This guide provides an overview of the salient features of the Japanese language from the perspective of the beginning-level English-speaking learner. Chapters address these topics: the Japanese language and its historic and cultural setting; phonology (sounds and syllables, word accentuation; loanwords; connected speech); writing (scripts, variations, and romanization); vocabulary (word classes, word origins, word formation, meaning, style, names, dictionaries and their use); grammar (inflection, grammatical word classes, simple sentences, complex and compound sentences); and discourse (style and grammar, conversation and vocabulary, phraseology). An appended section suggests references for each chapter's topics. Contents are indexed. (MSE)