Reading Japanese (Yale Language Series) [Hardcover]

Professor Eleanor Harz Jorden (Author), Hamako Ito Chaplin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Japanese

Product Details

• Hardcover: 613 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 10, 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300019122
• ISBN-13: 978-0300019124
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,577,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honestly, the best book for learning kanji., September 8, 2002

By 

Manuel Martín Fernández - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reading Japanese (Yale Language Series) (Paperback)

In common with other reviewers ot this book, I have a great collection of books for learning Japanese, and this is simply the best for learning (reading, writing, and remembering) Kanji.

Of course, it was of great help that I had already a previous knowledge of the language (vocabulary, grammar, hiragana, katakana, etc.), so I just could focus in learning kanji.

The advantages of this book are: 1) there is a constant repetition of the kanji already learned and 2) what is much more important: only kanji that have been dealt with are used in the examples and the reading material (and this feature, believe me, is unique to this book and makes it stand above the rest of the books for learning kanji, where the example sentences use kanji that you do not know how to read or their meaning, rendering these books unusable for the proposed task).

So, if you want to avoid for yourself the suffering that others (including myself) have gone through, buy this book and forget about the rest.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely the best book for beginning kanji, June 28, 2001

By 

Michael Callaghan (Jersey City, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Reading Japanese (Yale Language Series) (Paperback)

Although there are plenty of mnemonic systems to learn kanji, such as Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji" and Rowley's excellent "Kanji Pict-o-grafix", this is by far the best way to RETAIN the characters, and to actually read - instead of visually decode them. The examples following each kanji are numerous and include varying levels of formality, and are mixed male and female responses. This makes for excellent cross-study, and further reinforces the varietous ways in which kanji are used in Japanese writing. I would suggest the Heisig or Rowley to supplement this book, as both of those two employ a system which breaks down kanji into its 'radicals', which is very useful for trying to visually decipher new characters, but for sheer drills and practice, this is the only way to go. I am on my second copy of this text, as the first one was totally worn out, which by itself makes quite a strong statement - that didn't even happen to my school-assigned Japanese textbooks!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best $30 spent on a Japanese text yet, February 27, 2002

By 

"[e-mail]" (Durham, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reading Japanese (Yale Language Series) (Paperback)

Of all the Kanji related books I've purchased over the last four years since I began studying Japanese, this book is without question the single, most useful reference I've come across. The Kanji are presented one at a time, with its reading and its meaning, and then example phrases and sentences are given. Most importantly, these Kanji resurface over and over again as you progress through the book, making you learn through repetition. If you're looking for a firm foothold on the slippery slope of learning Kanji, start with this book.