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This book introduces the 2000 or so jouyou (general use) kanji ordered by grade level (the grades in which they are taught to Japanese students). For each kanji there are readings (onyomi and kunyomi), words cotaining the kanji illustrating the various readings, the general range of meanings of the kanji, and the number of strokes. Most kanji reference books have all of this information.
What sets this book apart are the discussions of the history of each kanji; how the various pieces of it were put together, and the origin of each piece, which is known from earlier forms of the kanji. Kanji sometimes get their meanings from the meanings of their parts, but quite often, a part with unrelated meaning was included mainly for its sound value; that is, a kanji was borrowed from another word with a similar sound. (This usually happened early in the history of the kanji as characters used in Chinese, or hanzi.) The historical discussions are brief, but quite illuminating. There are some surprises here-- long-accepted stories, such as 東, meaning "east," being a picture of the rising sun seen through the branches of a tree, are shown to be historically false.
Out of the meanings of the individual parts, Henshall crafts a mnemonic phrase for each kanji. The idea is that by associating the phrase with the kanji, one both remembers what the kanji means when reading it, and what pieces to write when writing it. I have to confess that these mnemonics don't work very well for me, but many people say they are invaluable.
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(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
There are several good texts available now which use the functional approach; this is the one I have liked best so far.
It is a demanding text-- there is a lot of information packed into each lesson-- but it is well explained, and the exercises are quite helpful. The sound files are also very helpful, but they are expensive.
Like most texts of this sort, each lesson starts with a couple of dialogues. These are written in fairly natural Japanese-- not the extremely simplified sort of conversations you find in a text like Japanese for Busy People. The remainder of each lesson describes grammar in terms of what one is trying to accomplish with what one is saying (that is, functionally); for example, how one makes a polite request or suggestion, how one expresses a preference, etc. There are also some cultural notes.
The lessons start with both roomaji (Roman letters) and kana, but quickly switch to kana only (although roomaji transcriptions are given for reference). Kanji are introduced gradually, with furigana (small kana indicating the pronunciations) the first few times they appear. This seems to me a balanced approach to leading the user towards the ability to read written Japanese.
On the whole, I have found this to be an excellent learning resource.
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Tony Horowitz has commented on (2) products.
A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters by Kenneth G Henshall
Tony Horowitz, December 8, 2009
This book introduces the 2000 or so jouyou (general use) kanji ordered by grade level (the grades in which they are taught to Japanese students). For each kanji there are readings (onyomi and kunyomi), words cotaining the kanji illustrating the various readings, the general range of meanings of the kanji, and the number of strokes. Most kanji reference books have all of this information.What sets this book apart are the discussions of the history of each kanji; how the various pieces of it were put together, and the origin of each piece, which is known from earlier forms of the kanji. Kanji sometimes get their meanings from the meanings of their parts, but quite often, a part with unrelated meaning was included mainly for its sound value; that is, a kanji was borrowed from another word with a similar sound. (This usually happened early in the history of the kanji as characters used in Chinese, or hanzi.) The historical discussions are brief, but quite illuminating. There are some surprises here-- long-accepted stories, such as 東, meaning "east," being a picture of the rising sun seen through the branches of a tree, are shown to be historically false.
Out of the meanings of the individual parts, Henshall crafts a mnemonic phrase for each kanji. The idea is that by associating the phrase with the kanji, one both remembers what the kanji means when reading it, and what pieces to write when writing it. I have to confess that these mnemonics don't work very well for me, but many people say they are invaluable.
(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Japanese for Everyone: A Functional Approach to Daily Communications by Gakken
Tony Horowitz, January 13, 2009
There are several good texts available now which use the functional approach; this is the one I have liked best so far.It is a demanding text-- there is a lot of information packed into each lesson-- but it is well explained, and the exercises are quite helpful. The sound files are also very helpful, but they are expensive.
Like most texts of this sort, each lesson starts with a couple of dialogues. These are written in fairly natural Japanese-- not the extremely simplified sort of conversations you find in a text like Japanese for Busy People. The remainder of each lesson describes grammar in terms of what one is trying to accomplish with what one is saying (that is, functionally); for example, how one makes a polite request or suggestion, how one expresses a preference, etc. There are also some cultural notes.
The lessons start with both roomaji (Roman letters) and kana, but quickly switch to kana only (although roomaji transcriptions are given for reference). Kanji are introduced gradually, with furigana (small kana indicating the pronunciations) the first few times they appear. This seems to me a balanced approach to leading the user towards the ability to read written Japanese.
On the whole, I have found this to be an excellent learning resource.