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The English-language study market in Japan is huge, and alongside the more serious stuff there are also some more oddball publications, which pride themselves on teaching everything from the correct usage of the F-word to the phrase “I just took a dump“.

From educational publisher Gakken, however, comes an awesome-looking product that, although it’s very much a movie tie-in, takes itself entirely seriously. This is the Star Wars English-Japanese Dictionary for Padawan Learners, and we can’t wait to get our hands on a copy! Ever wondered how to say “Vader wants us all dead” in Japanese? Well, now’s your chance.

Unlike that other Star Wars dictionary we talked about earlier in the year – the one that teaches you to talk like Darth Vader – this is actually a fully functional academic dictionary, using junior high school level English. One thousand words are listed, with example sentences and situations taken from George Lucas’ original trilogy.

▼ Pages from A, B, and – you guessed it – C have been released for your viewing pleasure.

So what can Padawan learners get from using this  dictionary? There are some great classic lines, like “I have a bad feeling about this” (under the entry for “bad”), and “As you wish” (for “as”),  with decent, level-appropriate explanations in Japanese. There are some nice touches, too, like a section on body parts illustrated with C-3PO saying “Curse my metal body!”

▼ “B” is for “base”. That’s as in “rebel base”, not “all your base”.

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▼ Japanese schoolkids may be disappointed to discover that the word “buttocks” doesn’t hold much shock power.

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As an English-to-Japanese dictionary, the English-Japanese Dictionary for Padawan Learners is of course aimed at Japanese people studying English, but we think it’d be a great addition to any Japanese-study bookshelf, too. So while we recommend that you tell all your English-learning friends to read RocketNews24, if you know a young Jedi apprentice in need of some English motivation, this could be just the trick!

The English-Japanese Dictionary for Padawan Learners (スターウォーズ英和辞典 ジェダイ入門者編) goes on sale November 25th for 2,052 yen (US$19).

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Source and images: Gakken
[ Read in Japanese ]