Japanese Learning Books

[jazzbean]

Hello,

I was wondering whether anyone has any Japanese books to recommend as tools for learning the language. At the moment, I want to buy a book that teaches you kanji, but there are so many! I don't know which one to buy. If anyone has some recommendations, I'd be very appreciative.

Thanks!

[sodapple]

you're right there is a lot and many are bad books but if you wanna learn a intermediate level fast and easy see these books, they are great and easy to learn japanese, thereis one to learn kanjis very good too from the same autor, you will be writing and speaking japanese in a few time... also you can buy a good dictionary of grammar like this one it's the best... ganbatte

[Javizy]

Shadowing

I'd recommend getting this book, or at least carefully reading the explanation on the site. This technique will significantly improve your pronunciation, and help your conversations flow, as well as drilling in vocabulary, grammar, and whatever else you choose to use as material. Just try 10 minutes a day with one set of material for a few weeks at a time.


A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar by Seiichi Makino

This is something of a standard reference on Japanese grammar. The information in this text can answer just about every grammar question at this level I've seen asked on this forum. Everytime I see one of these questions, it makes me wonder why every Japanese teacher doesn't recommend it to their students. It has two follow up volumes that you'll also find indispensable. I'd have a hard time getting by without them.


Remembering the Kanji by James W. Heisig

This book is one of the two things you'll need to master kanji faster than you ever thought possible. It teaches you kanji with a structured approach that starts you off mastering simple characters and radicals that feature in more complicated characters, which are a breeze when you get to them. The main idea behind the book is its mnemonic system, though, which works shockingly well.

Read some of the reviews on Amazon for some success stories, but ignore the people who say "it's no good because it doesn't teach you readings", because these people are using techniques that outdate the characters themselves, and missed the point of the book more than McCain on the economy.


Anki

If you've never heard of SRS, it stands for Spaced Recognition System, and is surprisingly simple, yet clinically effective. Basically, you review a Flashcard, and the scheduled time that you will next see that card changes depending on how well you remembered it. This is the best way to test your memory; you'll wonder how you ever learned anything without it.

You can start using it straight away by adding vocabulary you want to memorise, which is what a lot of people use it for. However, it has limitations with words that can't be easily translated, and it's instead much more effective to add sentences containing the word you want to learn in context.

Once you finish Heisig, this method, commonly called sentence mining, becomes the second thing you need to learn kanji faster than you ever thought possible. You start off by pulling out sentences from news articles, websites, example sentences in your grammar dictionary, Jpod lessons, etc, which have kanji and vocabulary that you can't read. Then you add definitions of the words you don't know, and Anki generates the kanji readings, which go on the answer side of the Flashcard. Here's an example from my deck:





There's more information on this page.

[Taurus]

I actually don't think much of the mangaland books.

My own recommendation would be Minna no Nihongo, Heisig, and Anki.

[jkid]

My own recommendation would be Minna no Nihongo, Heisig, and Anki.

I agree

[jazzbean]

Thank you for all your suggestions!

I'll definately look into them.

I've heard of Heisig's book before. But, I was told that it doesn't teach you the pronounciation of the kanji being given (only teaches you the English words for the kanji) - if that's true, does anyone have difficulty finding and linking the kanji with the pronounciations elsewhere?

Thanks again!

[Taurus]

Yeah, Heisig is a little bit controversial - if you search the forum you'll find plenty of discussions about it. But the system assumes that after learning to recognise the kanji, and understand their English keyword, you will then be able to learn the readings just from general usage and as you learn vocabulary. So not everybody will recommend it. But as with anything, the important thing is to find out what works for you - I have found it much more efficient than any other method that I've tried.

[Javizy]

Heisig

- Teaches you how to write 2042 characters from memory (don't underestimate how difficult this is without the book).
- With determined study you can easily accomplish this in 6 months or less.
- Being able to write them, you are able to recognise them.
- With the solid mnemonic system, the important thing is that you don't forget what you've learned.
- You can very easily learn new characters (outside of the 2042) with the system, which will become necessary as you progress.
- Given all this, which is unthinkable with other methods, your source has definitely missed the point of the book entirely if he's mentioning readings.
- That said, the mnemonic system doesn't work for some people, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try it, and it definitely doesn't mean that they have any right to discourage you from doing so.

Sentence Mining

- The best way to learn to read is by seeing characters in context.
- SM builds on this by exposing you only to what you need to know, not what you've mastered already.
- SRS is proven to help you remember things.
- It's shockingly easy: you just read the sentences, and let your memory do the rest.
- To get the most out of it, you need to be able to recognise all the characters ASAP (see Heisig).

Whether you use Heisig or not, sentence mining is an extremely powerful tool for this kind of writing system. Like I said, people who mention "no readings" and Heisig in the same sentence are the last people you want to ask for advice.

I'd strongly recommend giving the book a try: what have you got to lose? You can even find a 100 page sample online somewhere. Anki also comes with a premade Heisig deck, which means you can couple the power of SRS with the Heisig mnemonic system. If it doesn't work for you, at least you but yourself in a position to learn to read as quickly as possible.

[rpgherogaz]

To learn from a book it needs to be fun and intersting as well as very informative.

I personally have the Genki Books which are aimed at elementary level, however they come with audio also, which is a great help.

I have also invested in the "Japanese From Zero" Books, which are very intersting and teach you with relevant examples, rather than vocab your not likely to use.

The downside with the Yesjapan.com Japanese From Zero books, is that they contain many silly mistakes, which leave you with a tiny ehadache after a while. So i usually have a dictionary or use the genki books to cross reference.

www.timwerx.net is a great site that has taught me alot also! He has published a book which contains the same content, but in more detaill!


Hope i helped!

[dakoina]

Although flashcards aren't books, it's a nice way to start learning some things. Especially those kana flashcards that I bought. I read the Heisig kana book partially too, but for the Kana I found it easier using the flash cards.

Anyway, now I just started the heisig kanji method (starting book 1). Already recognizing some kanji is really fun, especially if you can demonstrate it too other people

I also ordered the basic grammar as said above.

[shimizuhinata]

I would recommend the Genki series -- makes it VERY easy to learn the kanji systematically! There are two books, whereas the second one is at a more intermediate level. The Japan Times is the publisher. Genki also includes vocab, grammar, and basically everything you need to know when starting to learn (and continue learning) Japanese. The next level would be another book by The Japan Times called An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese (has A LOT of Kanji). Good luck!