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This book covers all of the 1,945 characters in the General Use set of Japanese characters, with particularly detailed coverage of the 1,009 Essential characters that Japanese children must learn in the first six years of grade school. And since Japanese publications must, by law, provide supplementary phonetic readings for any character not included in the General Use set, this invaluable reference contains everything you need to know to start reading Japanese.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you have a photographic memory then this may be the perfect book for you to learn Japanese reading and writing, however for the 99% of us out there who can't remember 1,009 symbols just by looking then this book is pretty useless. It seems to me to be closer to a dictionary than a learning aide - there are no excercises to put into practise what you've learnt, no explanations about meanings, not one thing that can make this a worth-buying study-aide. My advice is not to buy it, instead go for the 'learning by manga' books out there or the Teach Yourself series. This book is a waste of time, money and effort.
Format:Paperback
I have been using a previous edition of this book on and off for several years. The new edition, updated and improved, will help to write Japanese in the best possible way for anybody who learns the language by himself, without any ouside help.
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14 reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
An Essential Guide to the 1,945 Joyo Kanji
17 Sep 2006
Format:Paperback
Whatever your reasons are for wanting to study Japanese, you'd do well to learn hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Some people go for the spoken-only approach, but I've found that learning hiragana, katakana, and a lot of the kanji has definitely improved by retention of Japanese vocabulary. Many Japanese words include kanji (for example, the word "nihon" for Japan is the combination of the kanji for "sun" and the kanji for "origin"), so knowing what the words literally mean will help increase your understanding of Japanese overall.
After learning hiragana and katakana (the syllabaries of Japanese; much simpler than kanji, these are sound-based rather than meaning-based), you'll want to integrate kanji into your study of the language. That's where this book comes in. The 1,006 Essential Characters are listed by grade (1st through 6th). Each of these kanji entries includes: the stroke order, Japanese pronunciations, meanings in English, and three examples of the kanji contained in Japanese words. The 1,945 General Use Characters are listed by stroke-order (1 through 23); this includes all of the kanji of the 1,006 set plus those other general use characters not taught in 1st through 6th grade. A hiragana and katakana chart is also included, as well as an index sorted by pronunciation in the back.
This book makes a great reference for teaching yourself the kanji. Of course, you shouldn't expect to end up using this book alone for learning the kanji; it's more helpful for review and reference. There are plenty of resources on-line and several other books that would be helpful to use in conjunction with this book. For example, Kanji Pict-o-Graphix encourages mnemonic, visual memorization and Japanese For Everyone focuses on both written and conversational Japanese. However, this book serves the purpose it was created for: to provide clear and succinct entries for the Joyo kanji so you can learn how to write and understand them. It is an essential reference that every Japanese-language learner should own.
After learning hiragana and katakana (the syllabaries of Japanese; much simpler than kanji, these are sound-based rather than meaning-based), you'll want to integrate kanji into your study of the language. That's where this book comes in. The 1,006 Essential Characters are listed by grade (1st through 6th). Each of these kanji entries includes: the stroke order, Japanese pronunciations, meanings in English, and three examples of the kanji contained in Japanese words. The 1,945 General Use Characters are listed by stroke-order (1 through 23); this includes all of the kanji of the 1,006 set plus those other general use characters not taught in 1st through 6th grade. A hiragana and katakana chart is also included, as well as an index sorted by pronunciation in the back.
This book makes a great reference for teaching yourself the kanji. Of course, you shouldn't expect to end up using this book alone for learning the kanji; it's more helpful for review and reference. There are plenty of resources on-line and several other books that would be helpful to use in conjunction with this book. For example, Kanji Pict-o-Graphix encourages mnemonic, visual memorization and Japanese For Everyone focuses on both written and conversational Japanese. However, this book serves the purpose it was created for: to provide clear and succinct entries for the Joyo kanji so you can learn how to write and understand them. It is an essential reference that every Japanese-language learner should own.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
After a long search...
25 April 2005
Format:Paperback
I've tried a few books, but this one works best for me for a variety of reasons. As said by another reviewer, you get the Joyo kanji, general-use kanji, as well as a kana chart. It's great because the on and kun pronounciations, stroke order, sample words, and a look-up are all provided. Other books I've tried to *remember the kanji* with lacked all of these. Others cost much more when you figure that you have to buy *250 kanji* here and there to make an entire set. The language business is a hustle, so companies keep repackaging bad info, the same info, or convoluted forms of info to turn a buck. For more serious or dedicated students, that can become quite expensive when trying to find something that will truly work within the context of study.
Whether you are using a "brute-force" method or a differently structured process, I believe that this book is the best resource I've found so far for a variety of methods, providing a wealth of information for a great price. Highly recommended.
Whether you are using a "brute-force" method or a differently structured process, I believe that this book is the best resource I've found so far for a variety of methods, providing a wealth of information for a great price. Highly recommended.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Simply the finest
31 Dec 2004
Format:Paperback
There's no other way to learn kanji than by a head-on, brute force attack, and this book is the field manual for doing just that. This book references all 1,945 daily-use kanji, and the first 1,006 also come with detailed definitions and common compounds the kanji can be found in. If you can keep up the rate of learning 10 or even just 5 kanji per day you'll be well on your way to Japanese literacy inside of a year. Think of it: by 2006, you'll be glad you did.
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