Kanji From Zero! 1: Proven Techniques to Learn Kanji with Integrated Workbook (Second Edition) [Print Replica] Kindle Edition

Kanji from ZeroI hope you can bear with the length of this review of “Kanji from Zero.”Before I get to the actual review of “Kanji From Zero,” I think it important to tell you how I learn, and what holds me back—how one little thing in a book on language learning can result in me not trusting anything else in the book. See, I have a shelf full of kanji books. Did I finish any of them? No. I’m not lazy, but the authors of all these books think I need no explanation, and I’m to take them at face value. Or they will dump too much information, leaving my head spinning. You can skip down a bit to get to the actual review.A book called “Remembering The Kanji” by James Heisig, came highly recommended. So I bought it. I have to admit, I was pretty excited because I was told it used mnemonics, a method of remembering through a story or visualization. I’m a huge fan of mnemonics. Each kanji comes with a little story to help you remember it. Awesome. Well, not awesome, as it turned out. I found Heisig’s book unbearable, like most of the kanji books on my shelf. To my dismay, it did not give you the Japanese reading of the kanji. Only the English. What? Why? Why add an additional step for the learner? But I tried to give it a real shot. I really did. Even though I found the stories for remembering the kanji worthless, I plodded along. Then I arrived at kanji number 17. The kanji for “I,” as the book says. I knew this was wrong. The kanji for “I, me” is 私 . I think I checked every single Japanese internet dictionary, and never found Heisig’s kanji for “I,” so I can’t show it to you. This triggered my mistrust of the “Remembering the Kanji” book. How many other kanji were wrong? One of my Japanese friends thought it might be a 500 year old version of “I.” A bit like using Shakespeare’s English in today’s world, right? But in the end, my friend wasn’t sure. And if I might quote Heisig for the story of this character, “The key word here should be taken in the general psychological sense of the ‘perceiving subject.’ Now the one place in our bodies that all five senses are concentrated in is the head, which has no less than five mouths: 2 nostrils, 2 ears, and 1 mouth. Hence, five mouths = I.” James Heisig, Remembering the Kanji.OK, are you still with me? Does that mnemonic work for you? I didn’t for me—especially since it isn’t even a commonly used kanji.KANJI FROM ZEROI freakin’ love this book! First, unlike the Heisig book, it gives you the Japanese readings. Wacky, right? I will say, you really do need to know kana (hiragana and katakana). If you’ve bought George Trombley’s other “Japanese from Zero” books, you’ll know kana by the end of book two of the series. Also, if you are a self learner, I can’t recommend these “Japanese From Zero 1, 2, 3, 4,” books series too highly. Book 5 comes out early 2017 according to the author. They are awesome.Each Kanji is broken down in a little box. The box includes kanji stroke order, kanji number & English meaning, stroke count, the official kanji reading (no “5 mouths” BS here!), kanji writing boxes for practice (though I would recommend getting a notebook, and writing them 30 or 40 times each), and my favorite part: kanji words. Though the book says there are 250 basic kanji, the “Kanji Words” section brings that up to about 1500 kanji words. Here’s why I like the “kanji words” section; it combines the kanji you just learned with kanji combinations to form new words using that kanji. For example, the kanji for 5 is 五, but you will also learn the combinations like 5th day of the month, 五日, or 五分 five minutes, and other combinations. Don’t worry, each kanji has the hiragana above it, so if you don’t know the Japanese word for “5 minutes” you’ll be learning that, too. Awesome! Or let’s say you’ve learned the kanji for “voice.” You’ll also learn combinations using that kanji, like singing voice, large voice, cheering, etc.The next section in each chapter is “Words you can write” with the kanji you just learned. Holy cow, I no longer feel like a 7 year old using only kana. I’m finally writing actual word combinations in real Japanese. Whew. Next is the Kanji meaning match. You’ll get the English word, then write the kanji opposite the word. The next section is “Fill in the kanji,” where you’ll get a Japanese sentence (in kana), and you fill in the blanks with kanji in those sentences. Next is “kanji matching” where you match the kanji with its Japanese word (written in hiragana). Next is a stroke order check where you simply circle the correct stroke order for a kanji. Pretty easy if you’ve written them a lot. Then at the end of the chapter is the answer key for the exercises in that chapter (no flipping to the back of the book! YES!). While I haven’t gotten this far in the book yet, some of the chapters have a “Compound kanji word puzzle.” It’s a bit like a crossword puzzle where two or more kanji make an entirely different word. Pretty cool.The only way to learn a language is to use the language. By the time you finish a chapter, those kanji will be drummed into your brain, with no mnemonics. I promise. To be honest, I originally tried coming up with my own mnemonics for the characters, but found it unnecessary. Also, on a trip to Little Tokyo here in Los Angeles, I started seeing the few kanji I’ve learned everywhere. I guess the kanji in “Kanji from Zero” teach the most commonly used kanji. I certainly didn’t have that experience with Heisig’s book (I mean, really, how often have you read the word “gallbladder?”).The one thing I didn’t quite understand in “Kanji from Zero” is in the introduction section A-6. It states that students are often confused as to whether to use the “Chinese reading” or the “Japanese reading.” I felt that this section needed a lot more explanation. But since the book uses small hiragana above each character, I assume this will clear itself up as I proceed through the book.If you are an absolute beginner in the Japanese language, I’d recommend doing “Japanese From Zero” books one and two, at least, before starting “Kanji from Zero.” It will help a lot.

Love the pace and ease of the lessons! Great for beginning learners of Kanji!

My teen son was homeschooled since eighth grade. One of his main interests turned out to be languages. In his first couple years of homeschool, he attempted to learn Japanese using Rosetta Stone (he went through the full first level and most of the second), using the first Genki book and workbook, various other beginner books (as I scroll through the popular books on Japanese language in Amazon, I see we own many of the titles...), and by doing a few other things like us just going through flashcards of hiragana and katakana.Halfway through his Junior/11th grade year (Jan 2017), he told me he felt like he learned a lot of Japanese, but said he wouldn't be able to put together even the simplest sentence - written or spoken - if he was put to the test. As with all things homeschool, there's some trial and error, and we occasionally try something that doesn't work. This was definitely one of those things. I knew he was frustrated, but not at all ready to give up.At that point we came across Japanese From Zero! Book 1. When he started using that first workbook and discovered the hundreds of free videos the author, George Trombley, put on YouTube, I mean, this kid was transformed. He ate that book up, and book 2. By the end of that school year (June 2017) he'd gone from saying he couldn't say "How are you?" to being comfortable enough to converse with teens in Japan. In the summer he completed book 3. Senior/12th grade year (starting September 2017) he completed Japanese From Zero! 4 and Kanji From Zero! 1. He kept up with the supplemental videos from George. When George asks a question, I'm continually impressed at how my son replies correctly, without fail, before George supplies the answer.My son is telling me to say he didn’t feel he started actually learning Japanese before he opened the first From Zero! book.These books and the free supplemental videos are by far the best system we've found for any English speaker who wants to learn Japanese.UPDATE MAY 2019:My son graduated homeschool Spring 2018. He asked if he could take a placement test for Japanese at the university he was planning to attend. Recall he’d only gone through George Trombley’s Japanese From Zero! books 1-4 plus Kanji from Zero! book 1 and the free YouTube videos. From the placement test, he was put in 3rd semester Japanese. He likely tested into 4th semester, but as that class is only offered each Spring, he was happy to go into 3rd semester.How did he do? He got straight As - a 4.0 in both 3rd and 4th semester, and he’s continuing with his Japanese studies this coming year. Each class was worth 5 credits, and for the two classes he skipped, he was given 4 credits each. So for 3rd semester he got 13 credits for his one Japanese class, and another 5 in 4th semester. Just from self studying these books in homeschool.

This is a review for the Paperback version of the book.TLDR:If you are struggling with Learning Kanji, give this book a try. Worked very well for me.Long:I'll be honest... I was expecting some "Anime" version of study with "Manga" style learning... But being completely stuck learning Kanji I did give this book a try... And was pleasantry surprised by its quality.I've studied Japanese for about four to five years. Have a reasonable handle on Kana-s and can listen and speak. Practice over video calls with teacher from Japan, according to whom I was about the level of a preschooler. The book helped me get to the next level.What this book has so far for me (although I am about 1/3 into it):- The "common" use Kanji, 240 total.- Explanation of how to write these Kanji - stroke order and tips- History and Trivia behind some Kanji (which helps a lot to dilute the dry study of Kanji)- Very brief mnemonic techniques/mentions, although they say specifically the book is not about it- Very well structured exercise (I remember more from one set of exercise)The exercise sheets is what separated this book from the rest for me.What I would love to have for this book:- Online support, Companion app etc- Downloadable PDF of the exercise problems only (I dislike writing in books and like to redo exercises for memory retention)Overall - Highly recommended.

Estou estuando japonês por conta própria e estava em busca de livros que me guiassem com os primeiros kanjis. Eu pesquisei muito e levando em consideração o custo benefício, esse livro me pareceu a melhor opção. Há muitas avaliações positivas em relação a ele, levei isso em conta também.A maioria dos livros de japonês separa o livro texto do livro de prática, o que acaba ficando inviável, pois um só um livro já é super caro e você ter que, obrigatoriamente, comprar 2 livros para ter todo o conteúdo necessário para estudar não dá né. Ponto positivo pro KDZ1 que une as duas coisas em um livro só. Por conta disso, é um livro bem grosso, não pensei que seria tão pesado. Parece livro de escola mesmo. Ao meu ver, acho que vou conseguir estudar com ele, pelo menos todos os Kanji N5 e alguns N4.Sobre ser em inglês: não sou fluente, mas meu inglês é B1 mais ou menos, consigo ler a maior parte das coisas, mas óbvio que 1 palavra ou outra às vezes preciso pesquisar a tradução para entender. Mas não se preocupe quanto a isso, pois a maior parte é mesmo pra você conseguir saber o significado do kanji ou palavra, visto que neste livro há muito pouco de teoria e explicações mirabolantes, ele é bem direto ao ponto até onde vi. No entanto, não recomendo para quem é A1 e começo do A2 de inglês, pois não vai conseguir avançar direito aqui, tendo sempre que parar para traduzir.Ainda não comecei a estudar por ele, pois antes quero terminar o Japanese from Zero 1 e 2 que é que o povo recomenda. Ideal também que você já saiba todos os kana. Outro detalhe também é que nenhum kanji terá furigana... Ele será apresentado com seu significado, ordem de traços e as principais leituras kun e on. Então, depois disso você precisa ir memorizando mesmo. Nessa hora, é bom usar o Anki.No mais, volto aqui quando tiver estudado mais por esse livro para saber se ele de fato funciona rsrsrs.Sobre a entrega da Amazon, impecável como sempre. Atualmente é o melhor lugar para se comprar livros, entrega rápida até quando tem feriado. Comprei na semana anterior ao Carnaval e mesmo assim teve atualização do transporte no feriado. Amo esse site. ♥ O livro veio com alguns amassado nas pontas, mas nada de mais. Tudo perfeito.

Kanji from Zero is a spin off book from the, Japanese from Zero series written by George Trombley and Mrs Kanako Hatanaka.By the time this book was released I already had a good understanding of the Kanji symbols. However, I personally use this as a reference book even today to freshen up the old memory.If you are following the from Zero series then Kanji will be introduced in book 3 but this one does go into much more detail and focuses just on Kanji. It works well as a standalone book or a complementary of the third.The book is written in English but you will still need to know Katakana and Hiragana for both the examples and the questions. As for typos and mistakes, I’ve gone through this book several times and have yet to find a single one.The book is split into several chapters with each chapter having around seven Kanji symbols. So using the first chapter as an example, you’re given the first seven kanji, which are also the numbers 1-7. It shows you the stroke order using miniature arrows with numbers above them to ensure you draw them in the correct order. In case you are unaware, writing Kanji in the correct stroke order is important for both appearance and time saving.Next to the symbol there are some blank boxes for you to practice writing in if you so wish. I personally used graph paper rather then the book. Below that, you are given four samples of the symbols in use so for example, the Kanji for one will be placed next to the symbol for month to create the word for January. (ichi = one, gatsu = month)Later on in that chapter, it will give a few sentences with a word missing in which you have to identify the correct word and also the correct Kanji symbol from the same chapter. However, fear not as on the last page you are given a complete list of answers.The one thing I can praise this book for is not falling for the ‘learn all the Kanji’s’ style that most other books seem to go for. Instead it opts for a smaller amount of around 240 and goes into more depth about how to write it, use it and combine it for maximum effect. The first Kanji book I ever got simply boasted about how it had hundreds of Kanjis yet it had no explanation of how to use them effectively. Kanji from Zero really is a case of quality over quantity.Now, for those of you working towards the N5 and wondering if this has enough Kanji in it then the answer is yes. I’m not entirely sure but if I remember correctly, the N5 exam requires knowledge of the first 100 symbols and this book covers all of them.Overall, the book is one of the best Kanji learning tools on the market. As I previously stated it really is quality over quantity. Like a good dictionary, this book will be a very useful tool to have for your Japanese learning.

Bello e utile per iniziare da zero

Having bought the first four books of the "Japanese From Zero!" series, I felt that buying this kanji book was necessary as well (due to the rearrangement of which kanji will be taught in the next revision of the fourth book in the JFZ series, so I could therefore not miss out on any prerequisites that will be needed for the fifth book once it gets released). People may argue that this book is too simple and/or slow, and that only covering 240 kanji in 400+ pages is a joke or whatnot, or that it doesn't cover certain kanji that you may run into almost instantly with any written/published text (like, 私（わたし）, but you will learn this in the other Kanji From Zero books, as this kanji is taught later on!), but this is still 240 characters that will sooner or later be NECESSARY to know. The kanji taught here are the exact same ones children in Japan learn in the first and second grade, and if the Ministry of Education of Japan felt that they are important enough to learn first, then I feel you should learn as they do as well. This book offers, as it advertises, excellent insight into kanji components that other books simply gloss over, often leaving the reader confused and wishing for more, and it doesn't thrust out 2000+ characters for you to simply read once and remember right then and there. Of course, that being said, some people HAVE TO or WANT TO learn like that, but if you're learning anything, I suggest that you ease into it, working slowly, but surely. As a kid, you weren't shown or thrown 'complex' equations in mathematics before you learned how to count. This book helps you LEARN kanji. Now I would recommend that you have /some/ knowledge of Japanese already, as some of the activities require you to fill in the blanks, so you would need a basic understanding of grammar and vocabulary (I would recommend starting this book as soon as you have finished JFZ book 2).What to expect:- Extensive activities to reinforce the kanji that you are taught- Learning the 1st and 2nd grade educational kanji- Explanations of how radicals work or help you understand any particular kanji- Notes on kanji usage, and how certain kanji came to be- An excellent stepping stone up the mountain that is kanji- An excellent resource from an excellent teacher/author (or I should say, authors)What NOT to expect:- A guide for JLPT kanji (overlaps may occur, but this guide/resource doesn't focus on the kanji that this test requires)- Learning a super high number of kanji (some books teach a lot more in a shorter amount of time, but 240 characters is excellent as a start!)- Understanding a lot of written materials (materials that assume you have a more extensive understanding of kanji) after completion of this bookPlease forgive me if I made any errors, or any sentences that seem to contradict each other. What I am trying to express is that this is truly the way to start learning kanji, by easing into it and making sure you understand one before working on the next.Thank you so much for the work that you all do, From Zero! I will certainly be acquiring your other books as they are released.