FAQ FOR SCI.LANG.JAPAN - BOOKS BOOKS WITH FOCUS ON KANJI, READING AND WRITING

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A Japanese Reader - Graded Lessons for Mastering the Written Language, by Roy Andrew Miller

General Information: published by Tuttle Language Library. ISBN 0-8048-1647-6, 250+ pages, English and Japanese, first edition 1962, third printing 1991. I forgot the price. Main Features: Present 75 graded lessons for reading japanese. Each lesson haves a text in Japanese and explanations and translations (reading notes) for some words in English. It is presumed that the reader have some background in Japanese. The first 12 lessons cover hiragana and katakana, lessons 13-17 some basic kanjis, lessons 18-30 elementary reading, 31-47 intermediate, 48-59 advanced fiction and 60-75 advanced non-fiction, making it useful for readers from the novice until the upper-intermediate level. It makes a lot of references to Samuel Martin's "Essential Japanese" and Florence Sakade et al. "A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese". It presents the words and kanjis in a context in almost all of the lessons.

Basic Technical Japanese by Edward E. Daub, R. Byron Bird, and Nobuo Inoue

General Information: Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press. 1990. ISBN 0-299-12730-3 Price: 31.95 pounds, $35 Main Features: Full course in reading technical Japanese articles. Covers kana, kanji, and grammar. Designed for those who know no Japanese.

Remembering the Kanji: A complete course on how not to forget the meaning and writing of Japanese characters by James W. Heisig

General Information: Publisher: Japan Publications Trading Co. 1986 (3rd) ISBN 0-87040-739-2 Price: 4000 Yen, $29.95 Main Features: controversial method. Its' introduction makes the claim that about 2000 kanji can be 'learnt' in about four weeks. There has been considerable conflict in sci.lang.japan and soc.culture.japan as to whether learning one English keyword for each kanji and how to write it constitutes "learning" a kanji or not. Some people say that you cannot claim to have 'learnt' these kanji without learning significant Japanese vocabulary associated with them, something no-one claims can be done in four weeks. Others say that Heisig's course (he does not claim to have invented the method) teaches the 'kanji', separate from vocabulary and pronounciation with which are associated, but semantically separate parts the Japanese language. These of course must be learnt if you are to learn "The Japanese Language", rather than just a very small part of it. Review by Ross-c (ross-c@scs.leeds.ac.uk) (edited)

Remembering the Kanji: A systematic guide to reading Japanese characters by James W. Heisig

General Information: Publisher: Japan Publications Trading Co. 1987 ISBN 0-87040-748-1

A guide to remembering Japanese characters by Kenneth G. Henshall

General Information: Publisher: Tuttle Language Library 1988 (6th printing 1992), 675 pages, including stroke-count and on-kun index, ISBN 0-8048-1532-1
Main Features: Covers all Joyo kanji. Gives explanation of development of character, plus mnemonics for studying. Every kanji is given in handwritten form first (no clues for stroke order however), and in printed form in the 3-4 combinations that are given for each kanji.
Review by Nico A.F.M. Poppelier (N.POPPELIER@ELSEVIER.nl) (edited)

A guide to remembering Japanese characters by Kenneth G. Henshall

General Information: Publisher: Tuttle Language Library 1988 (6th printing 1992), 675 pages, including stroke-count and on-kun index, ISBN 0-8048-1532-1
Main Features: Covers all Joyo kanji. Gives explanation of development of character, plus mnemonics for studying. Every kanji is given in handwritten form first (no clues for stroke order however), and in printed form in the 3-4 combinations that are given for each kanji. Review by Nico A.F.M. Poppelier (N.POPPELIER@ELSEVIER.nl) (edited)

Comprehending Technical Japanese by Edward E. Daub, R. Byron Bird, and Nobuo Inoue

General Information: Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press. 1990. ISBN 0-299-06680-0 Price: $35
Main Features: Like "Basic Technical Japanese" (5.2.2) but intended to those that have taken 1-2 years of Japanese. Review by Ken Lunde (lunde@mv.us.adobe.com)

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Rafael Santos (santos@mickey.ai.kyutech.ac.jp) Last Update: March 25, 1995