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Remembering the Kanji, Vol. 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters | 
 enlarge | Author: James W. Heisig
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Category: Book
List Price: $32.00
Buy New: $22.64
You Save: $9.36 (29%)
Rating:  94 reviews
Sales Rank: 16792
Media: Paperback
Edition: 5
Pages: 460
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 0824831659
Dewey Decimal Number: 495.682421
EAN: 9780824831653
ASIN: 0824831659
Publication Date: May 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
The aim of this book is to provide the student of Japanese with a simple method for correlating the writing and the meaning of Japanese characters in such a way as to make them both easy to remember. It is intended not only for the beginner, but also for the more advanced student looking for some relief from the constant frustration of how to write the kanji and some way to systematize what he or she already knows. The author begins with writing because--contrary to first impressions--it is in fact the simpler of the two. He abandons the traditional method of ordering the kanji according to their frequency of use and organizes them according to their component parts or "primitive elements." Assigning each of these parts a distinct meaning with its own distinct image, the student is led to harness the powers of "imaginative memory" to learn the various combinations that result. In addition, each kanji is given its own key word to represent the meaning, or one of the principal meanings, of that character. These key words provide the setting for a particular kanji's "story," whose protagonists are the primitive elements. In this way, students are able to complete in a few short months a task that would otherwise take years. Armed with the same skills as Chinese or Korean students, who know the meaning and writing of the kanji but not their pronunciation in Japanese, they are now in a much better position to learn to read (which is treated in a separate volume).
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| Customer Reviews: Read 89 more reviews...
 Fast Kanji Learning. Faster still with Online Resources December 21, 2008
B. Vazquez (the web)
This book delivers on it's promise. Learning in a few months the core meaning in English of over 2000 Kanji and how to draw them in proper order. The later stories in the book require the reader's active imagination, though. I would recommend the website "Reviewing the Kanji" at http://kanji.koohii.com/ Users post their own stories for particular Kanji, and some are truly memorable. Plus a community forum of fellow Heisig Method students for advice and encouragement. I would also recommend the Firefox add-on Moji, on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/145.
Very good for underlining and looking up Kanji, their roots, pronunciation, meaning and reference no.in a number of dictionaries.
Finally, a good Flashcard program, like Anki, with a deck in Heisig cards included, and you're good to go!
Try Heisig for a month. Give it just an hour a day and you'll be recognising over 300 common Kanjin in the Japanese press and amazing yourself. After that, you will not want to give it up.
Best kanji tool ever! December 5, 2008
Clay Plater (Japan)
I have been trying to learn kanji for several years but have so much trouble retaining them in my memory.... until now. The system used helps you to know the meaning of the kanji in English. The downfall is that it doesn't teach you how to say them in Japanese, but with a good electronic dictionary you can search for them yourself.
There is also a great web site called "Reviewing the kanji" that has some usefull tools for drilling them.
If you have trouble remembering kanji, get this book!
 Insta-Fail November 26, 2008
L. Lewis (Seattle,WA USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've read through both of these books and I just don't see how you learn anything useful by using this system. Recognizing and attaching english meanings to kanji is useless. Furthermore when you finally do get to learning the readings in book two your still not learning them in context, because other than compounds he lists your not actually learing any words. Beginners should learn kanji in context, that is to say they should be learned as your textboook introduces them as words. After finishing the genki series and learning just 300 kanji you would be far better off than anyone who finishes both of these books.Kanji is not the alphabet, trying to learn them outside of words they are used in will only frustrate you, because when you finish both of these books you still wont be able to read any Japanese.
A Great Resource for anyone serious about learning the Kanji November 12, 2008
C. Fox (Los Angeles, CA USA)
I have been using this book now for a couple of weeks, and I have to say that I absolutely love it! I have been trying to memorize the kanji now for two years, and this book has helped me to overcome my mental sticking points and organize the characters effectively in my head. I would suggest that everyone try using a sample of the book which is available for free online before purchasing. The method is a whole lot of fun and much quicker and easier than trying to commit them to memory the brute-force way.
Excellent November 12, 2008
JGgtJ (St. Louis)
This is an excellent book-- it's amazing how easy the stroke order and the remembrance of the kanji come along! I enjoy it, and it being so easy makes it fun and exciting to learn more!
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