Resources for the total noob?

[Nakor]

Hello,

As pretty much an absolute beginner (something which I imagine I will still call myself in a year or two), what book (or two) should I buy to teach me Kanji? I like rules, by which I mean I like to be explained the rules of how a language works so I can for the most part figure out the rest for myself (with a little help along the way.) I'm not sure if this is possibe with Kanji as I have no idea how Kanji works, but if it is I would like you to keep that in mind when you suggest a resource (book) for me to obtain. Also, will I need a seperate book for the Kana's as well?

Also, I am using the podcasts from this site and Rossetta Stone to develop listening and speaking skills. In addition to this what is recommended? Should I just watch my Miyazaki DVD's over and over again until I finally understand what is being said but I hate the movies so much (from too much viewing) that I want to punch myself in the face? I have 7 seasons of Ranma 1/2 that I can watch but they talk so fast lol. Any suggestions for something I can easily obtain, but is maybe more easily understandable to a beginner? I tried getting some copies of the Japanese Sesame Street but I am having trouble finding it.

Most important to me though is finding a great resource to teach me how to read Japanese Kanji. This site has flash cards and limited definitions, but no in depth explanations as to usage or how and why the character is formed (not a complaint.)

Anyway, thank you for any help you may be able to provide

どうぞよろしく。

(By the way, I am an obsessive reader/learner so if the book is bigger than my head, that's totally ok.)

[Outkast]

What I'm about to suggest is actually a kanji dictionary, but it might serve well for your purposes...

Kanji & Kana by Wolfgang Hadamitzky and Mark Spahn, published by Tuttle Library, is gold. First, it has the 1,945 Jōyō Kanji and also the 284 Jinmei-yō Kanji (used for people's names.) These are presented large enough to realistically follow stroke order, and each gives a variety of examples of words that use that kanji.

Second, the kana alphabets are also included, along with their stroke orders. A couple of pages are devoted to orthography explanations (why it's "douzo" for "dōzo" and "ookii" for "ōkii", when they're both essentially the same kind of long "o".)

Third, for the kanji, several sections are devoted to teaching radicals so that you can figure out what the pieces of a kanji mean, even if you don't recognize the whole thing, and amazingly enough, it has an additional index in the back for looking up kanji by a radical piece, by the amount of strokes, or by the standard pronunciation.

A nice bonus is that writing itself is also explained (punctuation, etc.)


This book would probably make a great tool for both getting you started with kanji and kana, and also stay with you as you later draw close to learning the last of your 2,000 kanji. I've been using mine for years, and if I could only have one book for Japanese, it would be this. There are plenty of grammar books out there, and you can make your own flashcards. But this will help you to learn how to read (and learn a crap-load of vocabulary via the kanji examples too.)

[Nakor]

That's a fantastic answer, thank you very much. It's kind of a dictionary that goes above and beyond a normal dictionary, if I am understanding you correctly. Sounds good and I will definately look into getting a copy.

Thanks

[Outkast]

Have fun with it! I totally suggest it.

[Nakor]

I just wanted to say I've had this book for a couple of weeks now and it's a really great book. Thanks for the help