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54 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
So close to perfect!!, February 20, 2003
This review is from: Remembering the Kana: The Hiragana / The Katakana (Paperback)
But obviously close enough to warrant a "perfect" rating. While I could easily chime in with the other 5-stars, let me tell you what this book lacks. During the Hiragana, not much time is spent on the plosive and voiced mark. You'll probably figure them out mid-way through the Katakana section, but still, he could have put more effort into explaining them, even just in an appendix. Also, while he gives you a great device to help you understand the order words appear in a Japanese dictionary, he doesn't explain it all that well. You'll need to fumble around a little in a Japanese dictionary to figure it out. Also, for some reason, in the katakana section, he occassionally assumes you know some basic kanji. Why this would be the case when most readers have just finished hiragana, I don't know. But you can get through it all right anyway, trust me. I don't know any kanji, and I'm doing all right (katakana seems easier than hiragana, actually). And finally, and most importantly, NOTHING is said about dipthongs. What are dipthongs? Well, I myself haven't quite figured it out yet, although I'm on the right track (a small "ya" written to the right and down of "chi," for instance, makes it into "cha"--confusing, right?). Anyway, how hard would it have been to have a little apendix on that? It really warrants a lesson in and of itself, but all he says is something like "all you've got left to learn are dipthongs, which you'll find in the introductory pages of any Japanese grammar book". Um, like which grammar book? I bought this one to teach me. Anyway, these quibbles can't outweigh my love and enthusiasm for this book. I really works, I SWEAR to you. I can read hiragana, and I've had the book for a week! 30 minutes a day and a little more practice is all it takes. If you have the dedication, this book will help you do it, no doubt about it. Once you're done here, just move on to Heisig's excellent series of "Remembering the Kanji" (Vol-1 is basic Kanji, Vol-2 is pronounciation of those kanji, more kanji, and some grammar, Vol-3 is advanced stuff). This track is definitely the wisest choice, as it will prepare you well, and you could easily be fluent in under a year if you work at it every day with him. If you just want a jump-start into the language after learning hiragana/katakana (but PLEASE learn that first), then try Japanese for Busy People (Kana Version). But Heisig's route really is best, as unorthodox as it might seem at first. To sum up: get this book. And avoid romanji, in all its forms, at ALL COSTS. It will only hinder you if you truly want fluency in reading/writing and speaking Japanese.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learn the Kana easily and quickly with this book!, August 13, 2004
This review is from: Remembering the Kana: The Hiragana / The Katakana (Paperback)
When I picked this book up I was somewhat worried about learning the kana. My brother, a fluent speaker of Japanese since childhood, had informed me that there is a lot more than just the basic kana to learn. While there are "only" 46 kana, this merely refers to the basic sounds available in Japanese. This does not include the variations (25) and combinations (33 in both kana plus an additional 19 in katakana to help with foreign sounds and onomatopoeia). Considering only ONE kana is the same in both sets (he - looking like and pronounced like a stack of hay), you are looking at 225+ symbols and combinations to remember. This presents a much more daunting task.
This book makes use of a learning method that would really only work to someone who is already a fluent speaker of English, and someone who can learn using a mnemonic method. This book might not be for everyone, but out of all my friends that I have suggested this book to, only 1 (out of probably 8 or 9 people) has had trouble using this method. It uses association to things which we, as native English speakers, will find familiar. In the example above, "he" (a stack of hay), helps both with remembering how to draw and say it. Granted, some of the mnemonics are very silly, but I found this helped me remember them and caused them to stick out in my mind. The katakana section relies a little less on mnemonics, for in many cases it is easier to associate the katakana symbol to its hiragana counterpart instead of to a new mnemonic.
The previous edition of this book (same ISBN, but the first edition of the combined books) barely touched on the combinations/diphthongs, and made learning those a separate affair. However, the new 2nd Edition (printed December 2003) does, and not only explains them, but has a chart with all of the examples and pronunciations. Now, with one book, you can learn to draw, read, and pronounce (including combinations/diphthongs) both sets of kana!
From start to finish, the book says it can teach you the kana in 3 hours for each syllabary. For me, this was true. For my own benefit and for fluency, I sit down and write them all out once a day as well and now I can read hiragana and katakana nearly as easily as I can with English. However, after the first couple days of doing that, I can already see that the repetition is unnecessary. You'll find that after the initial learning, and with some practice, the mnemonics will fade, and you'll just know the symbol, and will have saved you countless hours of boring repetition. This will also help you avoid Romaji as you learn to speak Japanese, because you will have a kana symbol to associate with sounds instead of thinking it up in English/Romaji. To sum up, buy this book!
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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Book to Use Your Way, May 5, 2003
This review is from: Remembering the Kana: The Hiragana / The Katakana (Paperback)
James W. Heisig swears, in the two slim volumes that make up this combined book, to be able to teach you to use the two main Japanese syllabaries in three hours each. And I bet he could do it, too. But don't try to learn them quickly, try instead to learn them well. Each syllabary is broken down into six half-hour lessons. The symbols themselves are arranged in what Heisig believes to be the best order for learning, as opposed to the order in which they're arranged in dictionaries. Some people will disparage this system because it's not the way Japanese schoolchildren are introduced to their writing system. However, Japanese schoolchildren are introduced to these writing systems at a much younger and more impressionable age than you probably were, so you need to do what will teach you the language, not what taught them. The mnemonic devices used in this book aren't always terribly helpful; some are a hindrance. Which bits will help which people and which will harm will depend on you, so enter this book willing to disregard the elements that don't aid you personally. A good judgment and some knowledge of how you personally learn will serve you as you struggle to get through the process. My Japanese friends admit that their written language is very complex, and unless you learn at a very early age, you'll always have difficulty. However, it's definitely a worthwhile language, and a worthwhile writing system, to study if you desire to be a worldly person. This book provides an outline to learning if you know how to use it, and if you don't just mindlessly follow your teacher's instructions.
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