Remembering the Kanji 1: A Comprehensive Guide to Retain the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters

Afsie: Bought this for my nephew as he is studying Japanese in school. He mentioned the stories behind each character has been very helpful. He has been practicing his Japanese for his upcoming school trip!

United States on Nov 29, 2023

Alejandra batiz azar: PRACTICO Y ME AYUDA MUCHO CON LA ESCRITURA

Mexico on Sep 18, 2023

Cliente Amazon: Clever explanations that are super interesting to read, just know that this book won't teach you the readings.

Brazil on Aug 30, 2023

Korpo: So, I bought this on a hunch, and picked it up in earnest after learning Hiragana mostly by repetition and some visual cues. I couldn't imagine that way lasting me into learning the Kanji as well, so I was glad I had an alternative way of doing so!

The premise of the book is that writing the Kanji and reading them (while sounding out Japanese) can be learned separately, and so far I wholeheartedly agree. This volume teaches only the first part - writing them.

The book reorders the Chinese/Japanese pictograms in an order that allows building more complex ones from simpler ones that you learn first. Each kanji is assigned an English keyword related to the meaning of the Kanji. Then the book creates a little story for each kanji as to how it can be produced from other Kanji or "primitives" - patterns that often reappear in many different Kanji but may not be Kanji in their own right. Or helpful keywords a simple Kanji can serve as in other Kanji.

Example:
月 is the Kanji for "month," but you can also remember it as "moon" (moon and month are related after all, like in the lunar calendar), or as "flesh" or "body part" when using it as building block.
月月...

United States on Mar 12, 2023

DanielDaniel: TLDR : It started off promising but mistakes and wrong definitions mean I'm no longer focusing on 100% retention as I'll be working through a graded textbook as soon as I'm finished.

It's definitely a controversial book as it doesn't teach you the Japanese readings but I think it is beneficial and much faster to learn kanji in your native tongue since you can start to decode Japanese words you already know.

There are a lot of good mnemonics that help the meanings stick but it's not without its faults.

He's clearly religious as he references biblical events a lot, which is a problem if you're not religious and have no idea what he's talking about. He's an American and the book is written in American English which becomes a problem for remembering i.e. graft is used for remembering bribery but in the uk it means hard work. Then there's the uncommon or downright weird choice of meanings such as using "derision" instead of ridicule, "post a bill" for 貼 which means to stick, paste, apply and "effulgent" which you'll probably never remember.

Update : I've had to knock it down 1 star as the stories have gotten ridiculous to the point where I don't even use...

United Kingdom on Jul 19, 2022

The Professor: The mnemonics are a little cringeworthy at times (lol), but they're good starter ideas if you can think of a better one.
The book itself is well written and well paced.

This will show you a logical list of the 2000+ kanji: both how to draw them in their correct sequential stroke order and what they actually mean as a pictograph.

What it doesn't mention, and I have paired this up nicely with this: (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/4805311703), is the on/kunyomi pronunciations and some example words/phrases that you might see each kanji in.

For example, this book will show you how to draw the kanji for 'moon'/'flesh'/'body part' but it won't then tell you that it can be pronounced "GATSU"/"GETSU"/"tsuki" nor that you might see it written in ICHIGATSU (meaning January = One + moon). Conversely, the second book doesn't include what this book shows.
Together, the two books cover everything you'd want unless hunting for kanji outside the standard list, though the kanji are not listed in the same order of course, so there's a bit of page flicking. I would advise sticking with this book's order, as it has been specially written to facilitate ease of learning stroke...

United Kingdom on Oct 11, 2016

Joshua Solomon: Before you buy this book, it's important to realize what it will and will not do for you. This book will not teach you how to speak or even read Japanese or Kanji. It will not teach you how different combinations of kanji make up words. What it will do, is teach you how to write all of the ~2100 "regular use" and associate them with a single English "keyword" that reflects one of their (possibly more than one) meanings. And for this purpose, it is magnificent. As proof, I have only had this book for 66 days, and I already know 1075 kanji.

Now you may wonder if there's any benefit in going through this book if it's not going to actually teach you to how to read/pronounce Kanji, but I really think there is. This book removes the "intimidation" factor from learning how to write/read Kanji, and it makes Kanji feel more like a familiar alphabet than a bunch of meaningless scribbles. For example, if you're trying to learn how to write "phone" in Japanese, without this book you would have to memorize "電話" but after going through this book, you'd just have to remember "electricity tale" easier, no?

I also think that the methodology used in this book to teach kanji is...

United States on Sep 23, 2015

tak: a lot has already been said here about this book so I#ll try keep it short ;)
I'm very happy with the book, I was always very frustrated with my learning kanji, now I'm about a month in and learned near to 500 Kanji, and yes, most of them I can actually recognize.
Now I of course have to mention what everyone does: This book does not teach you readings or words, or how to use the Kanji. You have to learn that seperately another day. But that is exactly what makes it so good, it divides the job! Why you just try to learn everything at once at least my brain is overloaded: what it looks like, stroke order, often multiple meaning, on reading(s) kun reading(s) it's just too much.
Here you have one kanji, one meaning. Way easier.
The construction of stories is fun and creative, especially in part three where you have to invent stories of your own (for me it got easier then but I guess some will have problems)
Now where fall the book short in my opinion? Because it definitely is not perfect ;)
1. The key words. Some times I have to guess which meaning is actually meant with one key word. In the beginning when you get stories it normally gets clear through the story,...

Germany on Mar 24, 2014