Kanji Book

[Ponpon]

Hi, does anyone know a good kanji book? I tried looking for one on the internet but i have Nooooo idea. Preferably it's a book wich also describes in what order to write the kanji?? Anyone?
I'm only doing a beginners course now but am trying to pick up the Kanji aswell because i reaaaalllyy want to pass the JLPT and want to do it right so any help is appreciated =D
tankies! (>^.^)>

[anrakushi]

the thing you are going to find about kanji books and JLPT is that their kanji may not exactly match up. like i have 2 * 250 kanji books that contain according to a study the 500 most used kanji. i'm pretty sure i remember in level 3 of the JLPT there were kanji that were not in the book that were on the test. if you are just doing level 4 then just about any kanji book with 250-500 characters will contain the first 100 characters you need i would think.

i personally don't find kanji books very useful. i'm a mac user so i use a program called ProVoc for testing vocabulary etc. what i do is i set up each kanji in the program with 4 or more words that use that particular kanji. you try to take words from the JLPT vocab list if possible. then i get the program to ask me the words in english and i first write it in my exercise book then i type it into the program to confirm i wrote the characters correctly. if what i wrote was different to what the answer is then i mark it wrong (even if i type it correctly) so it will ask me to try again at the end. i usually do between 20-30 words each time, which relates to 5 kanji. then once i feel comfortable with those words i revise over previous ones.

it is really useful for testing you because you may have 1000+ words like i do and it will select them randomly and i can assure you there are plenty of times i sit there going ARRR i forgot it.. and if i continue to have trouble with the word i can mark it as a very difficult one to remember and test just those words randomly over and over until i have them down.

this is forcing me to remember how to write the characters, which i feel is very important, as well as recognise them when i see them. you will not be asked to write them on JLPT kanji section, it is multiple choice. but it really does help you remember.

[Amnell]

This is a recommendation that my oldest brother gave me to a little while ago:

"ISBN: 978-4-7700-2855-6
Title: The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary
Price: ￥3900 (about $35.00)
Reason: The very best Kanji dictionary ever published in a portable size.

"Don't let any old-fashioned stalwarts fool you about the Kodansha Kanji Dictionary. They don't like it because it uses a new-fangled S.K.I.P. system instead of the old, traditional Radical Index system (note that in order to appease the stalwarts, the Kodansha dictionary happens to have a radical index in the back of the book for people who refuse to learn new, better techniques). In fact, S.K.I.P. is far superior to the antiquated, slow, error-prone radical system. When proficient with S.K.I.P., you can find any Kanji in about 10 seconds (yes, I've timed it). To find the same Kanji using the radical system, you can spend up to 5 MINUTES trying to find the same Kanji and that's if you're lucky (as in, you didn't run into a Kanji with a hidden radical and you started with the correct reference radical)! Also, don't let the name fool you. The book is better titled, "The Practical Kodansha Kanji Dictionary" because it has every single Kanji that the Japanese government has approved for mass consumption since the 1940s -- over 2,200 (with over 30,000 combinations) and every single one has it's English meanings -- something notably missing from most other Kanji dictionaries!"

(This is from an email he sent me)

I also recommend "The Kanji Handbook", which uses the radical system but also implements a neat little character-substitution technique that is aimed at memory-aid for English speakers. It claims to be one of the best ways to learn Kanji, but I haven't been able to really try it out for myself so I can't personally guarentee anything.

I know of another, but I can't think of the name... I'll find it at my college's library tomorrow and get back to you with the name of it, as well as a description ^_^ .

[Ponpon]

Ohh thank you guys a lot =D!
Anrakushi, i have the same sort of program for the japanese words i want to study so i'll try and find on the internet how to do the same thing you do (I know how handy it is to learn it that way, learned about 300 new japanese words in only 2 weeks using a similar program =D)

And Amnell i already saw the Kodansha book, i believe it's the same company (??..publisher?! i don't know =p) that published the book i'm learning japanese from ^^ i'll go check it out again because that one did look good!
hope to hear more from you guys! =D

[Amnell]

Okay, I found the other SKIP-based Kanji dictionary at my library, so here it is:

ISBN:0-8442-8434-3
NTC's New Japanese-English Character Dictionary

It's a VERY thick book, too. It gives every reading of the character, as well as examples that use each reading. It also shows many compounds the character appears in, etc., plus has some nice "Find" features aside from the SKIP index.

And for the other Kanji dictionary I recommended that is aimed at memory aid (The Kanji Handbook), the author is Vee David. That should make it easier to find the right one.

[Jaseur]

The Kanji Learner's Dictionary is great as a reference book.

Heisig's Remembering the Kanji is pretty much unbeatable for learning the meanings and how to write the kanji.