Japanese Respect Language is a book by P. G. O'Neill intended for intermediate Japanese learners aspiring to master respectful language, which is called keigo. Although the book claims that you do not need any prior keigo knowledge, after thoroughly reading, I have to disagree because the content assumes some foundation in keigo.
This book covers the following information:
- Basic nouns
- Honorific verbs
- Depreciatory verbs
- Differential verbs
- Imperative forms
- Adjectives
Sentences explaining how to use words are interrupted by examples, charts, and can make the entire point of the sentence hard to follow. The formatting is so bad that some people have mistaken it for spelling or editing errors.
Every chapter ends with practice sections and practice tests which are the real gem of this book. The only problem being that the answers are usually right under the questions on the very same page.
In the end, this is not a book you should sit down and read all at once. However, despite all of its flaws, it's really in-depth as far as English language keigo lessons go, and covers just about everything an intermediate Japanese language learner could ever want to know. If you can get past the strange formatting, I believe this book can be very useful. It’s sold on Amazon in both print and e-book formats. You can also check out the full Tofugu review here.