Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51133 in Books
• Published on: 1991-04-01
• Original language: Japanese
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

Customer Reviews

A structured approach
This is not a flashy book. On the other hand, flash is not needed to learn kanji. Learning kanji is what you should buy it for, and it will deliver.

Prerequisits for using this book is a firm grasp och hiragana and katakana. Without it, the going will be much to slow to be enjoyable. Further, a certain control of the language itself is needed, as the reading exercises, while simple, contain many common words not explained in the book itself.

The book is devided into 22 chapters (or lessons if you will), each teaching 10-13 kanji. 249 kanji is presented in these chapters, each with all Kun- and On-readings, complete stroke order and example words wherein they are components.

Each chapter begins with a short piece on some kanji related subject, such as radicals, readings, history and other things on interest. After that comes a section containing the kanji list with associated information. The third section is a reading drill with the newly learned kanji, the fourth contains writing exercises, and the fifth is a reading and understanding exercise with control questions. Some chapters also contain a sixth part, containing things like games, and other extracurricular activities.

The main attraction with this book is the structured approach it takes in presenting the kanji. Each chapter has a certain "theme" to the characters in it, and the exercises are cleverly designed to constantly let you repeat the chatacters learned in earlier chapters. In this the book really shines - I have yet to see another book that is as consequent in both character choice and in making use of already known kanji.

The only reason I do not give a five star rating to this book is because it lacks somewhat in etymology. Had the raicals been explained and the way each character was derived elaborated upon, this would have been a truely beautiful aid in learning. As it stands, it is merely very, very good.

The best way to start learning kanji properly!
If you are looking at this book thinking it looks a bit simple, and are being swayed by the promise of Heisig's method teaching you 2000 kanji in weeks I urge you to read this review.

When I started Japanese a few years back. I was swayed by Heisig, I bought his book. I got a bit of a way in, all well and good. But what was I actually learning? It is a common misconception that you must associate a meaning to each kanji, this is all that Heisig's first book does. This is completely the wrong thing to do. For many kanji, on there own they don't really mean anything. Combined with kana or other kanji, you get meanings. What is truely important about a kanji is it's readings. After learning some compounds and uses of a kanji you will quickly build up a sort of meaning to a kanji, but you won't be afraid of it in a new compound either. It is so very important that you see a kanji in context! Learn it in context!

This is where Basic Kanji Book series comes in so well. The book is split into chapters, each chapter starts by listing the new kanji, how it was formed, all readings and a few compounds. The rest of the chapter is filled up with exercises to practice the kanji in that chapter and ones in lessons before.

Now I am not saying simply using this book will make you learn 2000 kanji (the rather unimportant number that Heisig people like to talk about) in 10 weeks. For starters this book only covers 251 kanji, but trust me that is plenty enough. Whether you will learn many kanji quickly will depend entirely on the effort you put in, whatever the method. Personally I learnt the kanji from the book and then as well as using the book's exercises, I tried to use them in actual sentences as much as possible. For reviewing them, I added them and the compounds to a free flashcard program called Anki (highly recommended for vocabulary as well). I made flashcards for kanji with one side the kanji the other the readings as well as flashcards for compounds with meanings.

You won't find too many people that have become really proficient at kanji using Heisig's method, even book 2 of his series only associates one reading to a kanji as far as I understand. So do yourself a favour, forget about quick fixes that won't work. If you want to learn kanji then you need not look elsewhere.

A No-Nonsense Dive Into Japanese Characters
The first volume of Basic Kanji Book Vol. II is a publication stripped to the essentials, which learning the ill-reputed Chinese characters, that have found their way into Japanese, is all about. It tails its user into crude repetition, aids your ability to remember the shapes by association through illustrations, and at the end of the chapters induces you to exercises that test you on the Kanji you've recently learnt. The book includes as little English as is necessary, which is commendable. The lazy non-Japanese reading eye easily travels over to characters you're familiar with. The verdict is appropriate since the book adequately fulfils its function, but does not do it in an explicitly encouraging or enlightening way. More pictures and a more childish lay-out would provide beginners of Japanese a friendlier milieu to work in, and, subsequently, make the tedious task of learning Kanji seem decisively easier.