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Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese: Third Edition 3rd Edition

by Kenneth Hanshall (Author), Christropher Seeley (Author), Florence Sakade (Author),
4.1 out of 5 stars 28 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0804833653
ISBN-10: 0804833656
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  • Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese: Third Edition
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  • Japanese Hiragana & Katakana for Beginners: First Steps to Mastering the Japanese Writing System (CD-ROM Included)
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Product Details

  • Series: Tuttle Language Library
  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Tuttle Publishing; 3rd edition (June 15, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0804833656
  • ISBN-13: 978-0804833653
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #681,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsAn Essential Guide to the 1,945 Joyo Kanji
By mroxie on September 16, 2006
Format: Paperback
Whatever your reasons are for wanting to study Japanese, you'd do well to learn hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Some people go for the spoken-only approach, but I've found that learning hiragana, katakana, and a lot of the kanji has definitely improved by retention of Japanese vocabulary. Many Japanese words include kanji (for example, the word "nihon" for Japan is the combination of the kanji for "sun" and the kanji for "origin"), so knowing what the words literally mean will help increase your understanding of Japanese overall.

After learning hiragana and katakana (the syllabaries of Japanese; much simpler than kanji, these are sound-based rather than meaning-based), you'll want to integrate kanji into your study of the language. That's where this book comes in. The 1,006 Essential Characters are listed by grade (1st through 6th). Each of these kanji entries includes: the stroke order, Japanese pronunciations, meanings in English, and three examples of the kanji contained in Japanese words. The 1,945 General Use Characters are listed by stroke-order (1 through 23); this includes all of the kanji of the 1,006 set plus those other general use characters not taught in 1st through 6th grade. A hiragana and katakana chart is also included, as well as an index sorted by pronunciation in the back.

This book makes a great reference for teaching yourself the kanji. Of course, you shouldn't expect to end up using this book alone for learning the kanji; it's more helpful for review and reference. There are plenty of resources on-line and several other books that would be helpful to use in conjunction with this book. For example, Kanji Pict-o-Graphix encourages mnemonic, visual memorization and Japanese For Everyone focuses on both written and conversational Japanese.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsAfter a long search...
By S. Miley on April 24, 2005
Format: Paperback
I've tried a few books, but this one works best for me for a variety of reasons. As said by another reviewer, you get the Joyo kanji, general-use kanji, as well as a kana chart. It's great because the on and kun pronounciations, stroke order, sample words, and a look-up are all provided. Other books I've tried to *remember the kanji* with lacked all of these. Others cost much more when you figure that you have to buy *250 kanji* here and there to make an entire set. The language business is a hustle, so companies keep repackaging bad info, the same info, or convoluted forms of info to turn a buck. For more serious or dedicated students, that can become quite expensive when trying to find something that will truly work within the context of study.

Whether you are using a "brute-force" method or a differently structured process, I believe that this book is the best resource I've found so far for a variety of methods, providing a wealth of information for a great price. Highly recommended.
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3.0 out of 5 starsDecent, but lacking in many areas
By Vagus on November 3, 2007
Format: Paperback
The book contains two major parts. The first part contains the "1,006 Essential Characters." For all of these, there are stroke orders, a few of the /on/ and /kun/ readings, some meanings, as well as sample compounds. For example, for the character /chU/ (as in /chUgoku/, China), there is the number of strokes, step-by-step instructions for writing the character, the /on/ (derived from Chinese pronunciation) reading /chU/, the /kun/ (native Japanese) reading /naka/, the meanings are middle, within, inside. Below these are three sample compounds that the character /chU/ is a part of, such as the word for middle school (/chUgakkO/). At the back of the book, there is an index of readings that enable a reader to look up a character.

All of these make for a useful dictionary. However, there are some flaws. The features I have noted above are limited only to the 1,006 Essential Characters. After the 1,006th character, one comes to a section titled "The 1,945 General Use Characters." This section is very minimal. It contains--I assume--all of the 1,006 Essential Characters as well as an additional 939 characters. These 939 characters are not accompanied with detailed explanations. They have readings and definitions, but no stroke-order explanations or sample compounds. The only clues for writing these characters can be found in the number of stroke orders, which are given, as well as within the user's own knowledge of stroke-order.

There is another flaw which, while being a small one, is worth pointing out. For the /on/ readings, vowel extensions are marked with a bar (or macron) over the lengthened vowel. For example, the /on/ reading for /chU/ is written as 'CHU' (with a bar over the letter 'U').Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsSimply the finest
By Paul Baumstarck on December 30, 2004
Format: Paperback
There's no other way to learn kanji than by a head-on, brute force attack, and this book is the field manual for doing just that. This book references all 1,945 daily-use kanji, and the first 1,006 also come with detailed definitions and common compounds the kanji can be found in. If you can keep up the rate of learning 10 or even just 5 kanji per day you'll be well on your way to Japanese literacy inside of a year. Think of it: by 2006, you'll be glad you did.
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2.0 out of 5 starsBeware! This book is not accurately titled
By debonair on October 5, 2005
Format: Paperback
I purchased this book. Unless you have a) photographic memory or b)a pretty good handle on the 1006 + 1945 characters already and just need a review every now and then, this book will be useless to you. It will be difficult to actually learn the kanji in such a way that you can recognize and write them at will, because this book is more like a dictionary listing terms and definitions.

Even if you have a lot of time, there are smarter ways of learning Kanji. The Jorden-Harz books "Reading Japanese" for kanji and "Japanese The Written Language" for kana and kanji, are much better tools.

Also, you can check the excellent "Kanji in Context" books from www.amazon.co.jp This series includes 2 workbooks and a better reference book. While it costs more to go this route, you save on time which is more precious in any case.

It's not a bad book. The "Guide to" part of the title is deceptive though.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsPerfect for me!

This is exactly was I was looking for. Has the Kanji stroke order!

Published 3 months ago by Nicholas Armendariz
3.0 out of 5 starsMore like a kanji dictionary

The title is misleading. I was expecting a book that would help me with sentence structure, grammar, etc. This book is really just a guide to kanji. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Gina
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Helped with high school course.

Published 4 months ago by Jenny Lee
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

I learned so much from this book. Totally worth it.

Published 11 months ago by Yvette Hogan
5.0 out of 5 starsit's very useful for learning the basics

We used this book in my high school japanese class. Although it only has a limited number of kanji in it, it's very useful for learning the basics. Read more

Published 15 months ago by Sam Ferko
5.0 out of 5 starsInformative

Informative and easy to use.

Published 20 months ago by John O. Adams
4.0 out of 5 starsa wonderful kanji workbook for intermed. JPN learners

This is an improvement over the original (hardbound) book by Florence Sakade in some ways -- much friendlier on the eyes, anyway. Read more

Published on March 3, 2014 by bill teweles
5.0 out of 5 starsExpert Help for Students of Japanese

I was very pleased to find that this book is continuing to be printed--I used it as a student in the 1960's. Read more

Published on December 22, 2013 by K. B. Burgin
4.0 out of 5 starsa downgrade from earlier editions

The first edition had detailed explanations, examples, and mnemonics, for the roughly 2000 kanji. Definitely 5 stars. Read more

Published on October 11, 2013 by Skip Rounderson
5.0 out of 5 starsVery helpful for learning Hiragana and Katakana!

Great book in all, contains two syllabaries with descriptions. Useful when taking a beginning Japanese class or to brush up on Katakana.

Published on October 4, 2013 by BlueRubyJune

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