Remembering the Kanji II: A Systematic Guide to Reading Japanese Characters (Vol 2) (Paperback)

by James W. Heisig (Author) "The two Japanese syllabaries known as hiragana and katakana (or collectively, as the kana) originated as stylized versions of Chinese characters used to represent the..." (more)
Key Phrases: primitive phonemes, kun yomi, exemplary compound, New Year, Syllabary of Primitive Phonemes, Ministry of Education (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Beneath the notorious inconsistencies in the way the Japanese language has come to pronounce the characters it received from China in the fifth century, there lies a solid and rather ample base of coherent patterns. Discovering these patterns can reduce to a minimum the time spent in brute memorization of sounds unrelated to written forms. Volume II of REMEMBERING THE KANJI takes you step by step through the varieties of phonetic pattern and offers helpful hints for learning kanji that resist systematization.

About the Author
JAMES W. HEISIG is a permanent research fellow of the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture (Nagoya, Japan), where he has been since 1978 and which he served as director from 1991 to 2001.

Product Details

• Paperback: 397 pages
• Publisher: Japan Publications Trading (October 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870407481
• ISBN-13: 978-0870407482
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #945,334 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All you need for Japanese literacy, February 14, 2005

By	P. Fisher (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're reading this review, you either (a) have not tried Heisig's method at all, and are curious about the results of the later volume(s), or (b) you're in the middle of studying the first volume, and are curious as to the benefits of the second volume (For the first volume lacks the immediate benefits of modern application). If you've already completed the first volume, you will unquestionably move on to the second volume simply because it's a natural progression of studies. Whoever finishes the first book will be move onto this book regardless of what this review says. But the likelihood of one actually finishing the first book (Not to sound pessimistic) is not very high in the first place. In fact, everybody that I've talked to (In real life, NOT through the internet or through e-mail) that started the first volume of Remembering the Kanji have not completed it. They may have gotten halfway, but it became too hard, and they fizzled out. This seems to be a common thing. So provided you can get through the very tough first volume, this is where the benefits start become pronounced. But without the first book, this book has very little meaning; so you can't skip the first book. Period.

I'd also like you to note that (At the time of writing this review) there are a total of three other reviews here. Compare this to the 30+ reviews of the first book. Why? It is because most that have purchased the first volume of RtK did not complete it. In fact, I feel that many that reviewed the first volume of RtK on this website have not truly tried to use the method, they merely comment about the underlying concept and immediate benefits (or lack thereof). I've already reviewed the first volume of RtK on this web site, so I don't need to explain how I feel about it.

This is "Volume 2" in the series; it therefore assumes that you have mastered volume 1 to a reasonable degree. Volume 1 made you connect an English keyword to some 2,000 kanji; although you could not read a single kanji, they were more fermiliar to you (And completing this course in it's entirety was a very, VERY hard task). You become somewhat similar to a Chinese person that is fermiliar with the meaning of kanji characters in their native language, and all they have to learn is a different way to pronounce them. So volume 1 sort of "levels the playing field" between you and the kanji. But it is only in volume 2 that you truly begin to "play" with the skills you've learned, and hit kanji completely out of the ballpark.

This second volume is a "Guide" rather than the first book, which was a "Course." This is because it mustn't be followed to the "t," unlike the first volume. Here, kanji are broken down into groups, many of which have a similar set of strokes that signal a certain reading (They are called "signal primates"). Although not every kanji is like this, there are quite a few, therefore making it possible to systematically learn quite a few readings. When the system of "signal primitives" cannot apply, common word compounds are used to help remember characters.

The biggest bulk of the book is devoted to learning about the ON reading (or Chinese reading of the kanji). Each frame consists of one kanji, one reading, and one compound to reinforce that one reading. Because many kanji have more than one ON reading, sometimes the same kanji will be seen on multiple frames. The KUN (Or Japanese reading) is not consistent with any rules, so there isn't much of a way to systemize the learning of it. At the end of the book Heisig presents a concept of tagging each phonetic element with an image, similar to what was done with volume 1. Combine the phonetic elements, combine the images, and come up with a memorable story or image to connect the two. Eventually you will forget the story or image you used to connect the two, and you'll just remember that such-and-such word has such-and-such meaning. I have yet to try this, but it seems to fall into place with his other kanji-learning methods.

This book builds upon the flashcards you were supposed to have made when you studied and reviewed the kanji from the first volume. There is a flashcard program called "King Kanji" (Google it) for your computer or PDA. When you download the program, flashcard files of every single Heisig kanji are included. Using their "lesson creator" feature, I am creating flashcards of the compounds introduced in this second volume. I prefer this way of creating flashcards rather than by hand. They're much easier to keep track of. (A program called "Stackz" is also good for creating and reviewing vocabulary introduced here).

What am I getting out of this book? I'm reading compounds I've never seen before, I'm seeing kanji in my head when I hear or speak a word, I'm remembering vocabulary at a very quick rate. This book (As well as the first volume) have played a vital role in my understanding of not only kanji, but the Japanese language as a whole. I no longer have to gaze and wonder about this elaborate system of writing; the ability to truly understand it is now within my grasp. Just the self-confidence and sense of accomplishment this has brought me is enough to merit me buying this book. Although I'm still working my way though this book, I've gained a degree of knowledge and ability that I would have never dreamt of. Assuming I continue to make progress like I am now, literacy is no longer a passing thought, it will be an achievement.

Learning kanji can be one of the single most difficult tasks for the Western learner of Japanese. With this book (Along with the first volume), this doesn't have to be the case. If you wish to be literate in Japanese, all you need is right here. No, this is not some magical tool that will make you literate in a week; your progress will depend entirely on how much work you put into it (See my review for book 1).

Quite simply, Heisig found the door to Japanese literacy. All you have to do is be determined enough to open it.

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent way to learn the readings of Kanji, January 9, 2000

By	Daniel Beck "tadayoshi" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Before you dismiss this review because of my Japanese name, I grew up in America and did not study Japanese before University. This book is an excellent companion to Remembering the Kanji I. It is not meant to be studied independantly. At first I thought this book wouldn't be as useful as the first. However, it did wonders in helping me to figure out pronunciation. The limits of the book are inherant to to non-nativeness of Chinese characters to Japanese sounds. However, it is amazing just how much this book helps. It is particularly good for the on-yomi or Chinese pronunciations, but it's ideas for the kun-yomi or Japanese pronunciations are helpful as well. If the first book worked for you, I highly recommend this book as a follow-up.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Most certainly NOT all you need., December 15, 2005

By	A reader - See all my reviews

I'm a big fan of Heisig's first volume but this second volume takes his principle of "divide and conquer" just too far in my opinion.

Working through this volume means learning just a single reading for each of the 2000-odd kanji introduced in volume 1. What does that mean? It means that after studying and absorbing all the information in this book you will still have virtually no practical ability to read Japanese. This is because most kanji have more than one reading. Becoming literate in Japanese depends crucially on knowing multiple readings of kanji and on being familiar with a reasonable body of vocabulary associated with those readings.

One of the other reviewers states "I am reading compounds like never before". Great, but my question is- what are the chances that you are reading them correctly when you know only a single reading for each kanji? The only Japanese you can read with confidence after using this book are the one word per kanji that happen to be presented. It's a little like learning one word for each letter of the alphabet and expecting to be able to read English.

For my money the method employed in Kanji in Context (Japan Times) is much more efficient and what's more actually DOES take you a good way towards literacy. Kanji in Context concentrates on teaching kanji meanings and readings in the context of the vocabulary associated with those kanji. A consequence of this method is that you begin to acquire a native-like appreciation for how a kanji is likely to be read - even in previously unseen compounds. You are able to make practical use of the knowledge (i.e you are able to read Japanese) long before you reach the end of the book. Another good little book for starting to acquire that level of familiarity is "Decoding the Kanji" by Habein (Kadansha International)

The main value of this book is in pointing out those few kanji elements that act a reliable (more or less) guide to at least one "on" reading. But that is a small part of the whole and that information can be found on the web for free. Heisig's first volume is excellent for developing a familiarity with the kanji but volume 2 achieves too little gain to be worth it, particularly when better alterantives are available.