Pronounce Japanese Without Guessing — Level N4.2: お出かけ — Easy English Pronunciation, More Kanji & Interlinear Japanese–English Reader for Upper Beginners Completing the JLPT N4 Foundation

Go Beyond Daily Life—and Complete Your JLPT N4 Foundation

Welcome back to Japanese. In お出かけ: Pronounce Japanese Without Guessing — Level N4.2, you leave the house, move through the city, handle everyday services, and take a first trip in Japan—all while reading Japanese aloud with easy English pronunciation above each word.

If you completed Book 2a, this is the natural next step. Now you enter the second half of N4, where polite Japanese opens into casual, everyday speech, practical travel language, comparisons, conditions, giving and receiving, ability, advice, and more.

Read Japanese Without Guessing

No IPA. No pronunciation lectures. No complex phonetic theory.
Just look, read, and speak.

Every Japanese word or phrase is paired with easy English pronunciation. Kanji always shows its kana reading in parentheses, so you are never left wondering how to say it. Read with support, read again with meaning, then return to clean Japanese and test your fluency.

What's New in Book 2b?

• Casual speech: 行（い）く, 楽（たの）しい, ～よ, ～ね, and ～んだ
• Comparisons: より, ～のほうが, and 一番（いちばん）
• Conditions: ～たら, ～と, and ～ば
• Giving and receiving: あげる, もらう, and くれる
• Ability: potential forms and ～ことができる
• Advice and obligation: ～なければならない, ～たほうがいい, ～てはいけません

The method stays simple: pronunciation is shown, reading is supported, and the focus stays on confident communication.

Travel Through Real N4 Topics

Across 11 standalone chapters, Emma heads out into Tokyo and beyond. Read about trains and the subway, giving directions, banks and post offices, comparison shopping, hobbies and sports, gifts and souvenirs, extended family, calls and messages, planning a trip, hotels and ryokan, and finally recounting a fun journey.

A Simple Chapter-by-Chapter Method

1. Read with pronunciation and meaning.
Read each paragraph first with easy English pronunciation, then again with English meaning.

2. Read clean Japanese.
Return to the same story without pronunciation guides and build confidence from memory.

3. Review key vocabulary.
See kana readings, easy pronunciation, and concise English meanings.

4. Practice.
Use comprehension, pronunciation writing, read-aloud checks, and drills for long vowels, the little っ, particles, and connected speech.

What You Will Build

By the end of this book, you will have read and pronounced approximately 270 more Japanese words and phrases and about 65 more kanji, bringing your N4 total to roughly 120 characters. Together with Book 2a, that takes you beyond 530 words and phrases and completes the N4 level.

You will handle trains, directions, banks, post offices, shopping, hobbies, gifts, family talk, calls and messages, travel planning, hotels, ryokan, and trip recollections with growing confidence.

Who Is This Book For?

• Learners who completed Book 2a or have an equivalent first-half-N4 foundation
• Readers preparing for JLPT N4, the J-Test, or life and work in Japan
• Learners who want more natural, casual Japanese with friends
• Readers who prefer visual, reading-based learning over phonetic theory
• Anyone who wants good enough pronunciation for real communication

Good Enough Is Enough to Move Forward

You do not need a perfect accent to communicate. Read aloud, keep a steady rhythm, and let repetition do the work. With each chapter, Japanese becomes less intimidating, kanji more familiar, and everyday speech more natural.

No guessing. No dictionary. No fear of kanji.
Just read, pronounce, understand, and keep going.

お出（で）かけを はじめましょう。
Turn the page—and head out into Japan.