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Remembering the Kanji, Vol. 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters




  • google kanji koohii which is a free website for people that are going through the RTK course . You can swap stories and practice with the online flashcards . Other sources of free RTK flashcards are available online from anki intelligent flashcards . Remember to pace yourself , so that you don't get burned out from kanji study fatigue . I'm studying about 100 kanjis a week and taking a break after every block of 500 to intensely review . Another important tip is to always practice by saying the keyword first and then writing the associated kanji , not the other way around ! This will help you progress much faster since you are concentrating on the stories , using your imaginative memory to recall the kanji . Using this method is actually quite fun and effective . For instance , when I hear the keyword elder brother , I think of my big mouthed , teenage older brother on human legs  which is kanji number 103 . Remember that the thousand-mile journey starts with one step and this book is your first step towards remembering the kanji . Good luck and have fun with it !
    • 039 4  One thing at a time : first , how to recognize and write the kanji properly . This book will do it for you . Others have written about this book at length , so I'm just adding my ringing endorsement to those that have come before , and letting everyone know that there is a useful online accompaniment to this book - a website which will drill you via the flashcard method . It's free with registration . http : / / kanji.koohii.com /
    • 065 4  I think the diverging views here come from people who are studying textbook Japanese , and those who have learned the language orally , and have never come to grips with the kanji . I come from the latter category , and books like this really do help . At my level of Japanese , if I know the meaning , I can quickly recognize the reading from my spoken vocabulary . Since all languages learned as a mother tongue are transmitted orally , this kind of book ( since it is a book ) SHOULD concentrate on the meanings of kanji , not the reading ( which would be a somewhat gruesome task anyways ) . For non-native speakers , English reading and writing takes a year or two to grasp , but comprehension ( which sits high on my list for communicating effectively ) takes years . That's why this book is a great shortcut for some of us . It's not always necessary to have compounds , readings and historical allegories . Personally , I would rather understand what is written than simply be able to read the words like an idiot savant .
    • 070 4  If you dream of learning the 2000 + kanji in a quick efficient way , this is the book for you . Rather than depending on rote drilling and unreliable visual memory , this method helps you create vivid stories using your imagination , giving your memory something concrete to grasp on to . The process of learning the kanji is broken down into parts . In volume 1 , you learn to write and recognize each kanji which is tagged with a keyword . Once you get through volume 1 , you should be able to write 2042 kanji and know their associated keyword . Then you'll be ready to go on to volume 2 , where you learn the Sino and Japanese readings of the characters . For the really ambitious , volume 3 contains an additional 1000 advanced kanji . Some tips : google kanji koohii which is a free website for people that are going through the RTK course . You can swap stories and practice with the online flashcards . Other sources of free RTK flashcards are available online from anki intelligent flashcards . Remember to pace yourself , so that you don't get burned out from kanji study fatigue . I'm studying about 100 kanjis a week and taking a break after every block of 500 to intensely review . Another important tip is to always practice by saying the keyword first and then writing the associated kanji , not the other way around ! This will help you progress much faster since you are concentrating on the stories , using your imaginative memory to recall the kanji . Using this method is actually quite fun and effective . For instance , when I hear the keyword elder brother , I think of my big mouthed , teenage older brother on human legs  which is kanji number 103 . Remember that the thousand-mile journey starts with one step and this book is your first step towards remembering the kanji . Good luck and have fun with it !
    • 071 4  I just started to study Japanese 6 months ago , I am Italian and I really felt discouraged when tried tolearn Kanji.The author really provides an effective method to understand and remember kanji with a strathegy precise and scientific ! I am enthusiastic !

  • Remembering the Kanji I : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters Vol . 1 4th Edition ( Japanese Edition ) ( Paperback ) If someone would have told me that I'd be able to learn the Kanji at a rate of 25 per day ( or more ) , I'd have thought they were selling some sort of dorky memory product on TV . I wouldn't have bothered . If someone told me I'd remember their meaning and writing , even stroke order , very easily , after 30 minutes or so spent on each set of 15 or 25 ( or more ) , I'd have thought it was impossible . But it's exactly what I'm doing . And if anyone could see that I'm doing it now , they would be impressed . They would think I was a bloody lingual genius being able to learn this fast ( or just psychotically motivated ) . Now let me tell you a secret . I'm a pretty smart person , but know what ? I'm probably not much of a genius , or if I am , this sort of absolute memory is certainly not my genius . It is THIS BOOK that gets the credit ( and neither am I psychotically motivated , for the record - - it is rare that I muster even this much motivation ) . Here's a little story of how I amazed myself just now . As I've been going through the book , I've been using little flashcards to review ( messy ones I made myself - - there are PILES of them all over my room , hehe ) . Not too surprisingly ( I trusted this book and expected this ) , I could remember the meaning of every single kanji I reviewed . Great , huh ? But I still said to myself , Well , remembering the meaning is the main thing . It's no big deal if I can't write them from memory . Of course , I was expecting that , already impressing myself by remembering their meaning , I wouldn't be able to also write them - - that was just too hard . But guess what ? Just now , I proceeded to write out , from memory , with no mistakes and 95% accuracy , every single Kanji I've learned . How can this be ? I am really proud of myself , that's for sure . Simply , this book uses imaginative memory instead of brute memory . Little anecdotes and funny mental images will click in your mind , and you'll easily recall these arcane little word pictures , these Kanji . And you're thinking it must be harder than it sounds , right ? Wrong ! It's actually easier than I make it sound ! ! ( Although I should mention that it DOES require effort . At first , I thought it was never going to work . But then I tried the flashcards and remembered every one of them . It works so well that you don't really even notice - - it's like you've always known the things . ) PUSH through , give it a shot . You will HIGHLY impress yourself . Want to learn kanji ? If you are self-motivated ( and want to teach yourself - - this will NOT work very well as part of a class ) , this is the way to do it . This is volume 1 , and it will teach you the writing and meaning of over 2000 Kanji ( it's like 2145 or something ) . It will NOT , however , teach you their reading , meaning while you'll know what they mean when you see them written , you won't know how to say them in Japanese . That is the job of volume 2 , a guide to the reading of the Kanji . Volume 3 is the advanced course , teaching you both the reading and writing of a bunch more Kanji that are useful for reading Japanese novels , technical documents , video games , etc . Some say this is a flaw of the book , that meaning / writing and reading are seperate , but it's not a flaw ! It is its beauty . By isolated these seperate skills into two volumes , and focusing on each in turn , it unlocks your true ability to learn . These books are amazing . I highly endorse and recommend every single one of them : Remembering the Hiragana / Katakana , then Remembering the Kanji volumes 1 , 2 and 3 , all by James W . Heisig , who has basically written the best way to learn Japanese by accident ( it's how he learned , and fellow students begged him to write out his notes for them , thus , the books were born ) . One final note : If one were to take two lessons a day , about like 30 Kanji a day , you'll finish in a month ( there are around 62 lessons in this book ) . So , really , you could go through all three books in a matter of 3 months . Slow it down a little , one lesson a day , and it's 6 months , which is still jaw-droppingly fast . The Hiragana / Katakana book ( which you should do first ) will take about two weeks ( it's pretty short ) . Not bad for a crash-course in reading Japanese , is it ? Then all you have left is grammar and stringing it all together into your own thoughts and sentences . At least now we can say that THAT , the grammar , speaking , etc , is the hard part , because for years , westerners have said the hard part was learning their weird writing systems . Well , now that's the easy part , thanks to Heisig-san , and if you like the language , even the hard part will be enjoyable for you . I'll see you in Japan !
    • 001 4  I'm 18 years old , and I've graduated slightly earlier due to homeschooling . This evening I finished this book , the first in a series of three books designed to make me literate in the 2,000 + symbols used everyday in Japanese society . After seeing the results of the first book , I truly feel that I am on my way to Japanese literacy . If you've read one of the many reviews , you probably understand that this book doesn't teach you a single pronunciation of a Japanese character , but rather you tag an English keyword on to all of the Japanese symbols treated in this book , leaving the pronunciation for later . Why do this ? If you aren't noticing quick results in your Japanese abilities , what's the point in learning it ? It's true that every single word I've learned will be of no immediate benefit to me if I try to pick up a Japanese newspaper , article , etc . and try to read it . Many have the misconception that in order to master the Japanese written language , one must study and master the characters individually , and over a period of time , accumulate lots of characters in one's lexicon , therefore allowing the student to read lots of stuff ( Makes sense , right ? ) . But our minds don't think like that . ( Assuming everybody reading this review is a native to a Roman character based alphabet , or something pretty close to this ) We are not used to recognizing little squiggly lines , let alone understanding a concept and multiple pronunciations simply by looking at them . Yet each and every Japanese textbook you'll find on the market supports the idea of mastering each character individually , a method that might seem to be the ONLY method to bring immediate benefits , but requires lots of work and constant drilling of a character . This method is deemed ( By the author ) to be ineffective and a waste of time . So what does this book do for our situation ? Rather than assuming that we can make the connection between a jumble of lines and the meaning of a character ( Which every text book somehow assumes we can do ) , the kanji are broken down into smaller fragments , and each are tagged with a word that represents an idea , concept , thing , etc . , that we are familiar with , such as a hill , the sun , or a baseball bat . Adding these various building blocks together , you form new concepts , and in turn , new characters . True , most these building blocks probably don't have a relationship whatsoever with any sort of root meaning , but this isn't the point . The point is to take something you aren't familiar with ( Lots of lines ) , and to make them familiar to you ( An image , a picture in your mind ) . Using these familiar images , you guide yourself from the tagged English word to the Kanji ( Or the other way around ) . No , you will not be able to pronounce any of them when you're finished with this book . But you will be able to identify and tell the difference between even the smallest of nuances . You will look at kanji in a completely different way . I can't speak for others , but progressing through this course to it's completion was perhaps one of the toughest tests of self-discipline and concentration that I've done in my life . You don't simply hop along for the ride to understanding kanji . You will tread through this sea of characters until you've used up every bit of strength your imagination can muster . The only people I've talked to in real life ( Not via e-mail ) that have attempted this course have either not yet completed it , or have given up with it altogether . This isn't a learn Japanese kanji in 4 minutes a day sort-of course . This is a massive undertaking , and must be treated as such , lest the student fizzle out , like so many seem to have done . This is not a book for someone that wants to get their feet wet in the sea of kanji . Rather , it is for the serious student , one that is willing to make a commitment ( And a big one , at that ) towards literacy in Japanese . If this isn't your goal , then I suggest you find another book . Before you stands a course that requires great stamina , determination and willpower to accomplish . The benefits might not sound like much , but by the time you've finished this course , you'll be on a new plateau of kanji understanding , one that can lead you to literacy . If you Google the words James Heisig Kanji , you'll be able to find a demo of the first couple hundred kanji covered in the book . Give it a try . And depending on how much you're willing to work at it , you've either found for yourself a precious gem or another useless rock .
    • 003 4  PROS · The method Heisig uses , creating and memorizing a cute little story involving the parts of a Kanji , is probably the most efficient out there . Pictographs and rote learning are the other two methods I'm aware of . These will work , but will take much longer . I know of no other book on the market that uses Heisig's method . · This book , plus vol . 2 , is organized for learning all 2000 + basic Kanji as quickly as possible . Other books have you master characters in smaller numbers . There are many short cuts that can be made when all 2000 + are handled at once , so if it's your goal to learn all of them , Heisig is more efficient . For the above reasons , I highly recommend using this book for learning the Kanji , and give Heisig five stars . But the book is far from perfect . I hope the following information will not dissuade you from buying Heisig , but help you use the book . CONS · Typos and mistakes are a part of all language books , for some reason . I'm sure I've missed some , but here are a few . Some descriptions contain wrong keywords for primitives ( 981,1321,1418,1714,1836,1840 ) . Sometimes Heisig creates a new keyword for a kanji when it is used as a primitive , but doesn't tell us ( 1271,1573,1720 ) . Kanji 1480 has the right description , but is drawn wrong . Kanji 1733 uses primitive rice instead of the expected grains of rice . Kanji 1999 contains a new primitive , but it is called out as if it has already been established . There are two kanji with the keyword storehouse ( 589,850 ) . In the description of kanji 58 he states that olden times is not used as a primitive in any other kanji , but it is in 910 . · Heisig may have finished learning the material in this book in 4 to 6 weeks . If he did , I'm guessing he is at the very top as far as memory goes . That would require 8 to 10 hours per day . Even if one has the schedule to study kanji full time , the point of diminishing returns for most is probably closer to 2 or 3 hours per day . For the average person , finishing this book in 6 months would be ambitious , and one year more likely . FYI - I'm an average learner , and it took me 300 hours in 30 weeks . · There are some warning phrases throughout the book that you are better off just ignoring . Examples are don't confuse kanji A with kanji B , I know I said never to do this in a story , but . . . · Using big words for key words . Sometimes this is merited to distinguish kanji with like meanings , but other times I felt like I was getting unnecessary practice with my English dictionary . TIPS · Use adult themes in your stories . · If the price seems too high , try some auction sites . · My study program . This is what I did in my 300 hours . On a macro-scale ( 30 weeks , approximately 10 hrs / week ) Weeks 1 - 5 : learn 1 - 500 Week 6 : review 1 - 500 Weeks 7 - 11 : learn 501 - 1000 Weeks 12 - 13 : review 1 - 1000 Weeks 14 - 18 : learn 1001 - 1500 Weeks 19 - 21 : review 1 - 1500 Weeks 22 - 26 : learn 1501 - 2042 Weeks 27 - 30 : review 1 - 2042 On a weekly scale Learn weeks : learn 20 per day , Monday thru Friday , review all 100 Saturday Review weeks : review 100 per day , Monday thru Friday , repeat toughest sets on weekend On a daily scale Learn days : ( a ) During breakfast , read the day's 20 , making up stories ( or just reading the stories if you're still in part 1 or 2 ) for each per the author's instructions . Don't move on to the next Kanji unless you feel the story is going to stick . ( b ) Without taking a break , go back to the first kanji , hide everything except for the key words , and create your 20 flashcards per the author's instructions . I recommend a fine black felt tipped pen on blue 3 by 5 index cards , available at office depot . This should be the first time you draw these 20 Kanji . You should be able to draw them without peaking . If you miss 2 or 3 , don't be too hard on yourself . If you miss a lot , maybe read what the author says about improving your stories . ( c ) Still without taking a break , take your stack of flashcards , keyword up , and restack them so that they are in the order you learned them . Beginning with the first one , imaginary finger paint the characters on a flat surface , repeating the story , out loud if possible . You should be able to draw them without peaking . If you miss 2 or 3 , don't be too hard on yourself . If you miss a lot , maybe read what the author says about improving your stories . ( d ) About supper time , take the 20 flash cards , shuffle and mix them up , making a neat pile , keyword up . Repeat the finger painting . ( e ) Repeat step ( d ) for cards 1 - 20 at breakfast time of day 2 , after you have done steps ( a ) thru ( c ) for kanji 21 - 40 . ( f ) Repeat step ( d ) for cards 1 - 20 at supper time of day 2 day , after you have done step ( d ) for kanji 21 - 40 . ( g ) Retire cards 1 - 20 until Saturday . You have learned them , written them 1 time , and reviewed them 4 times . Review days : ( a ) Shuffle the 100 kanji to review . Make a neat pile , keyword up . Draw the kanji on notebook paper , repeating the story as you draw ( draw them small enough to fit all 100 kanji on one side of one sheet ) . Try to make the overall size consistent and the area close to square . After you write one , turn the card over to confirm it's correct . If it's correct , put the card on the correct stack , keyword up . If it's incorrect , review your story until you think it will stick next time . Then put it on the incorrect stack , keyword up . ( b ) If you're having trouble remembering one , don't torture yourself for more than a minute . If you still can't think of it , turn it over and review your story until you think it will stick next time . Then put it on the incorrect stack , keyword up . ( c ) When you have gone through the whole stack , count the number you missed . Keep a record of your misses in a table so that you can pinpoint your trouble sets of 100 . ( d ) Take the incorrect stack , and repeat ( a ) and ( b ) . ( e ) Repeat ( d ) until you have no more cards . Notes The first time I had a review week , I had three sets that I missed more than 50 . One was about 70 misses out of 100 . After all those hours I'd put in , I was totally discouraged . But I reviewed again on Saturday , and missed in the 20 ' s . That was with no additional studying , just another review . Because I have an easily bruised ego , I've devised a way to avoid terrible initial scores . The night before reviewing , I read the 100 kanji in the book , going over the stories if I'd forgotten . This usually takes me about 45 minutes , and I haven't missed more than 25 the following day after doing this . GOOD STUDYING ! ! !
    • 004 4  I have a long history with this book . I began using it last year a month before I left for Japan on an undergraduate language program . I made it approximately to frame 800 or so before leaving . When I arrived I was amazed . I was accurately and quickly picking out the meanings of sign messages and menus while my classmates struggled . However , my time away from formal study and immersed in pure character recognition rendered further learning in the manner this book offers impossible . When I returned from my month-long hiatus from the book , I found my imaginative stories a jumble and learning new characters seemed hopeless . My senior year kept me busy enough , but before long the itch to master the kanji returned . A week and a half ago I began again , flying through the frames five times as fast as before . I'm currently on Frame 1200 and plan to be done with the book by mid-July . After reading the reviews of this book here something became very apparent - - this book is not for everyone . The people who say this book works wonders are probably right ( it's been a wonderful , fun tool for me ) . The people who say this book doesn't work are also probably right . After eight years of language classes from languages in fields as diverse as German , Japanese and Chinese , the one thing that seems consistent about foreign language learning is that persons ' reactions to a single teaching style can vary wildly . The understanding and grasping of concepts is also finicky . I'll never forget how one of my friends in my German seminar admitted openly to never fully understanding the concept of moving an accusitive object in front of the dative object if the accusative's a pronoun . Our professor explained this concept about as many different ways as he could but to no avail . However , the day of the test , our class was regaled with the story of how this friend of mine was staying up late the night before studying German , and was staring blankly at his book , when clarity suddenly hit him like a Mack truck . My point is , this book will do what it promises from some and not for others . My guess is that it will be effective for those who depend more heavily on imaginitive construction for recall . Those who best understand patterns through practical application will find the book confusing and time-consuming . As the numbers show when comparing this book's reviews to the Henshall book's reviews , American society is about two-thirds practical and one-third imaginative . Heisig's book asks the learner to set aside ( for the duration of the book ) any study of compounds or readings so as to dedicate real attention to a task that will be of infinite practicality to the non-practical student . Heisig instructs the student to stop drilling the same forms repeatedly , but instead to simply close his eyes and let the parts of the kanji swim in his brain , allowing him to make his own meaning and his own personal alphabet for understanding the kanji , an accomplishment that will expedite the learning of compounds and readings exponentially once all the kanji are learned . By organizing the kanji so that all the small parts in the beginning combine and become slowly more complex as the book progresses , Heisig allows a student who can appreciate the fact that a japanese ' joke ' is literally a ' superfluous discussion ' or that ' manga ' is ' loose pictures ' to create a means of discovering these vivid and rich interpretations of the world and turn them into a mental reality for the student . In other words , the book is a tool for teaching yourself how to understand how Japanese words are constructed , if you're capable of learning quickly and effectively in this way . If this is simply not how your mind works , this is not a bad thing . It just means you need a different tool for learning . As far as learning to read , write , speak and understand Japanese goes , this book will not help you directly with any . However , if you feel you are by nature an imaginative person , this book is a tool which , if you are willing to dedicate a significant amount of time to it , will give you a method for acquiring those skills more effectively , more fluently and more quickly than you would without it .
    • 005 4  I'm a bit past 1 / 3 the way through this book , and I am already totally amazed . In about 9 months , spending very little time each day , I've so far memorized about 800 kanji . My study of the Japanese language started in earnest about a year ago , when I learned the hiragana and katakana ( using Heisig's other book , Remembering the hiragana / katakana ) . That went so well that I decided to buy this book and give it a try . I figured , 2100 kanji ? ! There's no way I'll ever remember them ! But I thought it would be worth giving it a try . Thanks to this book , I continue to amaze myself everyday with the ease with which I can remember how to read and write so many hundreds of kanji . This book teaches absolutely nothing about the pronunciation of the kanji . That's left for later texts ( I believe it's covered in Heisig's second volume , but I'm not sure ) . While studying this book , you will learn the primary meaning ( key word ) , along with the correct method for writing , each of the 2100 or so Jouyou ( basic ) kanji . James Heisig has come up with not just a great method for memorizing the way to write the kanji , but also what I've found to be the perfect order for a native English-speaker to memorize them in . You don't learn them in the same order that a Japanese kid would , and that makes sense ( unless you happen to be a Japanese kid ) . You start off learning little bits of pictographs ( called ' primitives ' ) , you learn basically what those primitives mean ( in the etymological history , more or less ) , and then you put these primitives together , while making a little story about how those primitives come together to represent the key word . And I tell you , it really works . Even if you're not interested in mastering the Japanese language , it wouldn't hurt to run your brain through the exercise of reading this book . It helps a lot if you can study just 5 to 10 minutes a day , but even if you can't ( and I often go for days , sometimes weeks , without practicing ) you'll find that you can still remember everything after just a little bit of practice . I started out using Heisig's flash cards ( sold separately ) , and they're great . They even include pronunciations for all the kanji . The downside is that there are over 2000 of these cards ! How do you shuffle or meaningfully use 2000 cards ? I don't know . So I've pretty much stopped using them , and I've put all the keywords and kanji pictures into an MSExcel spreadsheet , and I can shuffle and practice them that way . I still use the cards to practice the latest 20 or so kanji I've learned , but you'll need to come up with some method for practicing all of them every once in awhile . Even a random number generator , along with a printed list of the keywords , would work in a pinch . Basically , this book , plus a good dose of your concentration and just a bit of your time , will have you reading and writing kanji even if you never thought it would be possible .
    • 006 4  If I could give this book 6 stars ( or more ) I would ! I have been studying Japanese for ~ 3 years , and like many other students , I had the constant * annoying * problems of 1 ) promptly forgetting kanji I had learned , 2 ) confusing kanjis that looked alike , and 3 ) being able to recognize but not write kanjis . I had probably studied ~ 600 kanjis the traditional way , but could only remember ~ 150 of them ( and could only write ~ 50 of those ) . Now , after studying this book , I have the confidence that I will * never * have these problems again ! I have studied this book for just 1 MONTH and in that time I have learned 548 kanji ! And I mean * really learned * them . . . I can actually write them from memory ! ! And this is with just ~ 30min - 1 hour per day ( I work full time and have a busy schedule ! ) I suggest that if you are skeptical of whether this book will work for you , you should just download the ( free ) electronic copy ( links are provided in other reviews , or just find it with Google ) which contains Part I of the book ( the first 274 kanji ) . If / when you see how effective the method works for you , go and order the book ! Note : I found that an EXCELLENT companion to this book is the online flashcard system at [ . . . ] . This is an EXCELLENT way to gauge your progress and really tell if you learned your kanji or not . I think it is much faster and more convenient that creating your own flashcards . P.S . Be aware that this method does * not * teach you pronunciation ; that comes later in Heisig's 2nd volume . The reason why this book is getting an average of 4 stars on Amazon ( and not 5 , as it should ) is because some people keep giving it low ratings since they realized after buying it that it does not teach pronunciation of the kanji . Well , this book has * never * claimed to do so ! This book is a tool for remembering the MEANING & WRITING of the kanji . . . exactly as the title says . UPDATE ( Nov 2006 ) : To date I have learned all 2,042 kanji since beginning the book about 9 months ago ! ! Some native Japanese friends are mine were shocked when they saw how well I could write the kanji and how many I had learned in such a short time ( it usually takes native Japanese 8 + years of kanji study in school for them to learn about the same number of kanji , learning in the traditional method ) . Anyway , if you really want to learn all the kanji , this is the way to go .
    • 007 4  I've been using Heisig's book for about 7 weeks , and have learned 310 kanji during that time . I wanted to share some of my experiences and thoughts to add to the other thoughtful reviews . First , by way of background , I experienced the traditional method of learning kanji when I studied Chinese a number of years ago . As Heisig notes in his introduction , that method involves learning characters in order according to how fundamental they are in language , and one learns the written character , pronunciation , grammatical details , and so forth simultaneously . The characters are learned purely by rote , and the pictorial aspects are not tied to anything systematic . My experience agreed with Heisig's notes : with nothing to anchor one's memory , it is nearly impossible to remember how to write the characters . I spent many hours a day practicing the characters to little avail and much frustration , and ultimately abandoned learning Chinese because I could not find the time to persist in that method . When I decided to learn Japanese , the fear of chinese characters returned . How could I learn kanji when Chinese characters were an insurmountable obstacle in the past ? Luckily , Heisig's book has been part of the answer . The key is that , instead of merely learning random markings , he lays out a system in which one uses imaginative associations . And , yes , it really works ( at least for me ) . It is not difficult to learn 20 - 30 kanji per day , given an available hour or two of time . Now , a few things have to be said . First , in his system , to learn a kanji means simply to learn two things : ( 1 ) how to write it ; ( 2 ) a single key meaning . There are many other things that one does not learn ( in volume 1 of his system ) : ( 3 ) pronunciation ( that's in volume 2 ) ; ( 4 ) alternative meanings , which are multiple for most kanji ; ( 5 ) compounds with other kanji ; ( 6 ) anything about usage or grammar . That is by design , as Heisig notes that learning to write the kanji is the most important barrier for westerners . He specifically designed the system to lower that hurdle as low as it can be , and that meant that the other aspects of kanji are postponed . The value of this system depends on one's goals , schedule , and related activity . First , Heisig notes that his system should be completely separated from any other simultaneous activity to learn kanji . It is NOT intended to be a supplement to a second or third year Japanese course , for instance . Further , it is not designed to progress from common to less-common , like many kanji books . Rather , it bunches kanji together solely on the basis of how easy they are to learn together . This implies that the course must be completed - - or very nearly completed - - to get most of the benefit . That implies a certain schedule , namely , to persist until one is done . In terms of goals , the system works well for some goals : ( a ) learning to write the basic kanji in a short amount of time , so one can devote study to grammar and other matters ; ( b ) rapidly developing an extremely rudimentary reading ability , where reading means occasionally figuring out a few words , but mostly just being able to have some visual memory for kanji when confronted by them ; ( c ) laying a foundation for other study of Japanese when one has an enforced break of at least a few months ; ( d ) learning the kanji because they're fun , as a supplement to kana-based Japanese classes ( i.e . , prior to starting kanji formally ) ; ( e ) breaking the language down into parts that are more suitable for self-study . Those are my goals , and I suspect the goals of many other adult western learners of Japanese . There are other goals that I believe are not well-suited to this system : ( f ) supplementing an intermediate or advanced Japanese language course where you're learning kanji otherwise ( Heisig's book could , however , fill in a break in such instruction ) ; ( g ) rapidly developing basic reading fluency , i.e . , in relation to word frrequency or importance ; ( h ) serving as a text for classroom ; ( i ) reviewing or learning grammar . One thing that I would highly recommend : get the flash cards in addition to this book . Yes , it is possible to make your own , but as other reviewers have noted , that is an unpleasant exercise . In addition , it is error-prone : if you don't know how to write the kanji well , the flash cards are likely to drill poor representations of the kanji . I would also note that Heisig's cards have other valuable information . First , they have cross-references to some common kanji dictionaries for westerners , so it is easy to look up a kanji in those when the key word meaning or stroke order is unclear . Second , they have pronunciation information to complement volume 2 of his system . Finally , it should be obvious but I'll state it anyway : no book can do the hard work of learning a language for you . Heisig's system has given me what I needed to get over the very high hurdle of learning to write kanji , but it still takes a great deal of patience every day . You have to sit down and practice and review the flash cards , and his book , over and over . For me , it requires at least a few hours per week , in 30 minute pieces here and there - - but mostly it requires patience and diligence . Good luck !
    • 008 4  The people who complain about the definitions being wrong or the lack of readings missed the point . If you're looking for a one-shot course that will give you a natural progression though a vocabulary of complete words then you picked the wrong book . But focusing on a goal such as that will only drive you insane ( trust me , I tried ) . The point of this book is to do exactly what is says in the introduction , to give you an equal footing with litterate Chineese native speakers in learning the Japanese writing system . In other words , you will learn an English reading for each character . This is helpful , but in a subtle way . You eventually begin to replace the keywords with your own Japanese vocabulary . I've memorized 500 meanings and forms this way , and I'm already starting to ( quite natually and effortlessly ) replace some of the English with Japanese . Because of the first 500 characters this book , I'm able to write a good portion of my Japanese 101 vocabulary in Kanji . All in all , it does everything it promises , nothing it doesn't ; it's a good book .
    • 009 4  As a long-time resident of Japan , I've been on the look-out over the years for a good system to learn that devilish writing system known as kanji . I was first introduced to this book about three years ago and I would have said that the system was a good one at that time . Three years later , I have another opinion . The system of kanji memorization that Heisig uses is the time old method of using mnemonics to memorize the kanji by breaking the symbols down into their component parts and then creating a story that helps you remember how to read and write them . This is a much better system that other kanji books you may have seen that uses visual pictures that vaguely resemble kanji . Those books often leave you without the ability to read or write similar looking kanji . So here Heisig exels . Mnemonics are hardly new , but there is a lot of help on the first few ( 300 or so ) kanjis before Heisig encourages you to start making your own . I really like this idea and as Heisig points out , the memory load for learning even one kanji is massive as you have to learn the writing stroke order , the way it looks , and the different multiple readins as well as learn the ability to differentiate between it and other similar looking kanji . So the book keeps it simple , no Japanese at all , just English meanings of the kanjis . The problems I have with the books are two-fold . Heisig insists that you should learn all 2000 or so kanjis first , BEFORE learning any Japanese readings . I think most modern language research would disagree with this assessment by claiming that the time to study all the kanjis and the time to be able to use them usufully is too long , thus making it difficult to remember the kanji long enough to finish all 2000 , then learn the Japanese pronunciations , etc . I did , however , give the system an honest shake and went through the book twice over a six-month period . By the time I had gotten to the end of the book , I found I had forgotten so much , and after a second time I gave up entirely . The second problem with the book is that Heisig has grouped the kanji in such a way as to make it more difficult to learn , rather than easier . Modern language learning research has shown that learning similar sounding words , or opposite words at the same time can cause the learner to confuse them both , sometimes for forever ! Heisig has grouped many of the kanji by the radicals thus forcing you to learn so many kanji with such subtle differences at the same time . It would be sooo much better if he had randomized the kanji , or even ranked the kanji according to frequency ( which is another problem as really high frequency kanjis are often found late in the book when they should probably be learned early ) . I wonder what prompted Heisig to group the kanjis in this way as he probably did not learn them himself that way . In summary , if you are interested in the mnemonic way of learning , by all means check out the online pages from the internet . If the sytem interests you , I urge you to buy the book . I still use the text my self in conjunction with another text book . I find the mnomnic system to be helpful and Heisig's ideas fine . I just have trouble with the grouping of the kanji and the idea I should learn all the meanings in English first , before learning how they are read in Japanese .
    • 011 4  Anyone who states that the Heisig method for learning kanji does not work , says so because they have not tried it . I , myself , was Anti-Heisig for a good 5 years after I saw it on the bookshelf . I remember picking it up and saying Ha , this book is a joke ! It ONLY teaches you the meaning ? WHAT A JOKE ! ! , and I also remember putting it back on the shelf and walking away from it not knowing what a gold mine I had just passed up on . After finding about the AJATT method for learning Japanese ( you MUST google AJATT if you really want to learn Japanese ) , I completed Heisig's Remembering the Kanji book 1 + 3 and in 6 months I was able to learn 3,000 kanji perfectly ! I could recognize every single kanji in books and instead of drawing blanks when I would see kanjis , I now see meanings . After the 6 months of studying the kanjis , I started learning to read real Japanese kanji in context through sentences found in the Yahoo Jiten ( Yahoo online Japanese Dictionary ) . After about a year of studying sentences with learning to read the kanji in context like a real Japanese person , I am able to communicate with online Japanese friends , have a normal conversation in Japanese , and read fiction books . After Heisig , this is how you will learn Kanji readings . After looking up a word , let's say Sunshine you'll see that it is pronounced as youkou and it's kanjis are Sunshine + Ray . That's it , you're done . It's that simple ! Now whenever you see Sunshine + Ray together you know it's read youkou . After graduating from Heisig , you won't waste countless hours writing out the kanjis to memorize them because you HAVE ALREADY MEMORIZED THEM . That is a such a gift . Genius . I used to HATE Heisig , I used to think that it was the stupidest way of learning kanji , but now after graduating from Remembering the Kanji , I bow my head in humility to Heisig because Remembering the Kanji and the AJATT method of learning Japanese have blessed me with the gift of fluency . I did it , and you can too .
    • 012 4  I can't , of course , give any guidance on what will work for other people ; I can only tell you what worked for me . I went to work as a scientist in Japan for Japanese organizations ( NEC and MITI ) . I had a very strong motivation to learn how to read technical Japanese very rapidly . I used an earlier edition of Heisig's book and learned the ~ 2000 general-use characters in thirteen weeks and was able to easily read technical literature at the end of six months ( I spent about three months learning technical vocabulary ) . At the end of a year , I gave a technical talk in Japanese at a professional society meeting in Nagaoka , and read my talk from its kanji text in real-time . I know others who had less success with this book . They were generally less motivated to learn Japanese and generally did so at a glacial pace , if at all . This book was not a replacement for thought or effort , but ensured that my efforts were expended usefully . If you would sooner have limbs fall off than fail at the task of learning Japanese , I recommend this book to you .
    • 013 4  Heisigheads and anti-Heisigistas are like the Israelis and Palestinians of Japanese-as-a-foreign-language . Bring up this book in a group of learners and a heated argument is more or less guaranteed . Me ? I'm a militant Heisighead . I love it . The reason is a point that really needs to be stressed more : Dr . Heisig's method is fun ! This matters . When you have to learn 2000 + kanji , boredom and frustration are your biggest enemies . Finding a method that keeps you interested and engaged for the duration is an absolute necessity . And here , Heisig shines . His method is nothing if not playful . It systematically engages your imagination , stimulates it , tickles it , shocks it . . . whatever it takes to keep you engaged . This makes Kanji learning more like a game than a chore : a series of amusing little puzzles to be solved through play . I wake up every day looking forward to my Heisig session that day , savoring the fun little stories I'll get to make up and the silly little squiggles I'll scribble . For the last few weeks , I've been hooked on Heisig kind of the way I was once hooked on Tetris . You can spend hours and hours , pencil in hand , going through these little stories and scribbling kanji . . . there's just something addictively fun about it . And , unlike with Tetris , at the end of the session you're left with solid knowledge of how to write a new batch of kanji , instead of that vaguely guilty feeling of the tetris addict . Students stuck using the traditional method see kanji memorization more or less like they see a visit to the dentist : torture to be undergone only because it is absolutely necessary . Heisigheads , on the other hand , approach it as a game . Which group do you think is more likely to see it through to the end ? It's no small thing . The reason the Mindless Repetition method almost always fails is that it's just too boring to keep you interested for as long as it takes to learn all the basic Kanji . So being fun is not just some fringe benefit of Heisig : it's a massive part of the reason it works . ( Incidentally , for the indispensable companion website to this book - and to meet hundreds of fanatical Heisigistas - be sure to Google kanji koohii )
    • 015 4  This review is from : Remembering the Kanji I : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters Vol . 1 4th Edition ( Japanese Edition ) ( Paperback ) As another reviewer noted , you've got to be disciplined to go through this book . Heisig states that with full-time study , you could cover this book in something less than 2 months . Studying part-time ( job , kids , and a life ) , I'm through 1600 kanji at the 3 month mark , and can see the finish line . I've been studying Japanese for 7 years , and can speak fluently . I have tried manifold methods for learning the kanji piecemeal , but have never advanced beyond what a Japanese twelve-year old might know . Upon completion of this book , I'm very confident that I can take this acquired visual memory and run with it to become literate . ( Can you hear the chorus of angels in the background ? ) If you are just getting started in Japanese but want to get beyond the spoken , take a season to go through this book . You won't regret it .
    • 016 4  As another reviewer noted , you've got to be disciplined to go through this book . Heisig states that with full-time study , you could cover this book in something less than 2 months . Studying part-time ( job , kids , and a life ) , I'm through 1600 kanji at the 3 month mark , and can see the finish line . I've been studying Japanese for 7 years , and can speak fluently . I have tried manifold methods for learning the kanji piecemeal , but have never advanced beyond what a Japanese twelve-year old might know . Upon completion of this book , I'm very confident that I can take this acquired visual memory and run with it to become literate . ( Can you hear the chorus of angels in the background ? ) If you are just getting started in Japanese but want to get beyond the spoken , take a season to go through this book . You won't regret it .
    • 017 4  In order to become literate in Japanese , it is necessary to know approximately 2,000 Sino-Japanese ideographic characters ( The so-called joyo kanji ) . Kanji literacy requires knowledge of the meaning of the Kanji and the pronounciation of the kanji . By necessity , the memorization of 2,000 of any item requires devious mnemonic and other mental tricks . In Remembering the Kanji , Heisig shares his strategy in which each character is broken down into constituent parts ( which Heisig dubs primitives ) and unified with a story or mnemonic device . The characters themselves are introduced in a sequence that is consistent with the number of primitives that have been introduced . Heisig also recommends some simple review methods intended to simultaneously reinforce the writing and memorization of the kanji . Advantage of this technique include extremely rapid memorizaton of the meaning and writing techniques of the 2,000 joyo kanji . The acknowledged limitation of the method is that knowing the meanings of the kanji is only half the battle of being literate . Further , this is not intended to be a piecemeal learning effort . . . the strong implication is that the meanings of all 2,000 joyo kanji should be memborized first . Although the Heisig course can be done in only a few months , some students question whether they should stop all their other Japanese studies while concentrating on this single facet of learning Japanese . This is complicated by the fact that the kanji are introduced in an order determined by their writing , not by practical meaning . Thus , the accessible kanji for one is followed in short succession by the somewhat obscure kanji for gallbladder . Additionally , the limitation of deferring pronounciation study rapidly becomes apparent when one encounters kanji compounds where the constituents are taken only for their sound values . Additionally , it must be conceded that the English keywords in some cases are contrived to maintain consistency within the system , and in some cases do not precisely match the Japanese readings . I have noticed this in certain situations , and readers are advised to double check the meanings when the keywords seem ambiguous and contrived . For the most part , they are correct and useful . Further , there are complaints regarding the consistency of the mnemonic stories and whether they all make sense . My response would be that it is impossible to create mnemonics that will be equally meaningful to all readers , but Heisig has advanced a very solid foundation for readers to build their own devices . In this reviewer's opinion , the limitations of the Heisig method are greatly outweighed by the advantages of speed and utility . On balance , knowing the meaning of the kanji is itself another building block for memorization of the readings . Limitations aside , it is quite an accomplishment to understand at least the meanings of the 2,000 joyo kanji in as few as 4 weeks .
    • 018 4  Several reviewers have downgraded this book because it wasn't what they expected . You should know up front : the book teaches nothing beyond the kanji . You will not learn a single Japanese word from this book . This is the book's strength ! With a little exertion of the imagination , you learn the Japanese characters in a rational way , through a technique called component-analysis . That is , Mr . Heisig has broken the characters down into elements that combine with each other to produce more complicated characters . Heisig's motto is Divide and conquer . He isn't kidding . If you manage to get through this book - - and I grant that it is not easy , just easier than the way the average Japanese child does it ! - - you will have overcome the greatest obstacle to fluency in Japanese . The grammar is not complicated and the vocabulary no harder than that of any other language . It is the task of learning about 2000 intricate ideographs that defeats most students . Don't take my word for it : go to a website called Reviewing the Kanji and see for yourself . Check out another site called Kanjiclinic . The book has strong partisans because it works . Finally , while some students have had remarkable success , learning all 1945 kanji in as short a time as three months , don't be afraid to take your time . Consider : if it takes you 4 years to complete this book , learning 1 - 3 kanji a day in your spare time , you will have completed the task in less than half the time it takes a Japanese child , studying an hour or two every school day .
    • 019 4  First I'd like to start out by saying I never finished this product completely and only reached lesson 23 . I've since started over and figured I would throw in a review since I'm more than satisfied with this product . Another thing I'd like to add is I think that this book is much better for absolute beginners or relatively new learners of Nihongo . Most of the complaints about this product come from people who have studied Japanese and are around a moderate level . Alot have usually tried at least a few different techniques for learning Kanji , some more effective than others , so when looking at this product generally don't understand the true purpose . There are major things that this product tries to do : 1 . Teach you basic meanings of the 1945 most widely used Kanji 2 . Teach you Kanji in a way so that you can recall them from memory easily . 3 . Teach you a technique that you can use for new Kanji learned w / o this book . The author is VERY specific about why he doesn't bother teaching multiple meanings and why it's beneficial to actually be able to write and recall a Kanji from memory before actually trying to match up words with them . Out of the 3 items I mentioned above I'd say 2 is the biggest benefit of this book and well worth the price if that's all you learn and nothing else . IMO this beats most conventional methods of remembering Kanji ( ie : rote repitition , constant writing , quizes and quizes ) . There are Kanji I learned in this book that I haven't gone over for over half a year yet I can still write and recall them perfectly . Before I used this book it took me 5 days to learn the symbol for ' water ' and i forgot it about a week later . With this book I could learn 20 Kanji a day and remember them all a month past . As I mentioned earlier this book is made more for beginners of learning Kanji who have either no learning experience with it or unsuccessful . Someone who has previously studied it or primarily used different methods from this book is probably going to find that they have certain issues with it .
    • 020 4  I'm just finishing up an intensive japanese course . Part of our coursework here is our reading and writing class . Two of us in the class have completed Heisig's book , without any other knowledge of japanese , and there are also about a half dozen chinese students in the class . There are also a few in the class who have studied kanji using the traditional methods . The difference in difficulty and ability is incredible . The Chinese students are a bit ahead of the two Heisigers in that they're a bit faster at recognizing them , but the fact that they occasionally try to pronounce something in chinese balances that out . Whereas I spend 15 - 20mins per day studying for that class ( building speed , learning compounds ) , others spend 3 - 4 hours per day . . . and don't get as good results . With that said . . . I do not recomend the second part of this series . . . he makes some assumptions about the language which simply don't appear to be true . Honestly . . . after learning the writing of all of the kanji , I would approach the kanji by using a program like Japanese : The Written Language , which works in the traditional manner . The traditional system of learning the kanji compounds should work quite well if you have already mastered the writing and a basic recognition . So . . . I love the book . . . why the 4 stars ? I think that several of his keywords could be easily modified to be closer to the most common meanings . I think they should have been . A good example is that he calls the kanji for something being cheap , resting . You'd be surprised how quickly your mind can adapt to that meaning . . . but it's extra work that is totally unnecessary . One note when you're using this book . Be sure that you connect the kanji to the concept in your mind . DO NOT CONNECT IT TO THE ENGLISH WORD . This can be difficult at times when you get different kanji for think , emotion , feel , etc . . . but you have to do it . If you connect to concepts instead of english words , the transition from this book to japanese is trivial , even for the multiple meanings and pronounciations . Granted . . . remembering multiple pronounciations is always a pain in the neck , but connecting them to a particular kanji isn't that hard .
    • 021 4  Having used a number of texts over the years , I found this one to be the best for what it's title describes . It is excellent for learning the meanings and writings of the kanji . It is written in a very down to earth style and makes learning the kanji fun . It quickly gives access to a large number of kanji . Its system is quite simple and before you know it , you have learned 2000 kanji . If I had used this book alongside my first conversation and reading texts , it would have accelerated the entire process of learning to recognize , read , and write kanji . Although it doesn't help one to learn the pronunciation of the kanji or to read compound words , it doesn't claim to do so . After reading this text I found it extremely easy to recall the kanji and put them on paper . So if your goal is_only_reading , then this might not be the book for you . If you intend on improving your overall kanji power , and speeding your progress in kanji , it is very helpful . I don't believe there is one book for everyone and I would not recommend using only this book . Instead , it is an excellent companion to your regular studies . Consider it a multiplier or an enhancer , for it is highly valuable on those terms . I would recommend it to any Western student of the Japanese language .
    • 022 4  Pros : - The system works . You can learn to write the kanji from their keywords , and learning to read them is much easier if you already know their meaning and writing . - The book is systematic , so you don't need to jump around . You can learn as you read through it . The whole course is organized for you . - The book is very well indexed . It is easy to find kanji by their keyword , primitive , stroke count , etc . Cons : - James Heisig did his kanji learning in solid weeks of non-stop study . So he didn't organize these in easy lessons , or even in consistant lessons . One lesson may be 6 kanji and the next more than 80 , then the following one only 20 or so . So you can't just budget a certain amount of time per day to sit and study a lesson each day . Each one may take wildly more or wildly less than the previous lesson . - Some of his mnemonic stories are pretty bizarre ; not memorably bizarre either , just bizarre . Or they depend on a Judeo-Christian upbringing and occasional knowledge of sayings , phrases , etc . that are not so common anymore . I found some of these hard - on occasion , I had to look up a keyword or phrase in order to understand the kanji . - He organized by his own method , so you need to finish the book before you've hit all of the kanji . General comments : - His system is great if you plan to learn ALL of the kanji in one go , but don't need to read them until you finished . I moved to Japan during my way through the book . I found I really needed to learn the kanji in a different order . I stuck through the book order anyway , but I had to learn many kanji ahead of time just to write my address , my co-worker's names , etc . - The book is heavy on the errata ; I don't know if the current printing has them all fixed but mine needed pages of PDF-layout errata to bring it up to date . All in all , this is a great system for learning to write the Kanji . You'll need something else to help you learn to read them . I went for the Kanji cards by the author ; they worked fine for drilling the kanji as I needed them . You'll want a good kanji dictionary too . But I did learn many kanji , and learning to write them proved a great boon when I later learned to read those same kanji .
    • 023 4  To begin , this is not a book to learn how to pronounce kanji . This book teaches you how to recognize remember each kanji , and it does an incredible job of it . I first learned Japanese in college , and was taught the traditional romanji - hiragana - some kanji method . It stunk . I wish I had this book in school ( and strangely enough , we used Hielsig's other wonderful books ( in two books at that time ) for learning Hiragana / Katakana in the class ) You will learn the kanji with this book , and in such an easy way ! I split the kanji into percentages , with about 100 kanji representing 5% of the total , and I had 5% of the total kanji under my belt in the first 2 weeks . As a final note , the review before this mentioned using flash cards . I know Heilsig had a method in his learning katakana book for a learning box using flash cards . I used it I would highly recommend you look in the book for that technique . Buy this book , you will not be disappointed !
    • 024 4  This book sets out to teach you to the meaning and writing of the Joyo kanji and the kanji commonly used in name as well as a handful of other useful kanji . While admittedly it does not cover all the possible meanings of the kanji , it reasonably approximates its goal with one meaning with each kanji . The main point of me writing this is to address the previous reviews of this book . Notice that this is part I of a three book series . Book II is meant to address the readings of the Kanji that are lamentedly absent in the first volume . Also , unless one is already entirely fluent in Japanese odds are that they will not even know any words in Japanese that contain some characters , thus adding further burden to any systemized attempt at learning kanji . And to complicate matters there are many kanji that only occur in compounds that have meanings difficult to extract and pin down to a single word . The author asserts that if one can memorize the meanings and shapes of the characters , then later adding in the readings is a relatively simple and straightforward process . After having studied Japanese for four and a half years I would concur with this assertion . If your goal is only to be able to see and recognize the kanji , any system will work about the same for you . However , if you actually want to be able to write Japanese by hand , then despite how dumb all these little stories may seem at first I believe this book will be a great aid . Bottom line : I agree with the author that devoting time to exclusively learning the shapes and meaning of the characters through systemized mnemonics and then tackling the readings separately is easier and will give one a better chance of actually learning and remembering the characters than trying to absorb the information all at once and just writing the character a million times trying to burn it into your memory . I recommend this book for those who would like to take the first step .
    • 025 4  Heisig-sensei has produced a singularly clever book which teaches us to use the time-tested , low-tech gadget we think of last - - the human mind . The first section teaches simple and often downright silly stories that ask the reader to take the English word stimulus and draw the kanji while recalling the elements of the story . Heisig warns NOT to drill the other way around , from the character to the meaning . Recognition of the characters eventually starts to emerge quite naturally . After having mastered the first 500 , Heisig starts to cut the reader loose , only giving hints and short outlines of mnemonic stories . In the final section of the book , only the elements , the radicals or primitives as he calls them are introduced and the reader is on his / her own to devise a story that will stick . For those seeking a reference work on kanji , Remembering the Kanji is not intended as one . I picked up an old edition of Hadamitzky and Spahn's Kanji and Kana used here on Amazon.com . There are several excellent kanji learner's dictionaries that fill that need very nicely . Thanks entirely to Mr . Heisig , I can now write 2,042 kanji acceptably well ( about 95% retention rate presently ) . The man is a master teacher , able to convey his ideas about harnessing one's own creative powers via a book . I'd like to shake his hand . A comparable master teacher in another discipline is Ms . Betty Edwards , author of Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain . I didn't think I could draw until I met her marvelous teaching via HER book .
    • 026 4  This book ( RTK1 ) is not about learning Japanese , it's about learning the meaning and writing of kanji . Kanji characters are not an alphabet , they are pictographs where each ( usually ) represents a single idea . Compare it to how ! means Exclamation and ? means Question , yet neither character appear in the English alphabet . I would dare say these % $ ? ! , etc , represent and english variant of the kanji concept . I say this as you'll read complaints that this book does not teach Japanese pronunciations or compounds . It is not meant to do that any more than it would present Chinese or Korean pronunciations of the exact same kanji . RTK1 teaches you a single English ( for Spanish , French or German , he offers similar books in those languages ) meaning called a keyword for each kanji presented . Since a majority of kanji are made up of smaller kanji ( called primitives in the book ) , Heisig organizes the book by primitives . This simple idea allows a simple build up of stories to connect the keywords to the primitives . Since there are a smaller number of primitives ( themselves sometimes made up of easier primitives ) , you quickly know how to write the kanji correctly no matter the complexity ( a feet many native to kanji learning cannot claim expertise in ) . Ultimately , you walk away from the book having native level expertise in knowing the concept and writing of each kanji . With that , you can begin learning Japanese as a written language from the beginning . As been said in other reviews , you can test this book out for free on the first 250 kanji characters . A simple google search can bring it up . If you really see the use , then buy the book . To further help you along as ultimately the book was designed for you to learn Japanese eventually , google Reviewing the Kanji which is a website that incorporates RTK1 in a useful online flash card set-up . That site will offer forums to further assist learning Japanese . Bottom line , this book is meant to give you an quick and rough knowledge in your NATIVE LANGUAGE of 2000 kanji that appear on the Japanese Joyo list . The author offers an outstanding Try Before You Buy online file to help you decide . There's an online presence that compliments the use of this book . There's plenty of personel testimony that claims success . With that , please make an informed choice . PS : I'm upto 1000 Kanji learned with 600 being learned in the last 7 weeks . It's probably above average for speed , but without this book I may have been stuck at 50 Kanji that I might mistake for others . ( UPDATE ) : I finished this book few months ago . My opinion still stands that this book is an outstanding investment for those that wish to have the ability to recognize kanji on sight . More precisely , it's outstanding for those students of independent study ( self learners ) . Some critique of the book though . Keywords are chosen to reflect a meaning , but must be unique from all other keywords . This means that you will need a dictionary at times as some words used are vague . In addition , Heisig uses ambigious words and does not give a detailed meaning of the kanji at times . Secondly , I do not believe it was necessary to have all 1945 joyo kanji . Heisig may have been better off splitting the book into two . The first concentrating on the first 1000 most common kanji ( or JLPT 2 level ) . Despite these critiques , no such resource exists that approaches what Heisig is offering .
    • 028 4  This is a wicked book on how to remember Kanji ! The name is really a misnomer since this book has nothing that's Japanese specific - - i.e . there are no japanese pronounciation or phrases at all ! It's simply a book on how to relate a symbol with its meaning . You can benefit from this book even if you're trying to learn Chinese . This book , unlike others , emphasizes several key points : 1 ) Kanji should not be learned through visual memorization - - i.e . memorizing shapes and figures , because you will end up confused and flustered by the time you're trying to memorize the 50th shape ! 2 ) learning how to recognize and pronounce kanji at the same time is a bad idea , which is why there are no japanese readings in this book at all . 3 ) the order in which you learn kanji is very significant , and following the way japanese schoolers learn kanji isn't the most efficient way . That said , I've never been able to memorize 50 kanji characters faster than when I used this book ! There are other books where they try to help you memorize kanji through visual mnemonics ( e.g . kanji pict-o-graphix ) , but I find them to be very ineffective . There are also yet other books with a similar approach to remembering Kanji as this one , but they're not the same and I seriously doubt they will be more effective . I had been initially put off by this book because of the many 3 - star ratings , but now I wished I had gotten it sooner . Those who rate it a 3 - star didn't read and follow the instructions carefully !
    • 029 4  I finished this book in less than one year only learning in the train - - - I find it VERY GOOD , there's no other comparable method , at least for me . Only two little things . . . - The writing order sometimes is wrong , maybe 4 - 5 places in the book - The proposed FlashCards to learn it are a pain to do and bring you nowhere - - > I recommend you get yourself a PDA and buy KingKanji from Gakusoft.com where you can review the lessons of this book - - - Is not perfect but it works . . . sometimes the keyword is different but still useful . A must , specially if you ride the train .
    • 030 4  I used Heisig's book on hiragana and katakana to get through an introduction to reading Japanese and found that , if you accept this approach wholeheartedly , it is perfect . With this in mind , I took on the much more daunting task of starting on the kanji . I have no spare time and work full-time . Therefore , I could only work on the book in my 45 - min commute to work , as the return journey is too crowded . Using this small time window , I learned 508 kanji ( up to the end of part II ) over six weeks , practicing writing and keywords . I then bought the flashcard set and went through them over the next two days . Of the 508 , I was unsure of the readings for six characters - only six ! Needless to say , these six are now fine as well . Heisig's method works , and it works well . My advice is to make sure you are really solid on the first 200 or so before pressing on , as these will keep cropping up , and they become the basis for many later kanji . The way the characters are arranged means that learning new kanji helps you revise the old ones at the same time - doubly efficient and very effective . Having now gone further on from my solid base of over 500 , I can say that the process actually gets easier . I live in Japan and can now figure out many advertisements and signs with a little thought . It has made Japanese much less intimidating . A friend of mine who recently passed the JLPT Level 2 is so impressed with how good the method is that he is going through it right now and says that he has already learned a ton of new kanji and made old ones much more solid . Oh yes . . . buy the flashcards as well . They are fantastic !
    • 031 4  Reading this book will change how you see Kanji . Large complex kanji will become simple in your eyes . I have worked about 800 kanji into this book , and have enjoyed it . It is true you will not learn the on-yomi or kun-yomi , but you will learn the more important part , the meaning . Moreover , have no problem writing these kanji from memory . This book system is not designed to be used alone , after finishing this book ; start studying other ways . The second book is not as ground breaking as this first , but is still rather handy . The first time I used this book , I devoured 100 kanji . Still to this day , I can draw those 100 kanji from memory .
    • 032 4  This book is invaluable for learning the meaning of the Kanji characters quickly . As many reviewers noted , it does not teach the Japanese pronunciation of the Kanji , which means you must go through other books to fully master Japanese ( which you have to do regardless ) . That said , this is a great book , particularly for those who are at first intimidated by the thousands of Kanji and find out how incredibly easy it is to learn them . The advantages of this book really boil down to three principles : 1 . Breaking complex Kanji into simple components . It is easy to learn the simple components , which he calls primitives and which overlap with radicals to a large extent . 2 . Emphasizing the use of imaginative memory rather than rote memory . It is much easier to remember a character when you can think of a story that links the simple components . 3 . Most importantly , and frequently overlooked , is the organization of the list . Rather than following the grade levels Japanese students learn the Kanji , RTK uses a building block approach . This means you only study a Kanji after you have learned its components . You also repeatedly use the components so that remembering the meaning of the component is no problem at all . For example , after learning the character for water you will repeatedly use it as a component of new characters . This gives you a hint about what the new characters mean and makes remembering water automatic . While some people believe learning the meaning only and not the Japanese pronunciation is a disadvantage , I believe it is a big advantage . The reason is that you can learn the meaning much faster and thus build a large vocabulary quickly . As you learn Japanese through other methods , such as Japanese for Busy People , Pimsleur , and readers , it becomes quite easy to attach the correct pronunciation to the relevant Kanji . Finally , a nice side advantage to focusing on the meaning independent of the pronunciation is that your resulting bigger vocabulary will improve your Chinese reading comprehension . After going through the three books in this series , you will know about 3,000 characters and several thousand word compounds . Even though you will not be able to pronounce the words in Chinese , you will recognize and understand the meaning of a surprisingly large amount of what you read . As a couple readers mentioned , the free Kanji Gold flashcard program ( do a Google search ) is great when used with RTK . You can review the Kanji in the same order as this book , it breaks out all the radicals for each Kanji , it shows the different pronunciations of the characters , and it shows many compounds . You can also create your own Kanji list ( up to a little over 6,000 ) if you want to keep going beyond this book's list .
    • 033 4  Forget about the traditional way of learning the Kanji like in Japanese school . This book is a must have if you're taking Japanese as a foreign language and you have to learn the characters . Heisig's mnemonic method is amazingly simple : you learn essential elements that are characters in themselves as well as being used to construct more complex characters . What sets this book apart from others is that you learn how to connect the elements using simple stories that stick in your memory . It may sound incredible , but you can really learn the meaning and writing of 20 - 25 Kanji A DAY with this method and won't be able to forget them . Once you've learned all the Kanji , you're on equal footing with literate Chinese speakers who start to learn Japanese . Studying at UBC and at Nagoya Gakuin , I always wondered why the Chinese were much more fluent in Japanese than the Westerners if the languages had nothing in common . Their knowledge of the characters is the answer - you'll find that once you've memorized the Kanji , learning Japanese becomes manageable . The only drawback is that the mnemonic stories provided sometimes only make sense to English native speakers . If French or Spanish is your native language , you should get the respective editions by the same author and a collaborator . Heisig's Kanji flashcards are useful , too , but a bit unwieldy for fast review .
    • 034 4  James Heisig learned over 2,000 kanji in the span of several months , and he did it without having a photographic memory . How did he do it ? Individual kanji are ideograms . That is , individual kanji are symbols that stand for ideas and concepts . While it is obvious by looking at many kanji that there must be some kind of rational system behind them , many books that purport to teach kanji fall back on some semblance of this method : See this kanji ? It means mountain . See the mountain behind the kanji ? See it ? Good for you ! Now you'll recognize the kanji for ' mountain ' whenever you see it ! Now here's a whole bunch of kanji with the ' mountain ' symbol in it that seem to have nothing to do with mountains ! Memorize them ! Or even worse : See this kanji ? It's pronounced ( several Japanese words depending on context ) and means such-and-such in English . Now memorize a zillion more ! Heisig's premise is simple and reasonable : 1 . Adults remember associations more easily when the association is a story than when the association is void of meaning . This is also known as the technique of mnemonics , or aids to memory . 2 . Individual kanji stand for concepts , and your native language already has names for those concepts . 3 . You already know your own language . You do not know Japanese ( or at least , you do not know Japanese as well as the Japanese themselves do ) . Heisig's system has been called revolutionary . All three of the above premises , when combined , does lead to a revolution in adult learning of kanji - - as well as kana , which Heisig et al have published in the book Remembering the Kana . I would be hard-pressed to remember over 20 random associations without stories . With Heisig's help , I have learned and _ remembered _ over 70 kanji in under one week . I do not know the Japanese words for the kanji . The book does not claim to teach you that . I cannot construct grammatical sentences in Japanese . The book does not claim to teach you that . I do not know the meaning of compounds of kanji . The book does not claim to teach you that . So while this book may not teach Japanese grammar or the speaking of Japanese , the book does teach the meaning of the kanji , and how to remember that meaning , which does far more than most books that try to teach more than this at one time . You don't believe it ? Well , keep an open mind and _ try it _ . Heisig has allowed us all to try the first 276 kanji _ for free _ at It is a PDF version of the first part of this very book whose reviews you are looking at . If you're not hooked by the first 20 examples , your brain may not be that of an adult human !
    • 036 4  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 .
    • 037 4  Learning Kanji by rote memorization the way native Japanese do is something that is only worth pursuing if you happen to start your Japanese language studies at any early age . As a fully developed adult , the way in which one should go about studying vast amounts of characters is entirely different from that of a child . Through various techniques utilizing visualization and imagination , this book presents a radically different approach that blows traditional kanji learning methods out of the water . It does require some mental flexibility on your behalf but the rewards are astonishing , should you put the proper time and effort forth necessary into this study series . Do not be afraid by the lack of readings and other aspects you may deem pertinent , as this first series is solely designed to help you commit the characters ' meaning and writing to memory . You will find that once you have a character's core meaning internalized all the other elements fall into place . I highly recommend this book to those who have found themselves frustrated by traditional methods of studying the characters and also to those who wish to systematize what they already may know . As my studies progressed I found myself altering some of the imaginary / arbitrary meanings associated with radicals in order to cement them in my mind . While Heisig recommends following his system strictly , remember that he created this system from scratch . So this is not the final end all be all . You too are entitled to create your own offshoot or modify this as it suits you best . As human beings we all have different strengths and weaknesses . Once you can harness your true learning potential strengths , the sky is the limit . I was able to take the fundamental principals shown in this book and run with it . I hope you can use it in a way that will benefit you as well !
    • 038 4  I've tried different ways of memorizing the kanji which includes pictogram mnemonics , rewriting over and over by hand , and the same method that Japanese middle school students learn , but to no avail . Maybe less than eighty meanings stuck with me , and even fewer readings . But after using this book , I now know the meaning of 300 kanji , and growing everyday with the help of this book . First , the buyer should be aware that this book DOES NOT teach the readings of the kanji , only stroke order and meaning . In the introduction , Heisig states that this is the best way he found that he could start to learn the kanji , and it seems to be the same with me as well . His argument : Chinese who learn Japanese and whose language has as much in common with Japanese than English to Swahili learn the kanji faster and become more proficient in it . Why ? Because many Japanese kanji are taken more or less exactly from Chinese characters . They know the meanings - - they just need to learn the readings . And that is how you'll learn using this book . Heisig starts from primitives , which are the strokes that make up kanji , and that is extremely helpful . Since when each primitive is written together with another , they may in turn from another primitive . Remembering the primitive meanings is vital , since the stories Heisig uses to remember a single kanji revolve around the meaning of the primitives . To be honest , remembering the kanji as they are , instead of showing their evolution from pictograms to kanji and explaining the meaning from their pictographic form , is not only practical , but easier and faster . I'm really surprised and happy with my results . Although I can't actually read the kanji yet , I can understand Japanese websites and books with kanji much better . I really wasn't sure how this would work , and I actually had this a month before using ( learn the meaning without the readings ? no way ) but it really is the most efficient method I've found in - understanding - written Japanese . After I'm through with this book I'm definitely getting his second volume Remembering the Kanji II : A Systematic Guide to Reading Japanese Characters , which focuses on remembering the readings after mastering the meanings . Thank you Heisig for making the kanji learning process SO MUCH easier . What an awesome book . I'm only glad I found it pretty early in my kanji studies , instead of perhaps five years of kanji frustration . Thanks .
    • 040 4  Before you consider using this book , you need to think about why you are learning kanji in the first place . If you're like most learners , you eventually want to learn to read Japanese . The kanji themselves are not useful , they are merely a tool that you will use to read the Japanese words . In my mind , the major failing of this series is an overemphasis on individual kanji and underemphasis on compounds and reading practice . If someone wanted to learn English , would you give them a list of the 2000 most common words and tell them to memorize each one starting from 1 until you hit 2000 ? I don't think so , yet that is exactly what Heisig wants you to do with this book . You cannot even begin to try reading any Japanese until you finish the entire 1st book and much of the 2nd . You must wade through a number of obscure kanji to find the common ones . Another cornerstone of his system is that you must learn 2000 kanji before any of them are of use ( he says this explicitly in his introduction ) . Frequency counts show that the 500 most common kanji account for 80% of the kanji appearing in newspapers , and 94% can be covered by 1000 . These numbers do not hold true for all Japanese writing , but they do show Heisig's claim to be suspect . However , to put this into practice it's not enough to simply know the readings of the kanji and how to write it by hand . You must also know the words that are formed from those kanji . In volume 2 , Heisig introduces 1 - 2 compounds per kanji , as opposed to other books like Kanji in Context which introduce sometimes as many as 15 compounds for one kanji . Anyone who has reached an intermediate or advanced level of Japanese knows that you can make a good attempt at reading actual Japanese even with only 800 - 1000 kanji , provided you know many compounds for those words and have a good grammatical background . His idea of breaking down the kanji into component parts is a good one , but you do not need his book to do that - - you can break the kanji down yourself . Also , the goal of this book ( learning to write the kanji by hand ) is questionable . As Heisig himself says in the introduction , many native Japanese speakers cannot write all the kanji by hand . Why should a beginning learner spend a lot of time learning to do something that even educated Japanese are unable to do ? With the advent of word processors , the ability to write kanji by hand is not as useful as it once was . My advice is to only use this book as a last resort - - if you are absolutely unable to learn kanji by any other method . Too many people , however , spend their time flipping through kanji flash cards and then lament that they are unable to learn the characters . What you need to try is a book that integrates reading practice with learning the kanji - - something like Basic Kanji Book , Kanji in Context , or Japanese : The Written Language . - Chris
    • 041 4  Given that I have rated this book with 5 stars , you may be surprised to learn that I personally didn't use it to learn the Kanji - I learned the Kanji ( or hanzi - Han / Chinese characters ) when I was learning mandarin , and I learned them without the benefit of mnemonics . Instead , I was forced to write them over and over again by my unsmiling / uncompromising teachers in Taipei : ) But , having had a good look through this book , I really wish I had had it ( or the apparently forthcoming , ' Remembering the Hanzi ' by the same author ) when I was learning the Kanji . So , do yourself a favour , get this book and learn the Kanji using mnemonics . Unless , that is , you would like to learn them all just by writing them over and over and over and over and over and over . . . ( you get the message ! ) .
    • 043 4  This review is from : Remembering the Kanji I : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters Vol . 1 4th Edition ( Japanese Edition ) ( Paperback ) Tired of reading reviews and still not being decided ? Well , you're lucky , because Dr . Heisig is a permanent fellow of the Nanzan Institute , and Nanzan's website hosts a PDF file containing the first part of the book , that is , the guide to learn 276 characters . Just search in Google for Heisig kanji and in the first or second page of results you'll get a link to the Nanzan institute . There are also a couple of errata files that you must download in order to bypass the typos . These erratas also allow you to have a peek to how the course develops in later lessons . By the way , there are also an Spanish and a French version of the book . About flashcards , you don't need to create thousands of them for reviewing ; you can use a program such as Stackz ! . Just learn to input kanji with the Japanese IME or search the web to see if someone has already created the list . And for those concerned about the lacking of pronunciations and rules of coumpound-making : Those are taught in book II . If you can't find it in America , you can always order it directly from the Nanzan Institute , via a local connection in Japan , such as White Rabbit Xpress . > > Update : I finished this book on September 2005 , 11 months after I began to study it . It was at times fun , at times taihen ( difficult ) but nevertheless it was the single best investment of time and mental energy I've made in my Japanese studies . Now , More than 2 years after I finished it ( today is feb - 15 - 2008 ) , I can still remember how to write most of the kanji , thanks to systematic , periodic reviews with Stackz ! .
    • 044 4  Tired of reading reviews and still not being decided ? Well , you're lucky , because Dr . Heisig is a permanent fellow of the Nanzan Institute , and Nanzan's website hosts a PDF file containing the first part of the book , that is , the guide to learn 276 characters . Just search in Google for Heisig kanji and in the first or second page of results you'll get a link to the Nanzan institute . There are also a couple of errata files that you must download in order to bypass the typos . These erratas also allow you to have a peek to how the course develops in later lessons . By the way , there are also an Spanish and a French version of the book . About flashcards , you don't need to create thousands of them for reviewing ; you can use a program such as Stackz ! . Just learn to input kanji with the Japanese IME or search the web to see if someone has already created the list . And for those concerned about the lacking of pronunciations and rules of coumpound-making : Those are taught in book II . If you can't find it in America , you can always order it directly from the Nanzan Institute , via a local connection in Japan , such as White Rabbit Xpress . > > Update : I finished this book on September 2005 , 11 months after I began to study it . It was at times fun , at times taihen ( difficult ) but nevertheless it was the single best investment of time and mental energy I've made in my Japanese studies . Now , More than 2 years after I finished it ( today is feb - 15 - 2008 ) , I can still remember how to write most of the kanji , thanks to systematic , periodic reviews with Stackz ! .
    • 046 4  WOW ! I have been plodding along , slowly at best , with Japanese , including writing and reading . I am totally SHOCKED at how easy James Heisig makes this . I have already spent a * small fortune * on Japanese references and grammar books , so my desire to get a great self-learning tool has been balanced by a STRONG aversion to spending YET MORE MONEY . Therefore , on the advice of other reviewers of Remembering the Kanji , I downloaded the sample from Reviewing the Kanji at http : / / kanji.koohii.com / In case that was filtered out , that's * kanji dot koohii dot com * . Going through the first 3 lessons , I made flashcards and quizzed myself once on those first 52 kanji ( and the couple of non-kanji radicals thrown in ) . In just one quiz , I only had to peek a couple times to remember the imagination-clues ( kind of like mnemonics , but based more on ideas ) . I could also just cover the kanji , look at the meaning , and write them with almost no sweat . Keep in mind I already know quite a few kanji from my studies , and certainly , as he said we might , those first 15 ( counting from 1 to 10 and another 5 which are extremely well-known and easily remembered ) . The fact that the imagination clues are used to lead you to easily build on previous knowledge as you go along is the KEY ! Getting through the first 3 lessons in a couple hours ( because I * am * writing things down as I go along ) , I will be done with the sample in a couple days , which has 11 lessons . I can easily see why someone using this method can memorize about 2,000 kanji in a few short months ! Others here have criticized the seperation of kanji-memorization from learning the readings , compound words , and grammar . Hogwash ! Learning the kanji either by rote memorization , or even in conjunction with grammar , does NOT work well . Why ? There are too many , and as you build complex sentences and practice communicating real ideas with others ( things you actually WANT to communicate ) , you don't repeat most kanji often enough , and there is no LOGIC to the kanji-learning process ITSELF . Mr . Heisig's method promises to get ONE aspect of Japanese language-learning DONE WELL IN A TIMELY MANNER , which in my opinion will make the others EASIER , since you will not be distracted from your grammar to constantly memorize kanji in an ad-hoc manner or to look them up . You can go back to RTK now and then to review , or use your own flashcards - - but AT A SEPERATE TIME . Let your grammar studies be dedicated to GRAMMAR , in which you will naturally use kanji - - kanji you have learned or are learning in isolated lessons . Think of it this way , it would be like taking 2 classes . A Japanese kanji class and a Japanese grammar class . Even if you take them at the same time , they will use their own SEPERATE METHODS and FOCUSED LESSONS , though they each make doing your homework easier for both classes because they inter-relate . Does that help you understand the benefit of learning kanji in this way ? It seems obvious to me that if you can remember the meaning of a couple thousand kanji merely by looking at them , it will be a GREAT aid to * memorizing vocab * and to * reading * in actual Japanese ! Mr . Heisig says to not mix his method with others , and I think that's a good warning . However , I don't want to lay off the learning I've already started , so I will continue with grammar practice ( that * happens * to introduce kanji ) . But I will focus on the grammar and not care about retaining any kanji in the grammar book beyond the lesson itself . So I can continue to learn grammar in JLPT order , which is as good order as any , considering I am not in a formal classroom and can buy previous JLPT test questions to self-test myself . And as soon as I learn the 2000 + kanji in Remembering the Kanji ( which should be fairly quickly ) , I will NOT have to keep looking up kanji I've forgotten , or which are included in vocab lists ( or sometimes overlooked in vocab lists ) of grammar texts . Yay ! ! ! I am buying this IMMEDIATELY ! ! !
    • 047 4  Heisig developed a unique method for learning the Kanji , or the Chinese characters as they are used in Japan . He splits the study of Chinese characters in two phases . Phase 1 - Learn to write all 2000 Toyo kanji ( i.e . the Ministry of Education's general use characters ) from an English keyword ( Book I ) . Phase 2 - After learning to write all 2000 kanji , study how they are read and pronounced ( Book II , sold separately ) . In Book I , Heisig organizes the kanji somewhat as they are organized in kanji dictionaries . Some kanji , often called radicals , are simple and very distinct in form and meaning . More complex kanji are assembled from the simpler radicals . You learn the kanji by concocting mnemonic stories , the more dramatic the better , and using the radicals as story elements . The method stirs controversy . Usually , kanji are taught by order of frequency , with the most often used characters being taught first . Heisig doesn't care about that order and some obscure kanji come very early in his list . Also the characters aren't conquered one at a time , but rather you learn to write all of the characters in the Toyo list before learning how to read any of them . If you do chose to follow Heisig's method , you really should get Heisig's flash cards as well . If you complete both books , there is a third book covering another 1000 characters for upper level literary proficiency . My experience is that Heisig's method will work more or less effectively depending on how good you are at remembering stories . And of course , the method will not exempt you from having to sit down and do the work ! It will take you a few months . But whatever method you chose , you will benefit from living in Japan and combining your kanji study with language study . By living in Japan you will encounter the kanji every day and you will recognize kanji you have learned , a very rewarding feeling . Vincent Poirier , Tokyo
    • 048 4  It's been almost two years since I started learning Japanese and I still struggle remembering hundreds of kanji characters I've read over the period . RTK has been my companion only for the past few months , yet I can see a big difference in how I comprehend every new kanji . The method is of course based on mnemonics , which is basically what you cannot live without , when you have to memorize all these characters . The great thing about this book , is that it gradually introduces the so called primitives followed by kanjis themselves . With the help of these primitives ' system you can either build up your own mnemonics or carefully follow the Heisig provided stories . Heisig however decided to only assign one English meaning to each character and usually it turns out as a bad choice . Although the intention was to simplify the learning process , it made it somewhat worse , for you'd have to memorize the kanji from the scratch , when you come upon its other meanings . That's one of the biggest flaws of this otherwise great introduction to kanji . My suggestion would be to carefully look up each Kanji , pick the most common meaning provided and if it's something completely different from Heisig's keywords ( thus the mnemonics ) just start making up your own stories ( which is basically all you're left to do in the middle of the book ) . Finally the tools that you shouldn't start your journey without : google for kanji + koohii website - a great site with user shared mnemonics - highly recommended SRS ( Spaced Repetition System ) applications namely Anki ( premade Heisig deck available ) , Supermemo . These will make sure you never forget what you've learnt .
    • 049 4  I've been trying various books and methods of learning Kanji in the hopes of one day being literate here in Japan . This book presents the best method by far of any that I've used . I actually think getting 2000 kanji down is now in reach .
    • 050 4  This review is from : Remembering the Kanji I : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters Vol . 1 4th Edition ( Japanese Edition ) ( Paperback ) If someone would have told me that I'd be able to learn the Kanji at a rate of 25 per day ( or more ) , I'd have thought they were selling some sort of dorky memory product on TV . I wouldn't have bothered . If someone told me I'd remember their meaning and writing , even stroke order , very easily , after 30 minutes or so spent on each set of 15 or 25 ( or more ) , I'd have thought it was impossible . But it's exactly what I'm doing . And if anyone could see that I'm doing it now , they would be impressed . They would think I was a bloody lingual genius being able to learn this fast ( or just psychotically motivated ) . Now let me tell you a secret . I'm a pretty smart person , but know what ? I'm probably not much of a genius , or if I am , this sort of absolute memory is certainly not my genius . It is THIS BOOK that gets the credit ( and neither am I psychotically motivated , for the record - - it is rare that I muster even this much motivation ) . Here's a little story of how I amazed myself just now . As I've been going through the book , I've been using little flashcards to review ( messy ones I made myself - - there are PILES of them all over my room , hehe ) . Not too surprisingly ( I trusted this book and expected this ) , I could remember the meaning of every single kanji I reviewed . Great , huh ? But I still said to myself , Well , remembering the meaning is the main thing . It's no big deal if I can't write them from memory . Of course , I was expecting that , already impressing myself by remembering their meaning , I wouldn't be able to also write them - - that was just too hard . But guess what ? Just now , I proceeded to write out , from memory , with no mistakes and 95% accuracy , every single Kanji I've learned . How can this be ? I am really proud of myself , that's for sure . Simply , this book uses imaginative memory instead of brute memory . Little anecdotes and funny mental images will click in your mind , and you'll easily recall these arcane little word pictures , these Kanji . And you're thinking it must be harder than it sounds , right ? Wrong ! It's actually easier than I make it sound ! ! ( Although I should mention that it DOES require effort . At first , I thought it was never going to work . But then I tried the flashcards and remembered every one of them . It works so well that you don't really even notice - - it's like you've always known the things . ) PUSH through , give it a shot . You will HIGHLY impress yourself . Want to learn kanji ? If you are self-motivated ( and want to teach yourself - - this will NOT work very well as part of a class ) , this is the way to do it . This is volume 1 , and it will teach you the writing and meaning of over 2000 Kanji ( it's like 2145 or something ) . It will NOT , however , teach you their reading , meaning while you'll know what they mean when you see them written , you won't know how to say them in Japanese . That is the job of volume 2 , a guide to the reading of the Kanji . Volume 3 is the advanced course , teaching you both the reading and writing of a bunch more Kanji that are useful for reading Japanese novels , technical documents , video games , etc . Some say this is a flaw of the book , that meaning / writing and reading are seperate , but it's not a flaw ! It is its beauty . By isolated these seperate skills into two volumes , and focusing on each in turn , it unlocks your true ability to learn . These books are amazing . I highly endorse and recommend every single one of them : Remembering the Hiragana / Katakana , then Remembering the Kanji volumes 1 , 2 and 3 , all by James W . Heisig , who has basically written the best way to learn Japanese by accident ( it's how he learned , and fellow students begged him to write out his notes for them , thus , the books were born ) . One final note : If one were to take two lessons a day , about like 30 Kanji a day , you'll finish in a month ( there are around 62 lessons in this book ) . So , really , you could go through all three books in a matter of 3 months . Slow it down a little , one lesson a day , and it's 6 months , which is still jaw-droppingly fast . The Hiragana / Katakana book ( which you should do first ) will take about two weeks ( it's pretty short ) . Not bad for a crash-course in reading Japanese , is it ? Then all you have left is grammar and stringing it all together into your own thoughts and sentences . At least now we can say that THAT , the grammar , speaking , etc , is the hard part , because for years , westerners have said the hard part was learning their weird writing systems . Well , now that's the easy part , thanks to Heisig-san , and if you like the language , even the hard part will be enjoyable for you . I'll see you in Japan !
    • 051 4  If someone would have told me that I'd be able to learn the Kanji at a rate of 25 per day ( or more ) , I'd have thought they were selling some sort of dorky memory product on TV . I wouldn't have bothered . If someone told me I'd remember their meaning and writing , even stroke order , very easily , after 30 minutes or so spent on each set of 15 or 25 ( or more ) , I'd have thought it was impossible . But it's exactly what I'm doing . And if anyone could see that I'm doing it now , they would be impressed . They would think I was a bloody lingual genius being able to learn this fast ( or just psychotically motivated ) . Now let me tell you a secret . I'm a pretty smart person , but know what ? I'm probably not much of a genius , or if I am , this sort of absolute memory is certainly not my genius . It is THIS BOOK that gets the credit ( and neither am I psychotically motivated , for the record - - it is rare that I muster even this much motivation ) . Here's a little story of how I amazed myself just now . As I've been going through the book , I've been using little flashcards to review ( messy ones I made myself - - there are PILES of them all over my room , hehe ) . Not too surprisingly ( I trusted this book and expected this ) , I could remember the meaning of every single kanji I reviewed . Great , huh ? But I still said to myself , Well , remembering the meaning is the main thing . It's no big deal if I can't write them from memory . Of course , I was expecting that , already impressing myself by remembering their meaning , I wouldn't be able to also write them - - that was just too hard . But guess what ? Just now , I proceeded to write out , from memory , with no mistakes and 95% accuracy , every single Kanji I've learned . How can this be ? I am really proud of myself , that's for sure . Simply , this book uses imaginative memory instead of brute memory . Little anecdotes and funny mental images will click in your mind , and you'll easily recall these arcane little word pictures , these Kanji . And you're thinking it must be harder than it sounds , right ? Wrong ! It's actually easier than I make it sound ! ! ( Although I should mention that it DOES require effort . At first , I thought it was never going to work . But then I tried the flashcards and remembered every one of them . It works so well that you don't really even notice - - it's like you've always known the things . ) PUSH through , give it a shot . You will HIGHLY impress yourself . Want to learn kanji ? If you are self-motivated ( and want to teach yourself - - this will NOT work very well as part of a class ) , this is the way to do it . This is volume 1 , and it will teach you the writing and meaning of over 2000 Kanji ( it's like 2145 or something ) . It will NOT , however , teach you their reading , meaning while you'll know what they mean when you see them written , you won't know how to say them in Japanese . That is the job of volume 2 , a guide to the reading of the Kanji . Volume 3 is the advanced course , teaching you both the reading and writing of a bunch more Kanji that are useful for reading Japanese novels , technical documents , video games , etc . Some say this is a flaw of the book , that meaning / writing and reading are seperate , but it's not a flaw ! It is its beauty . By isolated these seperate skills into two volumes , and focusing on each in turn , it unlocks your true ability to learn . These books are amazing . I highly endorse and recommend every single one of them : Remembering the Hiragana / Katakana , then Remembering the Kanji volumes 1 , 2 and 3 , all by James W . Heisig , who has basically written the best way to learn Japanese by accident ( it's how he learned , and fellow students begged him to write out his notes for them , thus , the books were born ) . One final note : If one were to take two lessons a day , about like 30 Kanji a day , you'll finish in a month ( there are around 62 lessons in this book ) . So , really , you could go through all three books in a matter of 3 months . Slow it down a little , one lesson a day , and it's 6 months , which is still jaw-droppingly fast . The Hiragana / Katakana book ( which you should do first ) will take about two weeks ( it's pretty short ) . Not bad for a crash-course in reading Japanese , is it ? Then all you have left is grammar and stringing it all together into your own thoughts and sentences . At least now we can say that THAT , the grammar , speaking , etc , is the hard part , because for years , westerners have said the hard part was learning their weird writing systems . Well , now that's the easy part , thanks to Heisig-san , and if you like the language , even the hard part will be enjoyable for you . I'll see you in Japan !
    • 052 4  I was very skeptical of this method for a long time . I kept running into people ( in Japan where I live ) who have attained Japanese fluency and each time I asked for their recommendation on how best to learn Kanji . They almost always said learn the English keyword / writing first ( I.e . Remembering the Kanji ) . I would always think , what is the point of learning the English translation / and writing without knowing the pronunciation ? It is far easier to start with the meaning and writing and to then learn the pronunciation in context . Purely trying to memorize everything at once will only frustrate you and make you think you can't do it . Do exactly as Heisig says and you will learn the Kanji , I promise ! There is also a great website that helps you easily make flashcards you can practice online ( not related to Heisig , but uses his keywords ) . Everyday I take the subway in Tokyo , I realize I recognize so many more kanji and even their pronunciations because I see them in context . In my opinion , skip book 2 and learn the Kanji pronunciations in your studies .
    • 053 4  I can't tell for sure when I bought this book , but it must have been in 1999 - 2000 ; I've got third edition , 15th printing 1999 . So calling it an OLD friend is not to exaggerate . But even very old friends get slightly tired of each other . Since I have moved to Mandarin ( and still wait for the Remembering the Hanzi book to arrive from Amazon ) I have sinned : I question some of the principles Heisig - and in particular his most devoted followers - tend to write with too big letters , if no carve them into stone . The settings recommended in the introduction should not be viewed as anything but GUIDELINES ! If you are absolutely new to the Japanese written language and don't have much ideas about the language , per se , by all means follow the GUIDELINES , since this is the safest and quickest way . But if you stumble somewhere along the path to Kanji 2042 , don't mind . This happened to me two times before I finished the book . Same if you don't seem to be able to do this with the same Formula One speed as some people are able to , don't mind that either . Better slow than lost . ABOVE ALL : WRITE THE CHARACTERS TIME AFTER TIME . Will slow you down , but your retention will vastly improve . To those familiar with the Japanese language , know some Kanji etc . don't take the prohibition of NOT ADDING ANY READINGS TO THE KANJI too seriously . On the contrary you should seriously consider adding at least ONE reading , perhaps an ON-reading ( from the Chinese originals ) to every new Kanji you practice . I've done that when I started to learn Mandarin / Hanzi and contrary to the common faith , I have NOT found that as a problem or hindrance . Actually the opposite : I fins that the Chinese pronunciation helps me to BETTER remember the Hanzi characters . That said , there is really not many books / methods that will do what it promises : to learn to write and remember the Kanji with some sort of effort and retention . If you don't like Heisig , then consider Kanji ABC or / and A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters ( to be reviewed by yours truly later ) . Where I am pretty convinced is that we need SOME SERIOUS HAND HOLDING to learn 2000 + Kanji or 3000 Hanzi . Unless you are 15 years and have all the time in the world . At least get a copy of this before jumping to premature conclusions .
    • 054 4  This review is from : Remembering the Kanji , Vol . 1 : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters ( Paperback ) I'm currently studying for the JLPT2 ( more on that later ) , and my weakness with the Japanese language has always been kanji . I bought this book because it promises a different way to learn the meanings of about 2000 characters , using the imaginative memory . For the most part it works , but it does have serious shortcomings to the serious Japanese student . There are several reviews already written , so I won't go into many details about the book . Heisig presents kanji in a completely different order than the traditional Japanese system through concentrating on radicals . He begins each section with a radical that gets assigned ( usually ) a one-word meaning . The idea is that by breaking down characters into discrete , meaningful chunks you can use them , like blocks , to build a story to remember what the kanji means and how it's written . It works . In just a few months I've solidly learned about 500 characters using his method . However , a Japanese student should not expect this to be the kanji solution because it's not the whole package . It's not intended to be . He does not offer any readings and his attributed meanings are VERY basic , sometimes not capturing the entire connotation of the character . Some meanings are plain odd , like hit on the head for itadaku , but these are very few . He does have two more books that apparently do address readings . I'm not using them , so I can't offer any opinions . The book does demand time and concentration . This is especially true for kanji whose radicals don't neatly match the meaning . In order to remember the kanji your story needs to be strong and clear , and awkward stories don't do the trick . There is a great support website called Kanji Koohii where the online community offers their own stories . This website is a huge help when Heisig ends his story contributions ( at about the 1 / 3 mark ) or for tricky characters . Back to the JLPT . . . In my opinion , this book can be used extremely effectively as part of a study system if you're willing to make some additional time and money investments . The trick is to use Heisig to ground the character , then switch to a more formal resource . I use this book in conjunction with the Kotoba application on my iPod and White Rabbit Press ' Kanji Flashcards . Heisig and the cards have completely different numbering systems . Kotoba acts like a cross-reference tool to different ordering systems , including Heisig , so I can pull the more robust flash cards as I move through the book . Heisig is simply the initial step just to remember the basics . It's a kluge , but it works . You will need to follow the author's ordering because of how the method works . If you plan on studying by Japanese grade level or some other way , you can't if you want to include this book . On the other hand , it includes the 2042 common kanji , so everything is covered . It's a different road , but you'll get there in the end . Overall , it's a great tool for serious language study when used in its right context .
    • 055 4  I'm currently studying for the JLPT2 ( more on that later ) , and my weakness with the Japanese language has always been kanji . I bought this book because it promises a different way to learn the meanings of about 2000 characters , using the imaginative memory . For the most part it works , but it does have serious shortcomings to the serious Japanese student . There are several reviews already written , so I won't go into many details about the book . Heisig presents kanji in a completely different order than the traditional Japanese system through concentrating on radicals . He begins each section with a radical that gets assigned ( usually ) a one-word meaning . The idea is that by breaking down characters into discrete , meaningful chunks you can use them , like blocks , to build a story to remember what the kanji means and how it's written . It works . In just a few months I've solidly learned about 500 characters using his method . However , a Japanese student should not expect this to be the kanji solution because it's not the whole package . It's not intended to be . He does not offer any readings and his attributed meanings are VERY basic , sometimes not capturing the entire connotation of the character . Some meanings are plain odd , like hit on the head for itadaku , but these are very few . He does have two more books that apparently do address readings . I'm not using them , so I can't offer any opinions . The book does demand time and concentration . This is especially true for kanji whose radicals don't neatly match the meaning . In order to remember the kanji your story needs to be strong and clear , and awkward stories don't do the trick . There is a great support website called Kanji Koohii where the online community offers their own stories . This website is a huge help when Heisig ends his story contributions ( at about the 1 / 3 mark ) or for tricky characters . Back to the JLPT . . . In my opinion , this book can be used extremely effectively as part of a study system if you're willing to make some additional time and money investments . The trick is to use Heisig to ground the character , then switch to a more formal resource . I use this book in conjunction with the Kotoba application on my iPod and White Rabbit Press ' Kanji Flashcards . Heisig and the cards have completely different numbering systems . Kotoba acts like a cross-reference tool to different ordering systems , including Heisig , so I can pull the more robust flash cards as I move through the book . Heisig is simply the initial step just to remember the basics . It's a kluge , but it works . You will need to follow the author's ordering because of how the method works . If you plan on studying by Japanese grade level or some other way , you can't if you want to include this book . On the other hand , it includes the 2042 common kanji , so everything is covered . It's a different road , but you'll get there in the end . Overall , it's a great tool for serious language study when used in its right context .
    • 056 4  Most of the positive reviews you see for this book seem to be from people who are excited to memorize so many kanji so quickly , but who don't yet realize how much work is still ahead of them . Most of the negative reviews are from people who learned or tend to learn language in a way different from this method . What neither side realizes is that this is * a * good method for introducing the kanji - it's not only one , and it might not even be the best one , but it's a good one , to the tune of a 5 - star review . The positives . Would you like to be able two write over two thousand kanji in under six months , while everyone else around you will have probably tried and failed to get even a few dozen of them down at the same time ? Would you like an environment that's so fun and intuitive that it feels more like play than study ? Would you like to flat-out amaze yourself with your incredible progress day-to-day ? ( I swear I wasn't paid to write this ) . Heisig's method is IN-CRED-I-BLE at making the normally daunting task of learning the kanji an absolute blast ! I sat down with the sample chapter , and had over 30 kanji memorized inside of an hour . I am completely comitted to Japanese literacy now - what once seemed like the most difficult task of beginning the language ( familiarizing the kanji ) now feels more like educational recess . I practice my kanji on work breaks becuase it's so refreshing to immerse myself in it . The negatives . You will recognize the kanji after this course of study , without actually knowing anything about using them . The book only gives you one very basic interpretation of a stand-alone kanji , and this is nearly useless in real literacy ( even if it is a boon to memorization ) . Most students familiar with the traditional all-at-once method of learning will point and scoff at how ridiculous it is to have to learn so many characters twice when you could do it once . But forget the foreign language for a second . Are you the sort of person who can sit down and read a dictionary in your own language , right now ? There are some people who can do this , who can just absorb pronunciations and definitions and usages of words all at once . This book is not for them - they need to grab something like P . G . O'Neill's Essential Kanji and tackle it head-on . Personally , I could sit down and read the entire English dictionary , and struggle to remember a single thing . Why would I expect any different results rote memorizing a Japanese dictionary ? There's one other aspect of this course that needs some thought . Here , you learn to see a symbol and instinctively put information to it . This very closely mimics how you know your own language - you don't have to trace out stroke order for every character and piece together meaning . You just see the and next and word and in the sentence as blocks . Learning via this method allows you to be much more naturally fluent in recognizing your characters . You just see four and think four . Once you know four as a concept , I think that makes it easier to heap on yottsu than the traditional method , where you learn yottsu = a certain squiggle and have to map four onto that just to create one concept ( even though the result is the same ) . The author compares this to Chinese-fluent persons learning Japanese , who are familiar with many of these symbols already , and just need to learn the Japanese readings and usages . These students do show faster progress gaining literacy than students totally unfamiliar with the characters , and the end result for you should be the same . So , as others have noted , the first chapter is online for free . Try it , and see if this style of learning is for you . For a lot of people , this style will be a very refreshing take on what will ultimately be a difficult and perhaps years-long journey no matter how it's sliced .
    • 059 4  I had my doubts about the learning-method used in Remembering the Kanji , Vol . 1 : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters , but after having used it for a month , easily learning 20 - 60 kanji per day , I'm convinced . Highly recommended !
    • 061 4  The method described in the book is , in my opinion , the best way to learn Japanese kanji in existence . It took me somewhat upwards of 200 hours to learn all 2000 + standard use kanji . Now not only the Japanese texts are a lot more transparent , since there are no unfamiliar symbols there any more , and not only it is quite often easy to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words , but , most importantly , learning * new * words has just become an order of magnitude easier , since they are now composed of characters whose meaning you can easily recognize . I recommend to follow this book with Kanji in Context , as it will build on your knowledge of kanji and fill in the needed vocabulary in a systematic way , with kanji readings coming as a free bonus . Why start with this book at all ? Not because knowledge of the meanings is that important in itself , but because being able to identify all kanji is a great help at every point further down the line . Using this method , it would take one substantially less time to learn 2000 kanji AND both readings and writing of say ~ 2000 words than it would take to * just * learn the readings of those 2000 words alone , and the vocabulary retention would be far better .
    • 063 4  This review is from : Remembering the Kanji I : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters Vol . 1 4th Edition ( Japanese Edition ) ( Paperback ) If I were to make a list of the ten most influential books I have ever read , Remembering the Kanji would be at the top . Rarely does one come across a book that is so in tune with the way one's own mind works . I recommend this book to anyone who expresses frustration learning kanji . Most use methods directed at native speakers . This one is intended for westerners . I am not exaggerating when I say that James Heisig changed my life by writing this book .
    • 064 4  If I were to make a list of the ten most influential books I have ever read , Remembering the Kanji would be at the top . Rarely does one come across a book that is so in tune with the way one's own mind works . I recommend this book to anyone who expresses frustration learning kanji . Most use methods directed at native speakers . This one is intended for westerners . I am not exaggerating when I say that James Heisig changed my life by writing this book .
    • 066 4  This book is meant to be a breadth-first survey of the kanji . It is admittedly useless by itself , but in covering the entire ground it produces a foundation of familiarity that will be built upon with further study exposure . I hated kanji when studying it in college , found Henshall to be interesting but useless as a memorization guide ( his mnemonic entries tended to the counter-productive ) . The two critical points of Heisig's book are : 1 ) Building an association between the english codeword and a mental narrative of the corresponding character's components 2 ) Ordering the lessons to study the common component kanji before the more complicated composed kanji , and grouping lessons to target a single common component ( or shared group of components ) . #1 is indeed revolutionary , and really works . #2 is obvious , but the educational ordering ( used in eg . Henshall ) has LOTS of kanji out of order . During my first year in Japan , I discovered this book - - in one memorable month I crammed over a thousand characters , often pounding stacks of 50 or 100 in one go . I'm giving this book 4 stars because the edition I used had some errors , and probably the current edition could still use some editing revision .
    • 067 4  I have always had a hard time with rote memorization . I am a very visual person . I could usually remember Kanji if I stared at them for a bit , but they didn't always stick , and similar characters would get mixed up . I actually started using the Heisig method without realizing it , using weird mnemonic devices to keep characters straight . Upon discovering this book , my problems with studying evaporated . This book takes that method that everyone sort of uses and makes it more effective . The program is focused and carefully ordered . Many characters can be memorized at once because of how they are grouped . Similar Kanji are learned together , gradually building towards more complex ideograms , but they remain distinct because of the associated stories . After 7 weeks of about 50 characters a day , I can now write all 2040 - something Jouyou Kanji . Coupled with my traditional study methods and a healthy dose of reading , I've really stepped up my literacy ( I can read the onyomi of at least 3 / 4 of these things ) . I can't see how this book would be at all helpful by itself , but if you want to learn to write the characters , there's no better way . If you're looking for some tips , here's how I used it : - Memorized 50 - ish Kanji a day from the book . - Made Kanji flashcards with a Leitner system program on my iPhone , letting the program tell me how many cards to do per day ( any Leitner system program will do this ) . - Read articles from several Japanese newspapers on Google RSS reader everyday ( with a little help from a Mozilla plug-in called Rikaichan ) . As you learn the characters , you will pick up the readings very easily . - Chatted with Japanese people on Skype and Facebook . - Put all the programs I could on my PC and iPhone into Japanese . This program will eat a good 3 hours a day , but if you're really serious , it seems to work very well .
    • 068 4  This review is from : Remembering the Kanji I : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters Vol . 1 4th Edition ( Japanese Edition ) ( Paperback ) I've just started to read the book but I can say that it will help me a lot in my learning and study of the Japanese Kanji characters . The author introduces a different way of looking to the Kanji characters and teach to make an association between each Kanji and its meaning . Sometimes this can be achieved by a single word , other connected with a simple story or making a comparison between the shape of the Kanji and the drawing of an abstract idea in our minds . I recommend to have the Kanji cards too while the book is read . One thing that I think that the book miss , is the Japanese KunYomi and OnYomi for each Kanji . I know that is not the idea of the book , but as a Japanese learner , having them will help a little more , from my point of view . Finally I have to say that it is very useful .
    • 069 4  I've just started to read the book but I can say that it will help me a lot in my learning and study of the Japanese Kanji characters . The author introduces a different way of looking to the Kanji characters and teach to make an association between each Kanji and its meaning . Sometimes this can be achieved by a single word , other connected with a simple story or making a comparison between the shape of the Kanji and the drawing of an abstract idea in our minds . I recommend to have the Kanji cards too while the book is read . One thing that I think that the book miss , is the Japanese KunYomi and OnYomi for each Kanji . I know that is not the idea of the book , but as a Japanese learner , having them will help a little more , from my point of view . Finally I have to say that it is very useful .
    • 072 4  I've taken Japanese classes , bought many Japanese language books , passed JLPT level 3 , but still don't progress to the level that I want . I'd like to be able to read Japanese novels and realized that my problem is kanji . To pass JLPT level 3 , I only have to learn about 300 kanji ( if I'm not mistaken ) . To move up to Level 2 , I did what was always advised by my teachers : keep practicing writing down the characters . But after a week or so , I forgot them . I'm glad I found the Remembering the Kanji book by Heisig . After a few weeks I now remember about 600 kanji ! Everytime I look up Japanese webpage or manga , I'll see the kanji and remembered the English meaning . Of course remembering the kanji and writing it only half the battle , but I feel so empowered by it . Now learning kanji is not a surmountable task . It's possible , and yes I can !
    • 073 4  I wasn't sure when I read other reviews for this book , but other methods of learning kanji were not working for me , and I've tried several : the traditional method of grinding to memorization , video games such as Slime Forest ( which is a good supplement for the book ) , etc . This book works for me . I've already learned 100 kanji , and I probably would have learned more but I'm a pretty busy person ( wedding planning + working full time + going to college ) . I think being able to learn 100 kanji in a few weeks with that kind of schedule is excellent progress . The thing about this book is that it teaches you how to learn . You don't have to agree with the author's stories because if you understand the premise of the book , you can come up with your own . The kanji order is very sensible , much more than the traditional methods , because they help the mind find clear links from one kanji to the next . The explanations are thorough , and if one actually takes time to read the full introductory sections , the author gives perfect instructions for the average time it should take a person and what to expect along your journey . My only criticism of the book is a minor one ; why not sell it * with * the flash cards , which seem impossible to do without ? One can say , Oh , I can make my own flash cards , but the flash cards that have been designed for the book are so complete that it seems stupid to do so . Even though they seem expensive , they cost WAY less than $1.00 a card ( 2040 + cards for $99 is NOT bad ) , and they have everything you could ever desire on them ( Japanese pronunciation , Chinese pronunciation , number in the book , definitions , hints about the story in the book to help you remember it without having to go back to the book , and much more ! ) . I could have started making more progress right away if the cards had been sold with the book . But , that's really just nit-picking there . : } Finally , for anyone who is still skeptical , I have to think that if you are willing to put in the time to study and not expect the book to do it for you , you will * love * this book . If you expect to read through it and instantly understand Japanese . . . no book is going to make you happy . I regret resisting this book so long , because its method for an adult learning Japanese just makes too much sense . Try it !
    • 074 4  This book is a great source for learning Kanji , though it can take a while to get through , it is perfectly made to be picked up for short amounts of time ( on a regular basis ) making learning Kanji very easy . If you already speak japanese im not sure if that gives a benefit to learning them more effectively because the meanings arent always spot on to the character , because theyre used for memory retention - the second book learns you the meanings . . . So if u speak JP dont start writing characters to Japanese people thinking it means the words given . . . . they could get offended XD
    • 075 4  I have seen some reviews of this book which criticize Heisig for not paying attention to overall grammer structures . I find that the fatal flaw in such arguments is that this book is not ( and I don't believe it has ever claimed to be ) a comprehensive Japanese language book : it is simply a kanji book . Even though not all Nihonjin can write all kanii by hand , I do not believe this book is a challenge for Gaijin to gain a greater mastery of Kanji . I see this book as one of the most detailed dictionaries there ever was , and a dictionary in which you sample a plethera of choices before deciding what to focus on . For what it is ( and not what it isn't ) , I give an enthusiastic 5 stars .
    • 076 4  i spent 4 years studying japanese . kanji was big turn off . Now I'm like a beginner still , hardly managing to write one sentence since i attached toomuch attention to kanji . my job , time , chores wouldn't let me give qaulity time for study . in the meantime i was collecting all books i can get on grammar , kanji . . etc . Kanji Pictographics helped a lot . But this Heisig's book seems to be working far better for me . Compare : 1 ) Pictographic book . u want to learn 20 kanjis , let's say . Open a pictographic book , you'll find about 20 in a pair of pages . Just different combinations of primitives , radicals , change the meaning of the kanji . the same 2 radicals posed in different ways made different meaning kanjis composed of the 2 kanjis . that was hard to digest . well for the first few days it's ok . then trying to remember the little nuances , trying to attach one meaning to one combination , another to another comb was increasingly hard . Suddenly all the jungling crumbles , in 3 days i can't write by memory the studied kanjis . One the same radical would be shown in different way depending on the kanji . Now I think it may have delayed study progress . 2 ) Heisig's book : It doesn't have anythig about pronunciation . that's ok . instead of pictures it used stories and consistent radical meaning . glue radical is glue wherever it happens-almost . the same is true for dog , drop , etc . Now i find it easier to play and remember it . Example : kanji prison is composed of Pack of dogs + say + dog radicals . How i remember it ? From journalism ( which i was involved in ) I know of freedom of speech . Prison means your freedom of speech ( i.e . saying ) is taken from you by dogs on 2 sides , you pathetically in between them , prisoned , not able to say a word . Just look this kanji , u'll find it in this order . This is how customize Heasig's stories to my situation if mine seems better . I'm sure you can find good stories too to help memorize them . Now kanji for haven is made up from water drops + brush radicals . How come this ? I had just a bit of hard time to absorb / retain it using Heisig's already good method.But from Old Testamnet , we know Moses used lamb blood and brush to paint on doors of Israelites so that the angel of death wouldn't enter thru those doors . Suddenly the home behind the door became a haven for the dwellers . For my learnig I assumed Moses used water instead . Overcome kanji is made up from needle on top of older brother radical kanji , in a vertical order . I just a bit adapted the story to my cultural situation . If you can overcome your older brother that's really a merit . So I made a story barely managing to jump over older brother so that the gap between me and him was a needle size is overcoming . chastise is say + glue radicals , written exactly in this horizontal order . saying is related with words . I inadvertantly made up this story : if the Word of God is glued to you and you follow it , you are CHASTISEd . if the Word isn't glued to you because you shrug it off , you are still in your sin and filth and are not chastised . Bingo ! This kind of process can go on on . Now when I try to repeat kanjis , let's say 50 kanjis a day , i have 95% hit rate . While on the street still I remeber these stories thus the kanji . In about 3 months , I can learn 2000 kanjis , I'm confident . Then I will concentrate on reading , pronuncing . My hats off to Heisig . Just my 2 cents .
    • 077 4  This is a good book with a few trade-offs that you'll have to negotiate . Yes , the first book gives you no readings . But you can learn all the common use kanji quickly , maybe a year for those of dedicated but average motivation . A few months if you're a freak-a-zoid . But , as above , no readings . That's what the second book is for . And the method is just about as effective . Why spend a year not knowing the meanings ? Because if you do the the first and second book , you're gonna learn all the common use kanji and their readings in , let's say 2 - 3 years , when it takes Japanese school kids a total of about 7 . Imagine the look on a high school kid's face when you tell them that you learned in 3 years what it took them 7 , and then prove it by writing that very statement in kanji for them . And even after 7 years of instruction , most JAPANESE folks carry an e-dictionary around with them for a refresher when reading . The initial effort being put into doing both books is roughly the same as it would be just doing writing and memorization practice . But it takes literally less than half the time in years and there is * considerably * less need for review . The only problem that I had with the course was that I'm in Japan and want to read NOW . I make up for that by carrying my note cards around and writing down readings when I see them , in hopes that it doesn't get in the way of the course outlined in the second book . So far , it has not . But , if I had spent the last year or so trying to learn through writing and memorization , I am guessing that I would only know around 300 kanji and their meanings . And after writing down random readings and compounds in a needs-based fashion while out and about , and being able to figure out the general meaning of a kanji without even knowing the reading ( it is more useful than it might seem at first ) , I'm convinced that it's worth it . Kanji is REALLY HARD TO LEARN . But this book subtracts about 4 years from the torture of learning them . The trade-off is being in dark for a year about the meanings . But , IMO , it is better than learning 300 kanji a year , if that .
    • 078 4  I heard someone raving about this series of books . I bought one convinced it was the way to learn Kanji . Well , I think the book would be great for people just starting out in Japanese with no other way of comprehending Kanji . Personally for me I do not think this is a good way of learning Kanji . It basically teaches you how to think about Kanji in English by teaching you some story related to the shape of the Kanji . I believe thinking about a foreign language in your native language hinders your attempt to achieve fluency . While I dont think there is any one way of learning Kanji , it is necessary to pick whichever method works for you . If Remembering the Kanji works best for you , then it is great . For me personally I dont like to learn about Japanese in romaji . I would recommend writing exercises over a system like this . I personally would recommend : Basic Kanji Book , Vol . 1 ( Paperback ) by Chieko Kano ( Author ) , Hiroko Takenaka ( Author ) , Eriko Ishii ( Author ) , Yuri Shimizu ( Author ) Basic Kanji Book - Volume 2 ( Paperback ) ( this is currently unavailable ) after these two books move on to Kanji in Context Reference Book ( Paperback ) Kanji in Context Workbook vol 1 : Bk . 1 [ IMPORT ] ( Paperback ) Kanji in Context Workbook vol 2 : Bk . 2 ( Kanji in Context Series ) by Nishiguchi and Kono ( Paperback - Dec 1 , 1994 ) - Import to learn kanji for daily life i would recommend : 250 Essential Kanji for Everyday Use , Volume 1 ( Paperback ) by University of Tokyo Kanji Text Research Group ( Author ) 250 Essential Kanji for Everyday Use , Volume 2 by University of Tokyo Kanji Text Research Group ( Paperback - Aug 15 , 1998 ) 9 Used & new from $2.50 Remembering the Kanji is not for everyone , but it could be effective if you like its style . It just wasnt for me . By all means learning kanji is not easy . The best book is the one you feel most comfortable with . And you most likely will find more than one book to aid you in you learning . Good luck ! ! !
    • 079 4  I have been studying Japanese on my own for about three years , off and on . It seemed like every time I would get into the language , kanji would pop up and suddenly I was lost . There were so many readings , so many meanings , so many little lines . . . It had me running scared every time I came up against a character with a stroke count higher than four ( OK , a little exageration there , but you get what I'm saying ) . Then I found the download preview for this book and it was amazing . Not only does it teach stroke order , but it gives you the information you need to continue to use Heisig's suprisingly effective methods on other kanji not found in his books specifically . The simplified definitions and focus on construction helps keep all the extra white noise of on and kun readings , and alternative translations to a minimum . One of the strongest points I have found with this is the chaining process . In general , the human mind doesn't learn in lumps , it learns in chains . For example , a child doesn't learn word meanings , pronounciations , and writings all at once , and , unless you are traveling to Japan in two weeks , you probably shouldn't either . First a child learns meanings , then they perfect pronounciation , followed by learning to write letters and words . That's what Heisig does here . He starts with one aspect ( meaning ) , then slowly builds with writting , pronounciation , and further meanings . It's a logical system that mimics the natural learning pattern that every person used when they learned their own , native language . The only critism I will give this book ( and it's not a critism towards the book so much as acknowledging its need for a good kanji dictionary to accompany it ) is its lack of following through with the language-learning chain . It omits the addition of pronounciation once meaning and writing have been established . However , like I said , this is cured with a good kanji dicionary . On that note , I will say it's not for everyone . I recommend it only for students who are serious about emmersing themselves in the Japanese language . It does tackles kanji that you will probably never see / use again . There is no order of frequency or relavence . If you want to learn a set list of kanji ( ex : for the JLPT ) , this is not the book for you . Likewise , if you have the sort of thinking process where you can effectively file vast amonts of varying information in a short period of time and retain it ( and I know many people who do ) , this book is not for you . It would waste your time and money . However , if you work best with little nibbles , and are intent on becoming as familiar with Japanese as you can , this is definitely the book I would recommend .

  • Remembering the Kanji , Vol . 1 : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters ( Paperback ) WOW ! I have been plodding along , slowly at best , with Japanese , including writing and reading . I am totally SHOCKED at how easy James Heisig makes this . I have already spent a * small fortune * on Japanese references and grammar books , so my desire to get a great self-learning tool has been balanced by a STRONG aversion to spending YET MORE MONEY . Therefore , on the advice of other reviewers of Remembering the Kanji , I downloaded the sample from Reviewing the Kanji at http : / / kanji.koohii.com / In case that was filtered out , that's * kanji dot koohii dot com * . Going through the first 3 lessons , I made flashcards and quizzed myself once on those first 52 kanji ( and the couple of non-kanji radicals thrown in ) . In just one quiz , I only had to peek a couple times to remember the imagination-clues ( kind of like mnemonics , but based more on ideas ) . I could also just cover the kanji , look at the meaning , and write them with almost no sweat . Keep in mind I already know quite a few kanji from my studies , and certainly , as he said we might , those first 15 ( counting from 1 to 10 and another 5 which are extremely well-known and easily remembered ) . The fact that the imagination clues are used to lead you to easily build on previous knowledge as you go along is the KEY ! Getting through the first 3 lessons in a couple hours ( because I * am * writing things down as I go along ) , I will be done with the sample in a couple days , which has 11 lessons . I can easily see why someone using this method can memorize about 2,000 kanji in a few short months ! Others here have criticized the seperation of kanji-memorization from learning the readings , compound words , and grammar . Hogwash ! Learning the kanji either by rote memorization , or even in conjunction with grammar , does NOT work well . Why ? There are too many , and as you build complex sentences and practice communicating real ideas with others ( things you actually WANT to communicate ) , you don't repeat most kanji often enough , and there is no LOGIC to the kanji-learning process ITSELF . Mr . Heisig's method promises to get ONE aspect of Japanese language-learning DONE WELL IN A TIMELY MANNER , which in my opinion will make the others EASIER , since you will not be distracted from your grammar to constantly memorize kanji in an ad-hoc manner or to look them up . You can go back to RTK now and then to review , or use your own flashcards - - but AT A SEPERATE TIME . Let your grammar studies be dedicated to GRAMMAR , in which you will naturally use kanji - - kanji you have learned or are learning in isolated lessons . Think of it this way , it would be like taking 2 classes . A Japanese kanji class and a Japanese grammar class . Even if you take them at the same time , they will use their own SEPERATE METHODS and FOCUSED LESSONS , though they each make doing your homework easier for both classes because they inter-relate . Does that help you understand the benefit of learning kanji in this way ? It seems obvious to me that if you can remember the meaning of a couple thousand kanji merely by looking at them , it will be a GREAT aid to * memorizing vocab * and to * reading * in actual Japanese ! Mr . Heisig says to not mix his method with others , and I think that's a good warning . However , I don't want to lay off the learning I've already started , so I will continue with grammar practice ( that * happens * to introduce kanji ) . But I will focus on the grammar and not care about retaining any kanji in the grammar book beyond the lesson itself . So I can continue to learn grammar in JLPT order , which is as good order as any , considering I am not in a formal classroom and can buy previous JLPT test questions to self-test myself . And as soon as I learn the 2000 + kanji in Remembering the Kanji ( which should be fairly quickly ) , I will NOT have to keep looking up kanji I've forgotten , or which are included in vocab lists ( or sometimes overlooked in vocab lists ) of grammar texts . Yay ! ! ! I am buying this IMMEDIATELY ! ! !
    • 002 4  I am a European-American who holds an M.A . from a Japanese national university ( Hiroshima University ) and a Professional Diploma in Foreign Language Education ( Japanese ) from the University of Hawaii - Manoa . I have lived for some 11 years in Japan as an adult and have taught Japanese at the secondary level in Hawaii and Oregon . Between 2001 and 2003 , I assisted Mary Sisk Noguchi , author of the Kanji Clinic column in THE JAPAN TIMES , edit , rewrite and check facts in her columns . ( The columns may be viewed at www.kanjiclinic.com . ) I mention these credentials in order to give potential consumers of Jim Heisig's REMEMBERING THE KANJI , Volume I ( aka ' RTK1 ' ) , a more informed basis for their impending purchase . Amazon's customer reviews for RTK1 cover a broad spectrum ranging from near-total rejection to devoted acceptance . This is NOT a book that seems to attract many 3 - star reviews . As you , the potential consumer of RTK1 , debate whether to buy the book or not , I hope my little review will help push you over the edge into the buy mentality . I have given this remarkable book a 5 - star rating . RTK1 helps level the kanji playing field . ( Incidentally , you can easily discover if this is THE KANJI BOOK FOR YOU by going to google.com and inputting heisig remembering kanji . Dr . Heisig has convenietly made available his well-reasoned , indeed , history-making introduction as well as downloadable stories for the first 250 - or-so kanji that he teaches in his system . If you are ' turned on ' by his introduction and his first 100 or so stories , then RTK1 is a good tool for you . You will need the book to build a strong memory foundation for the remaining 1750 - or-so kanji used in standard written Japanese . ) Good luck . This book gives a solid foundation to serious students of written Japanese , and I dare say Chinese , too . Oh , yes , almost forgot . The book is also available in French and Spanish .
    • 010 4  This review is from : Remembering the Kanji , Vol . 1 : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters ( Paperback ) Anyone who states that the Heisig method for learning kanji does not work , says so because they have not tried it . I , myself , was Anti-Heisig for a good 5 years after I saw it on the bookshelf . I remember picking it up and saying Ha , this book is a joke ! It ONLY teaches you the meaning ? WHAT A JOKE ! ! , and I also remember putting it back on the shelf and walking away from it not knowing what a gold mine I had just passed up on . After finding about the AJATT method for learning Japanese ( you MUST google AJATT if you really want to learn Japanese ) , I completed Heisig's Remembering the Kanji book 1 + 3 and in 6 months I was able to learn 3,000 kanji perfectly ! I could recognize every single kanji in books and instead of drawing blanks when I would see kanjis , I now see meanings . After the 6 months of studying the kanjis , I started learning to read real Japanese kanji in context through sentences found in the Yahoo Jiten ( Yahoo online Japanese Dictionary ) . After about a year of studying sentences with learning to read the kanji in context like a real Japanese person , I am able to communicate with online Japanese friends , have a normal conversation in Japanese , and read fiction books . After Heisig , this is how you will learn Kanji readings . After looking up a word , let's say Sunshine you'll see that it is pronounced as youkou and it's kanjis are Sunshine + Ray . That's it , you're done . It's that simple ! Now whenever you see Sunshine + Ray together you know it's read youkou . After graduating from Heisig , you won't waste countless hours writing out the kanjis to memorize them because you HAVE ALREADY MEMORIZED THEM . That is a such a gift . Genius . I used to HATE Heisig , I used to think that it was the stupidest way of learning kanji , but now after graduating from Remembering the Kanji , I bow my head in humility to Heisig because Remembering the Kanji and the AJATT method of learning Japanese have blessed me with the gift of fluency . I did it , and you can too .
    • 014 4  For me , the best is studying the basics with JAPANESE IN MANGALAND , practicing writing and so with some good workbook , and learning kanji with REMEMBERING THE KANJI . This book is not for learning japanese , as other have said in their reviews , but fot learning japanese kanji only , so it is normal not being able to read japanese only by studying this book . And it is true that constance is needed . But it is impossible to read japanese without knowing kanji , and it is very difficult to learn kanji with a normal textbook . I kept forgetting strokes and stroke orders , and the reason for it was that I didn't see kanji like a logic system , but more like a more or less difficult drawing . There are many kanji that look nearly the same , but once you study this book , these small differences become impossible to mistake . I am studying this book in spanish , but I've seen in english it's just the same , that's why I am reviewing this kanji study book . : ) it has helped me so much . . .
    • 035 4  James Heisig is a man that has done something that I think that no one else has . He has come up with a way to remember 2,000 characters with only a minute amount of studying . The book is designed with only the definitions and recognition of the character in mind , with pronunciation and compounds to be taught in his later books . After buying this book , I was a bit suprised to find no japanese pronunciation . I looked at the cover , and noticed that I had read it wrong . Let me tell you all , this is NOT A PRONUNCIATION GUIDE ! ! ! it is only a method of remembering characters . The pronunciation comes with time and instruction . Unless you have the privilege of living in japan , no pronunciation instruction is given . However , his second and third books , which I own , are excellent guides to the pronunciation of the kanji . This book is designed to be bought and learned with the other two books that he wrote . All in all , however , this book has been invaluable to me as a student . I would reccomend it to anyone . Just don't expect a book on the pronunciation .
    • 045 4  This review is from : Remembering the Kanji , Vol . 1 : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters ( Paperback ) WOW ! I have been plodding along , slowly at best , with Japanese , including writing and reading . I am totally SHOCKED at how easy James Heisig makes this . I have already spent a * small fortune * on Japanese references and grammar books , so my desire to get a great self-learning tool has been balanced by a STRONG aversion to spending YET MORE MONEY . Therefore , on the advice of other reviewers of Remembering the Kanji , I downloaded the sample from Reviewing the Kanji at http : / / kanji.koohii.com / In case that was filtered out , that's * kanji dot koohii dot com * . Going through the first 3 lessons , I made flashcards and quizzed myself once on those first 52 kanji ( and the couple of non-kanji radicals thrown in ) . In just one quiz , I only had to peek a couple times to remember the imagination-clues ( kind of like mnemonics , but based more on ideas ) . I could also just cover the kanji , look at the meaning , and write them with almost no sweat . Keep in mind I already know quite a few kanji from my studies , and certainly , as he said we might , those first 15 ( counting from 1 to 10 and another 5 which are extremely well-known and easily remembered ) . The fact that the imagination clues are used to lead you to easily build on previous knowledge as you go along is the KEY ! Getting through the first 3 lessons in a couple hours ( because I * am * writing things down as I go along ) , I will be done with the sample in a couple days , which has 11 lessons . I can easily see why someone using this method can memorize about 2,000 kanji in a few short months ! Others here have criticized the seperation of kanji-memorization from learning the readings , compound words , and grammar . Hogwash ! Learning the kanji either by rote memorization , or even in conjunction with grammar , does NOT work well . Why ? There are too many , and as you build complex sentences and practice communicating real ideas with others ( things you actually WANT to communicate ) , you don't repeat most kanji often enough , and there is no LOGIC to the kanji-learning process ITSELF . Mr . Heisig's method promises to get ONE aspect of Japanese language-learning DONE WELL IN A TIMELY MANNER , which in my opinion will make the others EASIER , since you will not be distracted from your grammar to constantly memorize kanji in an ad-hoc manner or to look them up . You can go back to RTK now and then to review , or use your own flashcards - - but AT A SEPERATE TIME . Let your grammar studies be dedicated to GRAMMAR , in which you will naturally use kanji - - kanji you have learned or are learning in isolated lessons . Think of it this way , it would be like taking 2 classes . A Japanese kanji class and a Japanese grammar class . Even if you take them at the same time , they will use their own SEPERATE METHODS and FOCUSED LESSONS , though they each make doing your homework easier for both classes because they inter-relate . Does that help you understand the benefit of learning kanji in this way ? It seems obvious to me that if you can remember the meaning of a couple thousand kanji merely by looking at them , it will be a GREAT aid to * memorizing vocab * and to * reading * in actual Japanese ! Mr . Heisig says to not mix his method with others , and I think that's a good warning . However , I don't want to lay off the learning I've already started , so I will continue with grammar practice ( that * happens * to introduce kanji ) . But I will focus on the grammar and not care about retaining any kanji in the grammar book beyond the lesson itself . So I can continue to learn grammar in JLPT order , which is as good order as any , considering I am not in a formal classroom and can buy previous JLPT test questions to self-test myself . And as soon as I learn the 2000 + kanji in Remembering the Kanji ( which should be fairly quickly ) , I will NOT have to keep looking up kanji I've forgotten , or which are included in vocab lists ( or sometimes overlooked in vocab lists ) of grammar texts . Yay ! ! ! I am buying this IMMEDIATELY ! ! !
    • 057 4  This review is from : Remembering the Kanji I : A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters Vol . 1 4th Edition ( Japanese Edition ) ( Paperback ) People reviewing this book negatively obviously didn't read the author's introduction very well . This book does NOT claim to be some magical cure that will give you instant Kanji fluency . It's purpose is to give you an incredibly effective way to IDENTIFY nearly all of the modern use Kanji and be able to write them from MEMORY based on their association with a key word that is USUALLY tied to an effective general meaning . It teaches you to SEE Kanji as visual image and not just a random patch of crazy strokes . For those that say knowing the meaning alone means nothing I say : You're just flat out wrong . I honestly can't comprehend how anyone could possibly think that not knowing the general meaning for almost ALL general use Kanji isn't useful . You say you need to learn them in combinations . . . well guess what ? That's exactly what this method helps you do if you have the dedication to complete it . It allows you to go to the next step of learning Kanji in context with incredible ease because you will RECOGNIZE every single Kanji you come across . When you learn the reading of a new combination it will be tied to your mental image of Kanji that you ALREADY KNOW . You won't have rely on brute memory to try and remember a combination . It will now be tied to the imaginative image's that you have learned through Remembering the Kanji . Buy it , now .
    • 058 4  People reviewing this book negatively obviously didn't read the author's introduction very well . This book does NOT claim to be some magical cure that will give you instant Kanji fluency . It's purpose is to give you an incredibly effective way to IDENTIFY nearly all of the modern use Kanji and be able to write them from MEMORY based on their association with a key word that is USUALLY tied to an effective general meaning . It teaches you to SEE Kanji as visual image and not just a random patch of crazy strokes . For those that say knowing the meaning alone means nothing I say : You're just flat out wrong . I honestly can't comprehend how anyone could possibly think that not knowing the general meaning for almost ALL general use Kanji isn't useful . You say you need to learn them in combinations . . . well guess what ? That's exactly what this method helps you do if you have the dedication to complete it . It allows you to go to the next step of learning Kanji in context with incredible ease because you will RECOGNIZE every single Kanji you come across . When you learn the reading of a new combination it will be tied to your mental image of Kanji that you ALREADY KNOW . You won't have rely on brute memory to try and remember a combination . It will now be tied to the imaginative image's that you have learned through Remembering the Kanji . Buy it , now .
    • 062 4  Those people who wrote bad reviews are completely out of their minds . WAKE UP YOU DORKS ! Look at something before you buy it . If you had even opened the book before buying it you would have noticed that there are NO READINGS FOR THE KANJI ! That is the fundamental principle of Heisig's book . That being said , you must take this book as the Kanji Rosetta Stone . I have been studying Japanese for years and am well past the intermediate stage . Oh , by the way , I live in Japan too . Upon my arrival , I already knew several hundred Kanji but frequently forgot how to write them . That is what this book teaches . That's it . If you don't know jack about Kanji and are looking for the that chimera of instant kanji gratification , go elsewhere . If you want to master the writing of over 2000 kanji , this is for you . This book is for people seeking ADVANCED LITERACY in Japanese . This book is not for completely illiterate English teachers living in Japan trying to stumble their way through the menu at their local izakaya . If you are a beginning student I recommend this book . It will definitely help you when you start formally learning Kanji . If you already have an advanced vocabulary and are trying to remember some sort of organization for the knaji you already know , this is for you . If you are trying to hack through the hentai manga you just bought at the train station then this book is going to offer a world of frustration . With patience and perseverance , this book will pay off in the long run better than any other method on the market . And unless you are a total blockhead the readings of the kanji will naturally present themselves .

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