemonics – you’re much more likely to remember them that way. =)

On the other hand, a Google search for “Japanese vocab mnemonics” turns up plenty of results.

According to the intermediate grammar dictionary, かねる conveys more the impression of “not in a position to do” or “not possible to do” rather than simply “unable”. It’s apparently more similar to the にくい ending than it is to できる. It does specifically say it can’t be applied to potential verbs, because it “creates a double potential meaning”, but also adds that there are two exceptions to this – わかる and できる – but doesn’t really explain why, or exactly what the effect of できかねる is…

Aye, I had that issue too when I went to Japan – I’d prepare a question to ask, or look it up in the phrasebook, but I’d never understand the answer I received back, so I quickly realised there was little use. It’s fine for short exchanges, like “excuse me, where’s the toilet?” or “could I get my change in hundred-yen coins?” but if it’s a prelude to a conversation, I wouldn’t go there.