Customer Reviews

Remembering the Kanji I: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters Vol. 1 4th Edition (Japanese Edition)

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm 18 years old, and I've graduated slightly earlier due to homeschooling. This evening I finished this book, the first in a series of three books designed to make me literate in the 2,000+ symbols used everyday in Japanese society. After seeing the results of the first book, I truly feel that I am on my way to Japanese literacy.

If you've read one of the many reviews, you probably understand that this book doesn't teach you a single pronunciation of a Japanese character, but rather you tag an English keyword on to all of the Japanese symbols treated in this book, leaving the pronunciation for later.

Why do this? If you aren't noticing quick results in your Japanese abilities, what's the point in learning it? It's true that every single word I've learned will be of no immediate benefit to me if I try to pick up a Japanese newspaper, article, etc. and try to read it. Many have the misconception that in order to "master" the Japanese written language, one must study and "master" the characters individually, and over a period of time, accumulate lots of characters in one's lexicon, therefore allowing the student to read lots of stuff (Makes sense, right?). But our minds don't think like that. (Assuming everybody reading this review is a native to a Roman character based alphabet, or something pretty close to this) We are not used to recognizing little squiggly lines, let alone understanding a concept and multiple pronunciations simply by looking at them. Yet each and every Japanese textbook you'll find on the market supports the idea of mastering each character individually, a method that might seem to be the ONLY method to bring immediate benefits, but requires lots of work and constant drilling of a character. This method is deemed (By the author) to be ineffective and a waste of time.

So what does this book do for our situation? Rather than assuming that we can make the connection between a jumble of lines and the meaning of a character (Which every text book somehow assumes we can do), the kanji are broken down into smaller fragments, and each are tagged with a word that represents an idea, concept, thing, etc., that we are familiar with, such as a hill, the sun, or a baseball bat. Adding these various building blocks together, you form new concepts, and in turn, new characters. True, most these "building blocks" probably don't have a relationship whatsoever with any sort of root meaning, but this isn't the point. The point is to take something you aren't familiar with (Lots of lines), and to make them familiar to you (An image, a picture in your mind). Using these familiar images, you guide yourself from the tagged English word to the Kanji (Or the other way around). No, you will not be able to pronounce any of them when you're finished with this book. But you will be able to identify and tell the difference between even the smallest of nuances. You will look at kanji in a completely different way.

I can't speak for others, but progressing through this course to it's completion was perhaps one of the toughest tests of self-discipline and concentration that I've done in my life. You don't simply "hop along for the ride" to understanding kanji. You will tread through this sea of characters until you've used up every bit of strength your imagination can muster. The only people I've talked to in real life (Not via e-mail) that have attempted this course have either not yet completed it, or have given up with it altogether. This isn't a "learn Japanese kanji in 4 minutes a day" sort-of course. This is a massive undertaking, and must be treated as such, lest the student fizzle out, like so many seem to have done. This is not a book for someone that wants to "get their feet wet" in the sea of kanji. Rather, it is for the serious student, one that is willing to make a commitment (And a big one, at that) towards literacy in Japanese. If this isn't your goal, then I suggest you find another book.

Before you stands a course that requires great stamina, determination and willpower to accomplish. The benefits might not sound like much, but by the time you've finished this course, you'll be on a new plateau of kanji understanding, one that can lead you to literacy. If you "Google" the words "James Heisig Kanji," you'll be able to find a "demo" of the first couple hundred kanji covered in the book. Give it a try. And depending on how much you're willing to work at it, you've either found for yourself a precious gem or another useless rock.

PROS
· The method Heisig uses, creating and memorizing a cute little story involving the parts of a Kanji, is probably the most efficient out there. Pictographs and rote learning are the other two methods I'm aware of. These will work, but will take much longer. I know of no other book on the market that uses Heisig's method.
· This book, plus vol. 2, is organized for learning all 2000+ basic Kanji as quickly as possible. Other books have you "master" characters in smaller numbers. There are many short cuts that can be made when all 2000+ are handled at once, so if it's your goal to learn all of them, Heisig is more efficient.
For the above reasons, I highly recommend using this book for learning the Kanji, and give Heisig five stars. But the book is far from perfect. I hope the following information will not dissuade you from buying Heisig, but help you use the book.

CONS
· Typos and mistakes are a part of all language books, for some reason. I'm sure I've missed some, but here are a few. Some descriptions contain wrong keywords for primitives (981,1321,1418,1714,1836,1840). Sometimes Heisig creates a new keyword for a kanji when it is used as a primitive, but doesn't tell us (1271,1573,1720). Kanji 1480 has the right description, but is drawn wrong. Kanji 1733 uses primitive "rice" instead of the expected "grains of rice". Kanji 1999 contains a new primitive, but it is called out as if it has already been established. There are two kanji with the keyword "storehouse" (589,850). In the description of kanji 58 he states that "olden times" is not used as a primitive in any other kanji, but it is in 910.
· Heisig may have finished learning the material in this book in 4 to 6 weeks. If he did, I'm guessing he is at the very top as far as memory goes. That would require 8 to 10 hours per day. Even if one has the schedule to study kanji full time, the point of diminishing returns for most is probably closer to 2 or 3 hours per day. For the average person, finishing this book in 6 months would be ambitious, and one year more likely. FYI - I'm an average learner, and it took me 300 hours in 30 weeks.
· There are some warning phrases throughout the book that you are better off just ignoring. Examples are "don't confuse kanji A with kanji B", "I know I said never to do this in a story, but..."
· Using "big" words for key words. Sometimes this is merited to distinguish kanji with like meanings, but other times I felt like I was getting unnecessary practice with my English dictionary.

TIPS
· Use adult themes in your stories.
· If the price seems too high, try some auction sites.
· My study program. This is what I did in my 300 hours.
On a macro-scale (30 weeks, approximately 10 hrs/week)
Weeks 1-5: learn 1-500
Week 6: review 1-500
Weeks 7-11: learn 501-1000
Weeks 12-13: review 1-1000
Weeks 14-18: learn 1001-1500
Weeks 19-21: review 1-1500
Weeks 22-26: learn 1501-2042
Weeks 27-30: review 1-2042
On a weekly scale
Learn weeks: learn 20 per day, Monday thru Friday, review all 100 Saturday
Review weeks: review 100 per day, Monday thru Friday, repeat toughest sets on weekend
On a daily scale
Learn days:
(a) During breakfast, read the day's 20, making up stories (or just reading the stories if you're still in part 1 or 2) for each per the author's instructions. Don't move on to the next Kanji unless you feel the story is going to stick.
(b) Without taking a break, go back to the first kanji, hide everything except for the key words, and create your 20 flashcards per the author's instructions. I recommend a fine black felt tipped pen on blue 3 by 5 index cards, available at office depot. This should be the first time you draw these 20 Kanji. You should be able to draw them without peaking. If you miss 2 or 3, don't be too hard on yourself. If you miss a lot, maybe read what the author says about improving your stories.
(c) Still without taking a break, take your stack of flashcards, keyword up, and restack them so that they are in the order you learned them. Beginning with the first one, "imaginary finger paint" the characters on a flat surface, repeating the story, out loud if possible. You should be able to draw them without peaking. If you miss 2 or 3, don't be too hard on yourself. If you miss a lot, maybe read what the author says about improving your stories.
(d) About supper time, take the 20 flash cards, shuffle and mix them up, making a neat pile, keyword up. Repeat the finger painting.
(e) Repeat step (d) for cards 1-20 at breakfast time of day 2, after you have done steps (a) thru (c) for kanji 21-40.
(f) Repeat step (d) for cards 1-20 at supper time of day 2 day, after you have done step (d) for kanji 21-40.
(g) Retire cards 1-20 until Saturday. You have learned them, written them 1 time, and reviewed them 4 times.
Review days:
(a) Shuffle the 100 kanji to review. Make a neat pile, keyword up. Draw the kanji on notebook paper, repeating the story as you draw (draw them small enough to fit all 100 kanji on one side of one sheet). Try to make the overall size consistent and the area close to square. After you write one, turn the card over to confirm it's correct. If it's correct, put the card on the "correct" stack, keyword up. If it's incorrect, review your story until you think it will stick next time. Then put it on the "incorrect" stack, keyword up.
(b) If you're having trouble remembering one, don't torture yourself for more than a minute. If you still can't think of it, turn it over and review your story until you think it will stick next time. Then put it on the "incorrect" stack, keyword up.
(c) When you have gone through the whole stack, count the number you missed. Keep a record of your misses in a table so that you can pinpoint your trouble sets of 100.
(d) Take the "incorrect" stack, and repeat (a) and (b).
(e) Repeat (d) until you have no more cards.
Notes
The first time I had a review week, I had three sets that I missed more than 50. One was about 70 misses out of 100. After all those hours I'd put in, I was totally discouraged. But I reviewed again on Saturday, and missed in the 20's. That was with no additional studying, just another review. Because I have an easily bruised ego, I've devised a way to avoid terrible initial scores. The night before reviewing, I read the 100 kanji in the book, going over the stories if I'd forgotten. This usually takes me about 45 minutes, and I haven't missed more than 25 the following day after doing this.

GOOD STUDYING!!!

I am a European-American who holds an M.A. from a Japanese national university (Hiroshima University) and a Professional Diploma in Foreign Language Education (Japanese) from the University of Hawaii - Manoa. I have lived for some 11 years in Japan as an adult and have taught Japanese at the secondary level in Hawaii and Oregon. Between 2001 and 2003, I assisted Mary Sisk Noguchi, author of the "Kanji Clinic" column in THE JAPAN TIMES, edit, rewrite and check facts in her columns. (The columns may be viewed at www.kanjiclinic.com.) I mention these credentials in order to give potential consumers of Jim Heisig's REMEMBERING THE KANJI, Volume I (aka 'RTK1'), a more informed basis for their impending purchase.

Amazon's customer reviews for RTK1 cover a broad spectrum ranging from near-total rejection to devoted acceptance. This is NOT a book that seems to attract many 3-star reviews. As you, the potential consumer of RTK1, debate whether to buy the book or not, I hope my little review will help push you over the edge into the "buy" mentality.

I have given this remarkable book a 5-star rating. RTK1 helps level the "kanji playing field." (Incidentally, you can easily discover if this is "THE KANJI BOOK FOR YOU" by going to google.com and inputting "heisig remembering kanji." Dr. Heisig has convenietly made available his well-reasoned, indeed, history-making introduction as well as downloadable stories for the first 250-or-so kanji that he teaches in his system. If you are 'turned on' by his introduction and his first 100 or so stories, then RTK1 is a good tool for you. You will need the book to build a strong memory foundation for the remaining 1750-or-so kanji used in standard written Japanese.)

Good luck. This book gives a solid foundation to serious students of written Japanese, and I dare say Chinese, too.

Oh, yes, almost forgot. The book is also available in French and Spanish.

I have a long history with this book. I began using it last year a month before I left for Japan on an undergraduate language program. I made it approximately to frame 800 or so before leaving. When I arrived I was amazed. I was accurately and quickly picking out the meanings of sign messages and menus while my classmates struggled. However, my time away from formal study and immersed in pure character recognition rendered further learning in the manner this book offers impossible. When I returned from my month-long hiatus from the book, I found my imaginative stories a jumble and learning new characters seemed hopeless. My senior year kept me busy enough, but before long the itch to master the kanji returned. A week and a half ago I began again, flying through the frames five times as fast as before. I'm currently on Frame 1200 and plan to be done with the book by mid-July.

After reading the reviews of this book here something became very apparent -- this book is not for everyone. The people who say this book works wonders are probably right (it's been a wonderful, fun tool for me). The people who say this book doesn't work are also probably right. After eight years of language classes from languages in fields as diverse as German, Japanese and Chinese, the one thing that seems consistent about foreign language learning is that persons' reactions to a single teaching style can vary wildly. The understanding and grasping of concepts is also finicky. I'll never forget how one of my friends in my German seminar admitted openly to never fully understanding the concept of moving an accusitive object in front of the dative object if the accusative's a pronoun. Our professor explained this concept about as many different ways as he could but to no avail. However, the day of the test, our class was regaled with the story of how this friend of mine was staying up late the night before studying German, and was staring blankly at his book, when clarity suddenly hit him like a Mack truck.

My point is, this book will do what it promises from some and not for others. My guess is that it will be effective for those who depend more heavily on imaginitive construction for recall. Those who best understand patterns through practical application will find the book confusing and time-consuming. As the numbers show when comparing this book's reviews to the Henshall book's reviews, American society is about two-thirds practical and one-third imaginative.

Heisig's book asks the learner to set aside (for the duration of the book) any study of compounds or readings so as to dedicate real attention to a task that will be of infinite practicality to the non-practical student. Heisig instructs the student to stop drilling the same forms repeatedly, but instead to simply close his eyes and let the parts of the kanji swim in his brain, allowing him to make his own meaning and his own personal alphabet for understanding the kanji, an accomplishment that will expedite the learning of compounds and readings exponentially once all the kanji are learned. By organizing the kanji so that all the small parts in the beginning combine and become slowly more complex as the book progresses, Heisig allows a student who can appreciate the fact that a japanese 'joke' is literally a 'superfluous discussion' or that 'manga' is 'loose pictures' to create a means of discovering these vivid and rich interpretations of the world and turn them into a mental reality for the student. In other words, the book is a tool for teaching yourself how to understand how Japanese words are constructed, if you're capable of learning quickly and effectively in this way.

If this is simply not how your mind works, this is not a bad thing. It just means you need a different tool for learning. As far as learning to read, write, speak and understand Japanese goes, this book will not help you directly with any. However, if you feel you are by nature an imaginative person, this book is a tool which, if you are willing to dedicate a significant amount of time to it, will give you a method for acquiring those skills more effectively, more fluently and more quickly than you would without it.

As a long-time resident of Japan, I've been on the look-out over the years for a good system to learn that devilish writing system known as kanji. I was first introduced to this book about three years ago and I would have said that the system was a good one at that time. Three years later, I have another opinion.

The system of kanji memorization that Heisig uses is the time old method of using mnemonics to memorize the kanji by breaking the symbols down into their component parts and then creating a story that helps you remember how to read and write them. This is a much better system that other kanji books you may have seen that uses visual pictures that vaguely resemble kanji. Those books often leave you without the ability to read or write similar looking kanji. So here Heisig exels. Mnemonics are hardly new, but there is a lot of help on the first few (300 or so) kanjis before Heisig encourages you to start making your own. I really like this idea and as Heisig points out, the memory load for learning even one kanji is massive as you have to learn the writing stroke order, the way it looks, and the different multiple readins as well as learn the ability to differentiate between it and other similar looking kanji. So the book keeps it simple, no Japanese at all, just English meanings of the kanjis.

The problems I have with the books are two-fold. Heisig insists that you should learn all 2000 or so kanjis first, BEFORE learning any Japanese readings. I think most modern language research would disagree with this assessment by claiming that the time to study all the kanjis and the time to be able to use them usufully is too long, thus making it difficult to remember the kanji long enough to finish all 2000, then learn the Japanese pronunciations, etc. I did, however, give the system an honest shake and went through the book twice over a six-month period. By the time I had gotten to the end of the book, I found I had forgotten so much, and after a second time I gave up entirely.
The second problem with the book is that Heisig has grouped the kanji in such a way as to make it more difficult to learn, rather than easier. Modern language learning research has shown that learning similar sounding words, or opposite words at the same time can cause the learner to confuse them both, sometimes for forever! Heisig has grouped many of the kanji by the radicals thus forcing you to learn so many kanji with such subtle differences at the same time. It would be sooo much better if he had randomized the kanji, or even ranked the kanji according to frequency (which is another problem as really high frequency kanjis are often found late in the book when they should probably be learned early). I wonder what prompted Heisig to group the kanjis in this way as he probably did not learn them himself that way.
In summary, if you are interested in the mnemonic way of learning, by all means check out the online pages from the internet. If the sytem interests you, I urge you to buy the book. I still use the text my self in conjunction with another text book. I find the mnomnic system to be helpful and Heisig's ideas fine. I just have trouble with the grouping of the kanji and the idea I should learn all the meanings in English first, before learning how they are read in Japanese.

I'm a bit past 1/3 the way through this book, and I am already totally amazed. In about 9 months, spending very little time each day, I've so far memorized about 800 kanji. My study of the Japanese language started in earnest about a year ago, when I learned the hiragana and katakana (using Heisig's other book, "Remembering the hiragana/katakana"). That went so well that I decided to buy this book and give it a try. I figured, "2100 kanji?! There's no way I'll ever remember them!" But I thought it would be worth giving it a try. Thanks to this book, I continue to amaze myself everyday with the ease with which I can remember how to read and write so many hundreds of kanji.

This book teaches absolutely nothing about the pronunciation of the kanji. That's left for later texts (I believe it's covered in Heisig's second volume, but I'm not sure). While studying this book, you will learn the primary meaning (key word), along with the correct method for writing, each of the 2100 or so Jouyou (basic) kanji. James Heisig has come up with not just a great method for memorizing the way to write the kanji, but also what I've found to be the perfect order for a native English-speaker to memorize them in. You don't learn them in the same order that a Japanese kid would, and that makes sense (unless you happen to be a Japanese kid). You start off learning little bits of pictographs (called 'primitives'), you learn basically what those primitives mean (in the etymological history, more or less), and then you put these primitives together, while making a little story about how those primitives come together to represent the key word. And I tell you, it really works. Even if you're not interested in mastering the Japanese language, it wouldn't hurt to run your brain through the exercise of reading this book. It helps a lot if you can study just 5 to 10 minutes a day, but even if you can't (and I often go for days, sometimes weeks, without practicing) you'll find that you can still remember everything after just a little bit of practice.

I started out using Heisig's flash cards (sold separately), and they're great. They even include pronunciations for all the kanji. The downside is that there are over 2000 of these cards! How do you shuffle or meaningfully use 2000 cards? I don't know. So I've pretty much stopped using them, and I've put all the keywords and kanji pictures into an MSExcel spreadsheet, and I can shuffle and practice them that way. I still use the cards to practice the latest 20 or so kanji I've learned, but you'll need to come up with some method for practicing all of them every once in awhile. Even a random number generator, along with a printed list of the keywords, would work in a pinch.

Basically, this book, plus a good dose of your concentration and just a bit of your time, will have you reading and writing kanji even if you never thought it would be possible.

I've been using Heisig's book for about 7 weeks, and have "learned" 310 kanji during that time. I wanted to share some of my experiences and thoughts to add to the other thoughtful reviews.

First, by way of background, I experienced the "traditional" method of learning kanji when I studied Chinese a number of years ago. As Heisig notes in his introduction, that method involves learning characters in order according to how fundamental they are in language, and one learns the written character, pronunciation, grammatical details, and so forth simultaneously. The characters are learned purely by rote, and the pictorial aspects are not tied to anything systematic. My experience agreed with Heisig's notes: with nothing to anchor one's memory, it is nearly impossible to remember how to write the characters. I spent many hours a day practicing the characters to little avail and much frustration, and ultimately abandoned learning Chinese because I could not find the time to persist in that method.

When I decided to learn Japanese, the fear of chinese characters returned. How could I learn kanji when Chinese characters were an insurmountable obstacle in the past? Luckily, Heisig's book has been part of the answer. The key is that, instead of merely learning random markings, he lays out a system in which one uses imaginative associations. And, yes, it really works (at least for me). It is not difficult to "learn" 20-30 kanji per day, given an available hour or two of time.

Now, a few things have to be said. First, in his system, to "learn" a kanji means simply to learn two things: (1) how to write it; (2) a single key meaning. There are many other things that one does not learn (in volume 1 of his system): (3) pronunciation (that's in volume 2); (4) alternative meanings, which are multiple for most kanji; (5) compounds with other kanji; (6) anything about usage or grammar. That is by design, as Heisig notes that learning to write the kanji is the most important barrier for westerners. He specifically designed the system to lower that hurdle as low as it can be, and that meant that the other aspects of kanji are postponed.

The value of this system depends on one's goals, schedule, and related activity. First, Heisig notes that his system should be completely separated from any other simultaneous activity to learn kanji. It is NOT intended to be a supplement to a second or third year Japanese course, for instance. Further, it is not designed to progress from common to less-common, like many kanji books. Rather, it bunches kanji together solely on the basis of how easy they are to learn together. This implies that the course must be completed -- or very nearly completed -- to get most of the benefit. That implies a certain schedule, namely, to persist until one is done.

In terms of goals, the system works well for some goals: (a) learning to write the basic kanji in a short amount of time, so one can devote study to grammar and other matters; (b) rapidly developing an extremely rudimentary reading ability, where "reading" means "occasionally figuring out a few words, but mostly just being able to have some visual memory for kanji when confronted by them"; (c) laying a foundation for other study of Japanese when one has an enforced break of at least a few months; (d) learning the kanji because they're fun, as a supplement to kana-based Japanese classes (i.e., prior to starting kanji formally); (e) breaking the language down into parts that are more suitable for self-study. Those are my goals, and I suspect the goals of many other adult western learners of Japanese.

There are other goals that I believe are not well-suited to this system: (f) supplementing an intermediate or advanced Japanese language course where you're learning kanji otherwise (Heisig's book could, however, fill in a break in such instruction); (g) rapidly developing basic reading fluency, i.e., in relation to word frrequency or importance; (h) serving as a text for classroom; (i) reviewing or learning grammar.

One thing that I would highly recommend: get the flash cards in addition to this book. Yes, it is possible to make your own, but as other reviewers have noted, that is an unpleasant exercise. In addition, it is error-prone: if you don't know how to write the kanji well, the flash cards are likely to drill poor representations of the kanji. I would also note that Heisig's cards have other valuable information. First, they have cross-references to some common kanji dictionaries for westerners, so it is easy to look up a kanji in those when the key word meaning or stroke order is unclear. Second, they have pronunciation information to complement volume 2 of his system.

Finally, it should be obvious but I'll state it anyway: no book can do the hard work of learning a language for you. Heisig's system has given me what I needed to get over the very high hurdle of learning to write kanji, but it still takes a great deal of patience every day. You have to sit down and practice and review the flash cards, and his book, over and over. For me, it requires at least a few hours per week, in 30 minute pieces here and there -- but mostly it requires patience and diligence. Good luck!

The people who complain about the definitions being "wrong" or the lack of readings missed the point.

If you're looking for a one-shot course that will give you a natural progression though a vocabulary of complete words then you picked the wrong book. But focusing on a goal such as that will only drive you insane (trust me, I tried).

The point of this book is to do exactly what is says in the introduction, to give you an equal footing with litterate Chineese native speakers in learning the Japanese writing system. In other words, you will learn an "English reading" for each character. This is helpful, but in a subtle way. You eventually begin to replace the "keywords" with your own Japanese vocabulary. I've memorized 500 meanings and forms this way, and I'm already starting to (quite natually and effortlessly) replace some of the English with Japanese.

Because of the first 500 characters this book, I'm able to write a good portion of my Japanese 101 vocabulary in Kanji.

All in all, it does everything it promises, nothing it doesn't; it's a good book.

I can't, of course, give any guidance on what will work for other people; I can only tell you what worked for me. I went to work as a scientist in Japan for Japanese organizations (NEC and MITI). I had a very strong motivation to learn how to read technical Japanese very rapidly. I used an earlier edition of Heisig's book and learned the ~2000 general-use characters in thirteen weeks and was able to easily read technical literature at the end of six months (I spent about three months learning technical vocabulary). At the end of a year, I gave a technical talk in Japanese at a professional society meeting in Nagaoka, and read my talk from its kanji text in real-time.

I know others who had less success with this book. They were generally less motivated to learn Japanese and generally did so at a glacial pace, if at all. This book was not a replacement for thought or effort, but ensured that my efforts were expended usefully. If you would sooner have limbs fall off than fail at the task of learning Japanese, I recommend this book to you.

Heisigheads and anti-Heisigistas are like the Israelis and Palestinians of Japanese-as-a-foreign-language. Bring up this book in a group of learners and a heated argument is more or less guaranteed.

Me? I'm a militant Heisighead. I love it. The reason is a point that really needs to be stressed more: Dr. Heisig's method is fun!

This matters. When you have to learn 2000+ kanji, boredom and frustration are your biggest enemies. Finding a method that keeps you interested and engaged for the duration is an absolute necessity. And here, Heisig shines.

His method is nothing if not playful. It systematically engages your imagination, stimulates it, tickles it, shocks it...whatever it takes to keep you engaged. This makes Kanji learning more like a game than a chore: a series of amusing little puzzles to be solved through play.

I wake up every day looking forward to my Heisig session that day, savoring the fun little stories I'll get to make up and the silly little squiggles I'll scribble.

For the last few weeks, I've been "hooked on Heisig" kind of the way I was once "hooked on Tetris". You can spend hours and hours, pencil in hand, going through these little stories and scribbling kanji...there's just something addictively fun about it. And, unlike with Tetris, at the end of the session you're left with solid knowledge of how to write a new batch of kanji, instead of that vaguely guilty feeling of the tetris addict.

Students stuck using the traditional method see kanji memorization more or less like they see a visit to the dentist: torture to be undergone only because it is absolutely necessary. Heisigheads, on the other hand, approach it as a game. Which group do you think is more likely to see it through to the end?

It's no small thing. The reason the Mindless Repetition method almost always fails is that it's just too boring to keep you interested for as long as it takes to learn all the basic Kanji. So being "fun" is not just some fringe benefit of Heisig: it's a massive part of the reason it works.

(Incidentally, for the indispensable companion website to this book - and to meet hundreds of fanatical Heisigistas - be sure to Google kanji koohii)