"Let's Learn Kanji!"

[strugglebunny]

Hi all. Hopefully this topic hasn't been done to death, but the forum seems to lack a handy search feature, and the last few pages of post haven't had exactly what I wanted so..

I was just wondering if anyone has used the book "Let's Learn Kanji" to aid them in studying/learning kanji? I bought it because of a recommendation from japanesepage.com. I already have hiragana and katakana down (thanks in part to the "Let's Learn Hiragana/Katakana" books in the series).

Basically what I'm wondering is --

1. Has anyone used this book and what are their thoughts on it?

2. Any good suggestions on studying/memorizing the kanji, radicals, on and kun readings presented in the book? The book kind of just throws like 1,000 radicals right at you in the beginning. I suck at trying to come up with "study" plans on my own, so I was hoping some brighter minds than my own could help with this part.

Any thoughts on this book or general suggestions on learning kanji would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Capt. Struggle Bunny

[strugglebunny]

Oh yeah duh, I found the search...

Well, question still stands if there are any takers!

[Belton]

I have that book, but I can't say I used it to learn kanji.

It is useful for a deeper understanding of how kanji work, but I found I use it more as a reference book.

That said, being able to recognise the components of a kanji is so useful. Both in understanding what it means and remembering how to write it.
I haven't gotten to there yet, but apparently you can even guess at the on reading from the radical sometimes.

Also you need to know radicals in order to use paper dictionaries efficiently. Long ago, before personal computers when I first encountered Chinese, I learnt about radicals so I could use a dictionary.

For me ... writing works; even when trying to learn to read, so I like to write them out.
I also use flash cards. mainly on the computer because it's more convienent. I use kanji whenever I can when writing homework and when writing on a computer. Even if I'm only loking them up and copying them, eventually the ones I use most I start to remember.

Lastly I try to read as much as I can. Which isn't much but I'm slowly getting better. It's a sort of catch 22 situation in that you need a certain amount of knowledge to start moving ahead. Intensive reading (without using a dictionary, guessing at meaning, having furigana if possible) at my level is what works best for me, so I'm learning the kanji in context. It's easier to remember groups of words than lists of single unconected words I think. Before using a dictionary or Rikai.com etc. for reading my email, or Mikki-san's blog etc. I at least attempt to read it once unaided.

These books I find quite useful (excuse the links to my own site but it's easier than re-writing)

http://www.shiawase.co.uk/2007/05/31/ba ... ook-vol-1/

http://www.shiawase.co.uk/2007/06/04/100manjiwoyomitai/

http://www.shiawase.co.uk/2007/08/22/jl ... -examples/

Also I have a kanji drill program for the Nintendo that, while difficult for non-Japanese learners, has been useful for me learning the kanji in the lower grades.

[Javizy]

I have to recommend Heisig's Remembering the Kanji. I have chronic RSI, so I don't have the luxury of writing out characters over and over, yet I've managed to learn the meaning and writing of 40 characters in the past two days, having only written out a few radicals.

It's not just useful, it's essential to know the components of each character to effectively remember them long-term (some of them have over 20 strokes that have to be written in a precise order), and Heisig teaches you all this.

It doesn't teach you readings, however, but it makes sure you're able to write characters from memory, as well as recognise them, which gives you a great base to start adding the readings. Trying to memorise meanings, writings, and readings all at once is just asking for trouble.

If you search the forum, somebody posted a link to a PDF with the first 120 pages, which explains how the method works. Without Heisig, I wouldn't be able to learn to read Japanese, so I really can't recommend it enough.

[nilfisq]

I definitely agree with Javizy. I started to learn kanji in August and I can write approx. 1250 kanji from memory right now (from keyword to kanji). RTK1 teaches you how to memorize the writing (!) of 2045 kanji; volume 2 teaches you the reading, but I am not sure yet if I will use that book for the readings. I know so many kanji already that in each new Jpod lesson I am able to remember the kanji spelling of most new words now, without difficulty.
There is a very useful internet tool to help you through RTK1: http://kanji.koohii.com. It has fleshcards and other (statistic) options and people can share their "stories".
Not everybody likes the Heisig method, but for me it works: a couple of months of hard work but I thinks it's worth it. I learn about 20 or 25 kanji a day.

[Yoshiko]

I study Japanese at university and I use a kanji workbook that covers about the same words as the chapter in the main textbook. For example in lesson 1 we learned '大学'
That way you learn to see the kanji in context. Also, if you say to a japanese 'what was the kanji for 'sha' again?' He/she will probably say: which 'sha'? 'Sha' of 'jidousha'? Of 'kaisha?' etc. etc.

I also have kanji flash cards. (I mean, real ones, not on the internet ) (Tuttle) It's very useful. There's also a Tuttle kanji book some of my fellow students use:
http://books.google.nl/books?id=BCGylyO ... #PPT272,M1