Remembering the Kanji by James Heisig

[dougbrowne]

Well, thanks for all your input guys. I realize I may have made a bad choice in the book ordered, but what's done is done and I can't turn back. Also, no one has answered my question. I already know volume 1 only teaches meaning, but since volum 1 covers all 2000+ basic kanji I'm assuming volume 2 and 3 teach readings and compounds, no?

[Tangram]

I'm looking through, and I love the learning by sentences idea. I think it's the key to grammar for me. But of course, it took me a good fifteen minutes to find what I wanted! XD

[SHAD0W]

Originally Posted by dougbrowne

no one has answered my question. I already know volume 1 only teaches meaning, but since volum 1 covers all 2000+ basic kanji I'm assuming volume 2 and 3 teach readings and compounds, no?

I'm sorry but I've no idea. I've only seen the first book, in my university library.

[CaptainThunder]

Originally Posted by dougbrowne

Well, thanks for all your input guys. I realize I may have made a bad choice in the book ordered, but what's done is done and I can't turn back. Also, no one has answered my question. I already know volume 1 only teaches meaning, but since volum 1 covers all 2000+ basic kanji I'm assuming volume 2 and 3 teach readings and compounds, no?

Volume 2 teaches on-yomi and kun-yomi readings. Volume 3 teaches an additional 1000 non-jouyou kanji.

I won't respond to every post individually, but I will say that working through Remembering the Kanji (at least volume 1) is very worthwhile. No, it doesn't teach you readings or compounds, but it does drastically reduce the time it takes to look up a kanji, and it gives you the ability to quickly break down any kanji into its component parts.

[dougbrowne]

Originally Posted by CaptainThunder

Volume 2 teaches on-yomi and kun-yomi readings. Volume 3 teaches an additional 1000 non-jouyou kanji.

I won't respond to every post individually, but I will say that working through Remembering the Kanji (at least volume 1) is very worthwhile. No, it doesn't teach you readings or compounds, but it does drastically reduce the time it takes to look up a kanji, and it gives you the ability to quickly break down any kanji into its component parts.

Thanks At least I got one positive response ;-)

And what do you mean by (at least volume 1) is very worthwhile. Your saying Volume 2/3 Do not teach the readings effectively?

[lself]

My sister, who's in Japan right now, really recommended Remembering the Kanji for me. She knows about 800 so far, and she said it really helped her.

[Lucas89]

Like has been said the first book is definatly worth it thats for sure.
If you can't get the information you want here then perhaps you would find more information about the 2nd and 3rd books from the remembering the kanji forums Reviewing the Kanji Forums It's worth a look around atleast

[Nyororin]

People are somehow missing what I am saying.

I`m NOT criticizing it because it doesn`t teach the reading at the same time. I`ve never commented on that part of it at all.

I`m criticizing it because A) It ignores the actual rules of Kanji. B) It makes up etymology that will screw you up in the end C) It uses definitions that seem to be randomly picked from a dictionary and that often aren`t in use.
Is it a "good" way to recognize some Kanji? Maybe so. I know that I actually remember some of the more offensive stories (although I hear these days the new version uses less offensive versions).

That doesn`t mean it will offer long term benefit once you get to the point that you actually could figure characters out if you REALLY knew the rules. In fact, using the method does indeed make it close to impossible to look up a new Kanji in a normal dictionary as he splits them in a unique way that doesn`t go along with any of the rules actually used by anyone else.

MAYBE MAYBE if you SERIOUSLY stick with it and finish it 100% you might find benefit, and can possibly overcome the weird handicaps you`re going to have from using the method.

Sadly though, I have yet to meet anyone who did... Just a lot of people who get incredibly frustrated once they realize that it isn`t going to actually help them with Japanese language - only sight reading of some kanji out of context.

Of course, if your only goal is to say "I can read *insert number* kanji!", and communication/comprehension is way down there on the priorities then go for it.

[CaptainThunder]

Originally Posted by dougbrowne

Thanks At least I got one positive response ;-)

And what do you mean by (at least volume 1) is very worthwhile. Your saying Volume 2/3 Do not teach the readings effectively?

Only Volume 2 teaches the readings, and no, it doesn't teach them very effectively. It's more of a dry list of facts than a book to be read, lacking the clever mnemonics that makes RtK 1 invaluable. Even so, learning the readings in isolation isn't particularly useful, since many of the kanji you learn in RtK only appear in compounds. Learn the meaning of a kanji, learn vocabulary words, context and experience will help you connect the two on your own.

Volume 3 teaches some useful kanji that you will need to know eventually if you want to be able to read Japanese at an adult level, but due to its advanced nature, you probably won't need to learn the knowledge contained therein for quite some time.

So, for the time being, Volume 1 is the only book that's required.

EDIT: To avoid double posting, I'd like to add the following points:

* Thanks to Lucas28 for linking to the Koohii forum. Not only is it helpful when working through RtK, but it houses a very active and intelligent community that can answer any Japanese language question.

* Nyororin, although you are significantly more skilled in all things Japanese than I am, I feel that I must counteract your assertion that RtK provides no benefits. I'll be honest, it doesn't teach you much; it helps you look up kanji faster and break them down into primitives. It also removes the psychological barrier to studying kanji that is seen in many learners. Whether or not these benefits are worth the time spent on the book is up to the individual.

I'm not sure what you mean by "false etymology". The book selects a list of primitives, and assigns mnemonic devices to them; yes, these are arbitrary, but they are consistent, and they assist you greatly in identifying kanji. Isn't that all that matters? If you have a copy of the book handy, could you point out some specific examples you take issue with?

As for people never finishing RtK completely, I must point out that there are quite a few people who have: visit the Koohii forum to meet them. Perhaps they can articulate the benefits of RtK better than I can.

[Tangram]

OK, after reading some more recent posts, I see that RtK simply isn't made for learning kanji - it doesn't seem that it's made to be used on its own. While I don't think that using tricks someone else came up with to remember the kanji is a good thing (I'm just old-fashioned), I'll give it merit in that if it works for some people, that's good.