Kodansha's Compact Kanji Guide: A New Character Dictionary for Students and Professionals (A Kodansha dictionary) (Paperback)

by Kodansha International (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Whether full-time students, business people, or casual readers, all have felt the need for a compact, up-to-date, practical kanji dictionary. Something that would fit into a shoulderbag or briefcase, could be taken to class, or would sit unobtrusively on a desktop. Kodansha's Compact Kanji Guide is precisely that dictionary, designed specifically to meet the needs of the modern man and woman. It includes all of the 1,945 Joyo Kanji, the core kanji recommended by the Japanese Ministry of Education for use in Japanese newspapers and magazines. Knowing these kanji, the student can recognize virtually every Chinese character appearing in the daily press.

And that is not all. The Guide also features some 18,000 kanji compounds, both those with Chinese readings (on-yomi) and those with Japanese readings (kun-yomi). These compounds have been carefully selected for practicality, usefulness, and timeliness. The living language has received exclusive priority, including such words as "Gulf War," "favoritism," and "statute of limitations."

For those interested in securities, stocks and bonds, and the diverse terminology of the business world, related terms and jargon are clearly marked for easy reference. Simply open the book and look for the Yen sign. There you will find "current price," "aggregate market value," "issue at market price," and a great deal more.

For those who want to write kanji, the stroke order of each and every character has been duly noted. But more important, the Guide does its utmost to help the reader locate the needed character. Aside from the traditional radical chart on the back endpaper, there are three invaluable indices as well. The first is by the reading of the kanji, either Japanese (kun) or Chinese (on). The second is by radical, but not by traditional radical alone. Also included are variants and near-misses, directing the reader precisely to the right page. The third is by stroke number--if all else fails, count the strokes and track the character down.

With a copy of Kodansha's Compact Kanji Guide close at hand--with its definitions, stroke order, Chinese compounds, Japanese compounds, business terminology, and three helpful indices--the life of the typical student of Japanese should take a decided turn for the better.

Features * 1,945 Essential (Joyo) Kanji * 18,000 Common Compounds * 2,000 Practical Business Terms * Three Indices for Finding Kanji * Compact for Handy Reference * Functional, Up-to-Date, Timely

Product Details

• Paperback: 928 pages
• Publisher: Kodansha International (JPN); 1 edition (December 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 4770015534
• ISBN-13: 978-4770015532
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,163,258 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Reference for Beginners, May 4, 2000

By	"radagasty" (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

Kodansha's Compact Kanji Guide is an excellent reference for beginners learning the Japanese written language. It contains all the Jooyou Kanji (the official list of 1,950 essential Kanjis of the Japanese Ministry of Education) and some 18,000 compounds, focussing particularly on those appearing frequently in Japanese mass media. In particular, great emphasis is laid on compounds pertaining to the business world. Beyond this, however, the scope of this book is fairly limited. It contains few literary words, and, in general, too few characters and compounds to be of any use to the advanced learner at all. In fact, the book is surprisingly large and heavy for the quantity of content it contains.

The On and Kun readings of the kanji are provided in kana; in particular, the On readings appear in katakana, so the reader must be familiar with this syllabary. Pronunciation of compounds are also given, with multiple or irregular readings indicated. The dictionary makes little use of romaji. Although the definitions provided are fairly useful, few usage notes are provided making the dictionary less useful for Japanese composition. Nevertheless, it is very handy for the beginning student to check the meanings of unfamiliar words.

The arrangement of the characters more-or-less follow the traditional Chinese arrangement according to radicals, although, unfortunately, certain variants usually considered to be the same radical are separated into different radicals in this dictionary, and, hence, some characters appear in a location different from that where one would find it in a traditional character dictionary. Three indices provided allows one to locate a given character by radical, stroke-count and pronunciation. Each kanji also has its stroke order displayed for the convenience of the learner.

The book is physically well produced, with a vinyl-type soft cover and fairly thick paper of high quality that takes wear fairly well. The print is clear, and the head characters are printed very large (about a centimetre square) so that its composition can be clearly seen. Although the book is by no means large, I would not myself have describe it as 'compact' as its title suggests.

A beginning learner of written Japanese could do worse than to acquire this book, although, as an intermediate learner myself, I find that the scope of the book is not really very sufficient, more often than not, the character or compound that I go to look up is not in the book. For those of us who are not businessmen, the Kanji Guide's focus on financial and business vocabulary would be somewhat annoying. In short, then, Kodansha's Compact Kanji Guide is great reference, but for beginners only.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Mainstay for the Serious Student, September 12, 1997

By	Vincent Mattaliano Jr. "vmwrites" (Pompton Plains, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a sine qua non for any serious student of Japanese. Arranged primarily by radical, the kanji are relatively easy to find (no dictionary has ever provided a truly easy way), stroke order is preserved, and meanings are provided for kanji compounds. The only drawback is that only combinations beginning with the selected kanji are included. The guide is indexed by stroke count, primary radical and by pronunciation (both kun-yomi and on-yomi). If you intend to make any real progress in your studies, this is a "must have."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good All-Around Product, September 24, 2001

By	Thomas F. Ogara (Jacksonville, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have used this guide for some years now, and I find it to be the most useful Japanese dictionary that I have. While of course it cannot compete with Nelson on the number of entries, or kanji for that matter, it is a good deal smaller than Nelson and I can take it to work with me without problem. For business uses and the popular press in general I have rarely run across a word that I could not find in here. And it's so durable!

Some may balk at the traditional radical order of the Kanji, but it's what I was used to, more or less, so I find it convenient. I'm not so sure why the publishers felt it necessary to put the stroke order in - shouldn't you already know that if you're past Japanese 001? I'd recommend deleting it in the interest of adding more entries, but that's my only complaint.