Jacob
Junior Member
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Post by Jacob on Oct 18, 2013 12:21:34 GMT
What is the best kanji book?
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Post by Bokusenou on Oct 19, 2013 2:58:27 GMT
What is the best kanji book? For me it was Remembering the Kanji, but others may recommend other books. RTK doesn't teach any readings/words, but it makes learning words easier afterwards. Pretty much it gives you an English word along with a mnemonic for the kanji (http://kanji.koohii.com has user created ones, which also helped a lot). If you have ever seen a Chinese person learn kanji, you know it's easier for them since they know what the kanji mean in Chinese. RTK does something like that for English, and I owe most of my literacy in Japanese (which means reading novels, passing N2, etc) to RTK for getting me over the kanji hump. Other people may like other books though, so always look around and try a lot of books before committing to one.
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Jacob
Junior Member
練習して、がんばりますね!
Posts: 95
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Post by Jacob on Oct 20, 2013 1:33:27 GMT
Thanks I might be able to try an online sample
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Post by Jembru on Oct 21, 2013 15:59:44 GMT
I'm on the fence about Remembering the Kanji. There are things I really like about the book; basically the memorisation style, but I actually prefer mnemonics that I create myself. The book helps me come up with ideas when I am stuck, but I prefer not to actively study from it. I tried to start a thread on the old forum for sharing our own mnemonics, as I thought it might inspire others to develop good study methods, but it didn't really take off. I'd be willing to start again, although I can't share all of mine as many are rude or based on bad language (it's not that I am like that, it's just that according to some research I've read, this makes for the most memorable mnemonics, along with using things from your hobbies and interests or the people and places around you.. which is also why RTK will never be as good as using self-created mnemonics, in my opinion ^^).
Okay so my favourite kanji book is 'Essential Kanji by R.G. O'Neill' This is more a reference style book, although you can study from it too and it tells you how to make cards that you can place over the panels to test yourself. The reasons this beats RTK for me are;
-It's basically a mini kanji dictionary (just 2,000 characters) as it lets you look up kanji by both stroke count and reading (both kun and on are listed). This means if I can say a word but can't remember how it is written, I can still look it up.. -It orders the kanji in accordance to how frequently they are used in everyday writing (RTK teaches a lot of kanji you'll rarely if ever encounter, right near the beginning). -It gives you the readings, the English meaning AND even a mnemonic although they're a little more technical. -It gives you example compounds ONLY using kanji already encountered. So for example, the first page teaches numbers 1-3(一、二、三), then 人'hito' so for the example compounds in that panel it uses 二人(futari) and 三人(sannin). It then builds up, so the compounds get more and more advanced, and you will encounter 人 again, with it's other reading too (jin), but only ever using kanji you already encountered and always in roughly the order of likelihood you'd see those kanji when reading forum posts, or other writing that tends to us more 'everyday' language.
It may only contain 2,000 kanji, but it's pretty rare I come across anything I can't find in that book. Only when people a bit new to writing don't know which words are generally not written in kanji, so just keep choosing the kanji when typing because jisho.org or rikaichan recognise them. Otherwise, my trusty book never fails me! ^^
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Jacob
Junior Member
練習して、がんばりますね!
Posts: 95
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Post by Jacob on Oct 21, 2013 16:08:10 GMT
Ok I might try it if I can also, when it comes to kanji I am the laziest
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Post by Jembru on Oct 21, 2013 17:01:26 GMT
Me too, so don't worry about it! I always say that when it comes to a complex language like Japanese, you need to have a goal in mind, otherwise you end up wasting a lot of time learning things that aren't so important. For me, being able to converse in Japanese is far, far more important to me than being able to read, so most of my reading ability was gained passively by reading and typing in the language (although I have sat down and deliberately studied kanji for maybe 20 hours over the entire time I have been studying Japanese, not including reading chibimaruko, everything else has simply been picked up as I went along, looking things up and just seeing them all the time).
Some people love kanji, others need kanji because they want to pass an exam or be able to read their favourite manga... others want to be able to live and work in Japan, using the language as their primary language. For me though, well... I just want to be able to sit around a table and have a good old-fashioned chin-wag in a beautiful language.. so I am better off spending my time practicing speaking and listening to Japanese conversations, than I am drilling kanji.
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Post by Jembru on Oct 21, 2013 17:07:27 GMT
Oh Midori.. I haven't checked that youtube channel but I have subcribed for later. My internet connection is being rotten tonight.. logging me off every 3 minutes or so, so I give up. Most of my studying is virtually monolingual these days because of the podcasts (although they always have some English, much of the breakdown of vocabulary is done in Japanese), so I think I prefer that style of learning. Thanks for the link!!
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Jacob
Junior Member
練習して、がんばりますね!
Posts: 95
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Post by Jacob on Oct 21, 2013 18:15:01 GMT
That tip really helped, making me set a goal... I want to become proficient in grammar and vocab speaking wise thanks!
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Post by MidoriAbby on Oct 21, 2013 22:53:29 GMT
JacobIf you are lazy about kanji, the best thing is the kanji de manga series, which has 6 books. I'm on book three. It's really fun, it teaches a kanji on each page and gives example vocab, space to practice, and a manga strip using it.
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Post by Bokusenou on Oct 22, 2013 1:11:49 GMT
Thanks I might be able to try an online sample There's a 120 page sampleThat should be more than enough to see whether it's right for you or not. I'm on the fence about Remembering the Kanji. There are things I really like about the book; basically the memorisation style, but I actually prefer mnemonics that I create myself. The book helps me come up with ideas when I am stuck, but I prefer not to actively study from it. I tried to start a thread on the old forum for sharing our own mnemonics, as I thought it might inspire others to develop good study methods, but it didn't really take off. I'd be willing to start again, although I can't share all of mine as many are rude or based on bad language (it's not that I am like that, it's just that according to some research I've read, this makes for the most memorable mnemonics, along with using things from your hobbies and interests or the people and places around you.. which is also why RTK will never be as good as using self-created mnemonics, in my opinion ^^). I feel the same way. The book stops giving mnemonics after the first part, and I made my own or used the ones other people posted in the Reviewing the Kanji web app for the most part. I admit I needed a push to get started at the very beginning, so the ones in the book helped me then. I think the ones the book gives are more of a way to get you started than a "You must use my mnemonics!" type thing.
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Jacob
Junior Member
練習して、がんばりますね!
Posts: 95
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Post by Jacob on Oct 22, 2013 1:15:57 GMT
OMG thanks Rin... wait rin from naruto? is that where you got it? Bokusenou
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Jacob
Junior Member
練習して、がんばりますね!
Posts: 95
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Post by Jacob on Oct 22, 2013 1:17:35 GMT
And if you don't mind me asking, how old are you... I just like to set proficiency age goals for Japanese (because you, from what I heard you are the best!)
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Post by Bokusenou on Oct 22, 2013 1:23:07 GMT
OMG thanks Rin... wait rin from naruto? is that where you got it? BokusenouNope, sorry I've never seen Naruto. ^^; I was really getting into Inuyasha when I started using the internet regularly. "Rin" and "Bokusenou" are both from it. I liked "Rin" because it was short and had a nice ring to it, and after that it kind of stuck. XD
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Jacob
Junior Member
練習して、がんばりますね!
Posts: 95
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Post by Jacob on Oct 22, 2013 1:25:46 GMT
Oh, that's cool I've never seen Inuyasha before! Maybe I'll look for it!
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Jacob
Junior Member
練習して、がんばりますね!
Posts: 95
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Post by Jacob on Oct 22, 2013 1:28:40 GMT
JacobIf you are lazy about kanji, the best thing is the kanji de manga series, which has 6 books. I'm on book three. It's really fun, it teaches a kanji on each page and gives example vocab, space to practice, and a manga strip using it. Ok I have it for my ipad so I will try it. By the end of 2014 it is my new years resolution to learn 1500 kanji!!! So I guess Ill start training soon...
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