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A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters

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A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters Cover

ISBN13: 9780804820387
ISBN10: 0804820384
Condition: Standard
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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A one-of-a-kind kanji study guide that introduces joyo kanji along with detailed, authentic notes about the historical development of each. As useful as it is fascinating, it's a book any new or aspiring scholar of Japanese will visit over and over.

In clear, large-sized entires, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters details each of the General Use Characters In clear, large-sized entires, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters details each of the General Use Characters—the 1,945 characters prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education for everyday use. Both Japanese readings and English meanings are given, along with stroke-count and stroke-order, examples of usage, and suggestions for memorizing. The components of each character are detailed. The kanji are graded according to Ministry of Education guidelines, allowing the student to prioritize them and track progress.

Comprehensive and clear, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters makes Japanese writing accessible to everyone.

Synopsis:

Master mnemonic aids for all 1,945 joyo kanji.

Synopsis:

A one-of-a-kind kanji study guide that introduces joyo kanji along with detailed, authentic notes about the historical development of each. As useful as it is fascinating, it's a book any new or aspiring scholar of Japanese will visit over and over.

In clear, large-sized entires, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters details each of the General Use Characters In clear, large-sized entires, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters details each of the General Use Characters—the 1,945 characters prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education for everyday use. Both Japanese readings and English meanings are given, along with stroke-count and stroke-order, examples of usage, and suggestions for memorizing. The components of each character are detailed. The kanji are graded according to Ministry of Education guidelines, allowing the student to prioritize them and track progress.

Comprehensive and clear, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters makes Japanese writing accessible to everyone.

Synopsis:

A Guide To Remembering Japanese Characters is the first book in English to explain systematically and in detail the true origin of each of the General Use Characters.
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About the Author

Kenneth G. Henshall is a graduate of the universities of London (B.A.), Sydney (Ph.D.), and Adelaide (Dip. Ed.), and is now a senior lecturer in Japanese at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He has also taught at the universities of Auckland, Western Australia, and California. Professor Henshall is well known for his translations of Japanese literature and is the author of A Guide to Learning Hiragana and Katakan.

Tetsuo Takagaki is a graduate of the universities of Wakayama (B.A.) and San Francisco State (M.A.), and is now a senior lecturer in Japanese at the University of Auckland. He has also taught at the universities of Hawaii and Maryland, and at Tsuda College in Tokyo. He is the author of a number of publications on Japanese language and linguistics.

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What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Tony Horowitz, December 8, 2009 (view all comments by Tony Horowitz)
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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Product Details

ISBN:
9780804820387
Author:
Henshall, Kenneth G.
Publisher:
Tuttle Publishing
Author:
Henshall, Kenneth G.
Location:
Rutland, Vt.
Subject:
General
Subject:
Japanese
Subject:
Writing
Subject:
Japanese language
Subject:
Chinese language
Subject:
Chinese characters
Subject:
General Foreign Language Study
Subject:
Chinese language -- Etymology.
Subject:
Foreign Languages-Japanese
Copyright:
1998
Edition Number:
1st ed.
Edition Description:
Paperback
Series:
No Series
Series Volume:
vol. 3
Publication Date:
19950131
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
704
Dimensions:
9 x 6 in 32 oz
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Related Subjects


Reference » Science Reference » Philosophy of Science
Young Adult » General

A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters Used Trade Paper
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$16.50 In Stock
Product details 704 pages Charles E. Tuttle Co. - Japanese 9780804820387 Reviews:
"Synopsis" by ,
Master mnemonic aids for all 1,945 joyo kanji.
"Synopsis" by , A one-of-a-kind kanji study guide that introduces joyo kanji along with detailed, authentic notes about the historical development of each. As useful as it is fascinating, it's a book any new or aspiring scholar of Japanese will visit over and over.

In clear, large-sized entires, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters details each of the General Use Characters In clear, large-sized entires, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters details each of the General Use Characters—the 1,945 characters prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education for everyday use. Both Japanese readings and English meanings are given, along with stroke-count and stroke-order, examples of usage, and suggestions for memorizing. The components of each character are detailed. The kanji are graded according to Ministry of Education guidelines, allowing the student to prioritize them and track progress.

Comprehensive and clear, A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters makes Japanese writing accessible to everyone.

"Synopsis" by , A Guide To Remembering Japanese Characters is the first book in English to explain systematically and in detail the true origin of each of the General Use Characters.
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