The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering 2300 Characters

I rarely post a review, but when I do, it's because the book really deserves it. This book is a fantastic resource for anyone who is serious in learning Japanese, but why you ask? What it has to make it different from other similar books? PROS You actually learn vocabulary in this book. The best way to learn on/kun readings is definitely learning the vocabulary with the kanji, what is more, this book always give you about three to five words/sentences for each kanji you learn, making this a super valuable tool for learning. The title of the book may be humble in its way, because it doesn't teach you 2300 characters. It teaches you much more than that, including the 2300 characters plus around a 6000 to 9000 words vocabulary to learn (rough guess, I didn't count). The vocabulary is taken from "The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary: Revised and Expanded", another great asset in combination with this book. To learn Kanji, this book have some things that makes it much more easier to learn than most books out there (believe me, I have several books for Kanji, and this is my favorite one so far), the order of characters is very well implemented and yes, the order you learn is really important, because you have to fortify the memories from what you learn. The best way to fortify your memories is through mnemonic, short stories or phrases that makes you learn and retain the Kanji. This book tries to follow a solid, concrete aspect, so you can distinguish between similar Kanji and meanings, although, of course with so much mnemonics in the book, a few of them may be not so helpful for you, in that case, you can think of your own story or mnemonic to complement the Kanji you are having difficulty. Aside from Kanji meanings/readings and Vocabulary, you can also learn the Kanji stroke order - very useful to learn to write them; and the traditional Kanji (probably used in specific literature books) which can be useful for advanced learners of the language. CONS The only thing I would change in this book, which would be great in my opinion, is to add the type of each word presented to you. For example, noun, verb, adjective, etc. It has sometimes distinction for vert transitive and intransitive. Problem is, this is a flaw from the Kodansha Kanji Dictionary itself, not this book itself. What happens is this book takes the vocabulary from there, therefore it doesn't include the type of the word nor any indication of what type of word is that vocabulary coming from. A simple example would be like this: 二倍 (nibai) double, 倍にする (bainisuru) double. One is a noun, and the other is a suru verb (to double), but as Kodansha Kanji Dictionary doesn't have indications for type of words, the new learner may have a difficulty time figuring out what the word really means. This was just a simple example that can cause confusion, but most of times you will never know if the word is a verb or noun if you are a beginner, so it's a good idea to use other dictionaries to pair up with this book. COMPARING WITH - Remembering the Kanji - by James W. Heisig I studied and completed the book Remembering the Kanji 1 - by James W. Heisig, and I have to admit, while Heisig does a good job on teaching the meaning of the Kanji, I personally dislike how the RTK book is lazy with stories and mnemonics. In the introduction, it says you need to create your own stories and mnemonics using the keywords of each Kanji, but in reality, the learner just wants to learn, and most of the time he/she won't have the time to create everything for each Kanji. This book on the other side is much more complete in that sense, because it gives you more stories, more phrases, and more content to build your memory with, without the need to waste time being super creative with tons of characters. You clearly see that this book loves more the Kanji than RTK or other similar books. Other problem is that RTK does not teach you the vocabulary in the same scope as you are learning each Kanji. This book here shines in this aspect, because you are learning the Kanji, and you are also learning common words that uses that Kanji, what is more, in a cumulative way. You won't see strange Kanji in the vocabulary until you learned them. SUMMARY This book is definitely the best book released so far to learn and memorize the Kanji and useful Vocabulary as extra. The only downside is the source - "The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary: Revised and Expanded" which doesn't teach you the type of the words - if it's a noun, verb or adjective.

I know Japanese up to the lower intermediate level (three college classes; ~1,000 words), and I really wanted to continue learning the language on my own, with a preliminary goal of reading shounen manga in their native tongue. Alas, every English speaker learning Japanese knows the huge hurdle that kanji represent when it comes to reading. I needed a method to pick up kanji effectively, so after reading the reviews and book descriptions, I selected this book because it was highly rated and, most importantly, because it includes all of the 2300 basic kanji (most books only include several hundred up to a thousand, requiring you to inconveniently jump ship to another book when you finish). I've been using this book for just over a month, having made a New Year's resolution to learn 4 kanji per day, a goal I set using the book's layout of 4 kanji per page. This will allow me to begin my dive into native materials before the year's end. I have found that compared to my experience studying kanji from textbooks (e.g. Genki, Tobira), Kodansha offers a much more intuitive experience. The basic Japanese textbooks just throw kanji at you and tell you to memorize them. They do not explain radicals, which can really simplify the learning and association process; they do not use visual mnemonics or etymological backgrounds; and they do not introduce kanji in an order conducive to learning. As two examples of many, Genki teaches the character for "road" (道) without ever first explaining the character for "head/neck" (首); or, Genki teaches the character for mother (母), without telling you that this represents breasts (turned sideways)...trying forgetting the character now! This isn't to fault the textbooks, as such explanations are beyond their scope; it's merely to point out the textbooks are a rather ineffective way to learn all of the kanji, particularly complicated ones. Kodansha, fortunately, uses a multi-dimensional approach focused on one thing: making the kanji stick in your mind. Depending on what is useful for an individual kanji, the book explains the kanji's meaning using the appropriate and salient selection of radicals, visual mnemonics, or etymological backgrounds, or any combination thereof. I like that this book (unlike others) does not force awkward or ill-fitting visual mnemonics or complicated and obscure etymological backgrounds on kanji where it doesn't work; the book uses only what relatively simple learning aid makes the most sense for each individual kanji. Furthermore, the book introduces kanji in a building block order, allowing you to utilize what you have already learned to simplify the learning of new kanji. For example, kanji are often introduced as combinations of kanji you have already studied; as conceptually related groups tied around a similar radical or idea; or as contrasting groups where similar appearing kanji with different meanings are compared by the stroke to emphasize what makes them visually different, explaining how to interpret that visual difference to underscore the different meanings. It achieves this without becoming dull and repetitive. Each kanji includes several, typically 3-6, example words. The example words are strategically selected to use kanji previously covered in the book, which helps reinforce what you have studied. Per the book's own recommendation, I find it most effective to learn each kanji in the context of the example words (instead of just associating the sounds to the single kanji), selecting 2-3 vocabulary that cover at least two (where two or more exist) of the kanji's pronunciations. As suggested, I write the new words at least 10 times each, reading aloud (or in my head) as I write, associating sound to character. Sometimes the words will be familiar -- you knew the word, just not how to write it. Sometimes, the word is new, so you increase your vocabulary. Using this method, I have not only expanded my kanji knowledge base, I have expanded my vocabulary. Additionally, each day, before I begin to study my 4 new kanji, I return to the previous day's kanji to write them, and then I will select 2-5 kanji (often ones I struggled with) from even earlier pages. Over the past month or so, I have comfortably learned ~150 kanji (I up to kanji #188, but already knew some of the kanji introduced). The book's main negative is its lack of context: it does not use example sentences for the words. I understand, however, that this is a space issue (the tome would be enormous were this included for all 2300 kanji), and furthermore, this is a kanji book, not a vocabulary or grammar book. And it succeeds at teaching kanji quite well. Particularly for new verbs, I use a dictionary to get an idea of the verb's usage. With a quick search on my phone's Japanese dictionary app, I do not even have to close the book while I look up example sentences when needed. Thus, I do not feel inconvenienced by the lack of examples. Granted, this is the first book of its kind that I have purchased, but I am convinced that there is not another book on the market to beat it for teaching non-native speakers kanji quickly and effectively.

Honestly this book is underrated!! It's exactly what I was looking for and it's ideal for visual learners like me. It covers all the frequent kanji, you learn each kanji thro context. I love that each page has 4 kanji the exact amount I'm learning every day. I love the mnemonics they're clear and make sense. I also like that the author put the similar kanji under eachother which is super helpful! The greatest thing is, it's really affordable unlike the other sources that don't even cover all the joyo kanji. I don't memorize all the words just the ones that I think they'll be useful to learn, also when it comes to the readings I memorize the one that I saw in the words that I chose to memorize. I just pick one or two words at maximum for each kanji and I add also my own sentence that includes the kanji I just learned (I use chatGPT or Wanikani to search for the sentences, you don't need to pay for WK just use the search bar right away). I just have a small note, it doesn't feel like a course at all but more of a dictionary. The title is a bit misleading for those who actually looking for a course. Also if you're a complete beginner I suggest waiting a bit till you're familiar with some kanji. Watch videos with Japanese subtitles as well, honestly this is how I memorized many kanji without effort.

I use this book to help practice handwriting and differentiating Kanji between similar ones. Overall, it's pretty good for this. I can't vouch for using it as the only study material, but using it to supplement your other vocabulary sources works like a charm. Given that it's core selling point is the mnemonics, some of them fall a little short in terms of quality, but most are at least evocatIve enough to be memorable. Where I think the book shines the most is the ordering. Some sources will use the Kyoiku Kanji Levels as orderings, some will use the NLPT, some will use frequency, and some will use stroke orders. I don't have a lot to say about those approaches. The ordering in KKLC is a fine piece of craftsmanship. You start out with simpler Kanji in terms of writing, but you learn things like 無 before kanji like 束, so it's also influenced in part by frequency. Kanji that are used together very frequently show up next to each other, so you learn 約 and 束 one after another. After a short while, the ordering focuses a lot more on radicals, so you can easily tell different Kanji with the same radical apart (e.g. 寺,侍,時,待,持,詩 all come at the same time). In addition, you learn practical Hyougai Kanji, and some Jinmeiyou Kanji. This is especially helpful for the mnemonics (e.g. 尺 is not used often in Japanese, but it's taught in order to facilitate Kanji like 釈 and 駅) One qualm is with the spine. It's a real pain to keep the book open while writing, especially in the beginning. On top of that, the spine will wear after holding it open in one spot for too long. That's an inherent flaw with paperback, though, but it's especially noticeable with this book. Just something to keep in mind. Overall, very, very pleased. Use this to supplement you Anki deck, grammar workbook, practice material, etc. If you have trouble distinguishing and writing Kanji, this is the way to go, in my opinion. With it, you can learn the stroke order, radicals, readings, example vocabulary, and mnemonics, which not many other sources can advertise.

A lot of efforts went into this course and it shows. A must for any serious student.

So far the course has been great. Do read the intro to this book very carefully, it will pay dividends later. If you have even the slightest background in linguistics but you appreciate a practical approach still, you'll particularly love what the author did! Even if you don't, this is pretty much as close as you can get to a perfect approach for dedicated Kanji study in my opinion. Now I get why KKLC is a staple in japanese language learning! がんばって！

Okey