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Remembering the Kana: A Guide to Reading and Writing the Japanese Syllabaries in 3 Hours Each (part 1) (Japanese Edition) (Japanese) 3 Blg Edition

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James W Heisig (Author)
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James W Heisig (Author), Kazue Kurebayashi (Contributor), Helmut Morsbach (Contributor)
4.2 out of 5 stars 41 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0824831646
ISBN-10: 0824831640
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  • Remembering the Kana: A Guide to Reading and Writing the Japanese Syllabaries in 3 Hours Each (part 1) (Japanese Edition)
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  • Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters
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  • Remembering the Kanji 2: A Systematic Guide to Reading Japanese Characters
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 147 pages
  • Publisher: University of Hawaii Press; 3 Blg edition (May 1, 2007)
  • Language: Japanese
  • ISBN-10: 0824831640
  • ISBN-13: 978-0824831646
  • Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 0.4 x 8.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,402 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsHiragana - excellent, Katakana - not so much
By H. Hildre on July 22, 2009
Format: Paperback
I recently purchased Remembering the Kana as an introduction to the written Japanese language, and it has helped me a lot. I am almost done with the book now, and reading hiragana is becoming easier and easier every day. The hiragana lessons are very well done and are easily completed without having to go back and check much. Without much reviewing I believe I can say I remember all the hiragana.

However, the katakana lessons are not very good. It seems like Heisig was writing the book, and as he finished hiragana realised he needed to do the katakana part in half the time. Every new symbol you are introduced to comes with examples using previously learned katakana you have learned so far, but I've experienced on several occasions that the examples include katakana which I've never seen before but then are introduced later in the same lesson. There are also pages without practice lessons, and I'm really confused as it seems one symbol can be used for several things but I already learned this symbol and he never taught me this. Still it pops up in examples.

To be honest the katakana part seems like an afterthought, and not a well done one either.

I would very much recommend the book to anyone just starting out with Japanese, since the hiragana part I would assume as saved me a lot of time with learning these symbols. If you're only looking for an introduction to katakana though, I would honestly keep looking.

Frankly it's quite discouraging now going through the last katakana lessons because the stories are very very far-fetched and uses keywords I've never heard of in English so I have to make up my own, and the missing explanations of things and symbols popping up before I've learnt them makes for a struggling learning experience.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Answer For Struggling Learners
By Kendra Smith on June 11, 2009
Format: Paperback
Okay, so I've been self teaching myself Japanese over the last few years in small doses, mainly because it's difficult to focus on it over an extended period time. Most learning sources I have come across ignore this and just encourage further reading. Here, though, they don't, and it helps you understand the wonderful value of breaks.

I came across this when my friend told me about it after they had been looking for another book I've been using (Genki. Good luck finding it on English websites brand new. eBay tends to have them in sets) and they found this one. So I picked it up and immersed myself in lesson 1 and I haven't turned back.

There are two 3-hour courses, one for hirigana and one for katakana, and each of those courses is split into 30 minute lessons. While you can, obviously, ignore the warnings, it will tell you to take a minimum of a 30 minute break, though in the introduction it suggests doing just two lessons a day and finishing each course in 3 days.

What also makes this book interesting is it's linear yet unlinear design. In the book, the kana is listed in, as the book describes it, dictionary order. However, you do not follow straight through. Instead, it starts you with the last one in the book, N, then takes you back a fair amount to Ku, and so on.

This book not only helped me develop a fine knowledge and understanding of kana, but also simple study skills as a whole. For any struggling student of the language, pick this one up!
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5.0 out of 5 starsWorks... and works well!
By R. E. Evans on October 3, 2007
Format: Paperback
Although this is the only tool I've ever used for learning the kana, it definitely worked as advertised. I generally have a pretty weak memory, but the tricks used in this book allowed me to memorize and learn how to write the kana very quickly. Furthermore, because the book does not rely on simple brute-force memorization, I retained the information much better and was able to revisit it again after almost a year of not seeing it in just a few minutes. Finally, the memory techniques themselves have proved to be a valuable asset when memorizing other things.

Although 15$ may seem like a bit of a steep price for such a small volume, it is well worth the cost.
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3.0 out of 5 starsHelpful but not essential
By W. Lo on May 20, 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
The author claims you can remember in 3 hours for each. I tried it knowing zero Japanese
and the answer is yes and no. The key is that the character are grouped so that ones with common
characteristics are learned together. i.e. you are learning the characters out of order.
You use some stories about each character to help you remember.
Most of the stories didn't work for me, so I made up my own.

Yes you can learn it in less than 3 hours (non-continuous). But it's at the level of recognizing the letters
of C-A-T and taking 30 seconds to figure out that is it cat. I'll need a lot more time practicing to recognize
group of letters as whole words. One thing I do agree with the author is once you can recognize the kana
characters do not go back using romaji. You'll only get better if you practice reading kana.
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4.0 out of 5 starsLearn the Kana in a day: A promise this Book fulfills
By K. on November 15, 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I love the rest of the Remembering the Kanji series, and the kana installment was no exception. I`ve previously 'memorized' the kana, but I often forgot a few of them. I remembered へ/he and ニ/ni and a few other characters that often slipped my mind with the great memory triggers in the book. Certainly much better arrangement that found in most Japanese textbooks. (Which is often the case with Heisig`s work) I was disappointed that the most easily confused letters, like シ、ツ、ン、and a few others that look remarkably similar weren`t compared side to side, which would have really helped me! Besides that, though, everything is set up in his usual logical manner, with mnemonics to help you remember. If you don`t remember things well by that type of method, visual learners can also see how the characters derived from kanji, and other learners may find the order the kana are taught in is useful to them even if the other material is not. You really can learn the kana in a day, or two if you really want to break it up. It`s great!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Easy to use

Published 2 months ago by Christian Translation LLC
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat way to learn the Kana

Great book. The technique that it teaches with is great for beginners. For a couple of the characters I used different stories because I couldn't draw the same mental image that... Read more

Published 7 months ago by otterriffic
1.0 out of 5 starsmay teach you the symbols but you will pronounce them wrong.

I've been practicing Japanese for several years and was looking for a book to help teach my friend his kana and after only looking at the sample pages I can tell this is not worth... Read more

Published 13 months ago by Rev Jake
5.0 out of 5 starsVery easy method!

I used this book to learn the Hiragana and Katagana. I had to come up with my own associations, though, because Heisig's didn't really work for me. Read more

Published 16 months ago by Pony Nose
5.0 out of 5 starslove it

Funny, cute, mind stimulating. That is what I can say about this book. The approach to learning kana is very effective.

Published 16 months ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starshelpful but not his best work.

Honestly, I bought this book for a refresher... I don't like the methods used to teach you the kana in this guide.. it has you jumping from page to page. It turned me off.. Read more

Published 17 months ago by A.Davis
3.0 out of 5 starsDon't buy the Kindle edition

Echoing the comments of a few other reviewers, the Kindle version of this book is non-functional (on the Kindle Voyage, anyway). Read more

Published 18 months ago by The 7th Dave
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Good book. Works as described.

Published 18 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsGreat memory tool for the Kana!

The non-linear 'adventure' type layout was unexpected but I like it. Kinda reminds me of those old 'choose your path' type books I read when I was little. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Brian Lin
4.0 out of 5 starsGreat teaching method, but e-book has broken links

This book is fantastic, but DO NOT buy the electronic version!! The book has lessons that take you around the kana alphabets out of order, but these buttons sometimes take you to... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Justin Kern

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