Remembering the Kanji
Encyclopedia
Remembering the Kanji is a series of three volumes by James Heisig
, intended to teach the 3007 most frequent Kanji
to students of the Japanese language
. The series is available in English, Spanish and German. There is a supplementary book (Remembering the Kana) to the series to teach the Japanese syllabaries.
Remembering the Hanzi by the same author is intended to teach the 3000 most frequent Hanzi to students of the Chinese language
. (This book has two variants: Remembering Simplified Hanzi and Remembering Traditional Hanzi, each in two volumes.)
The royalties of all the remembering the kanji volumes are donated to a postdoctoral scholarship fund at the Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture in Nagoya.
In the book, Heisig presents a method for learning how to associate the meaning and writing of 2042 kanji
, including most of the jōyō kanji
. There is no attention given to the readings of the kanji, as Heisig believes that one should learn the writing and meaning first, before moving on to the readings in Volume II.
Each kanji (and each non-kanji component) is assigned a unique keyword, a simple concept with a specific range of meaning. A kanji's written form and its keyword are associated by imagining a scene or story connecting the meaning of the given kanji with the meanings of all the elements used to write that kanji.
The method requires the student to invent their own stories to associate the keyword meaning with the written form. The text presents detailed stories in Part I, proceeding through Part II with less verbose stories, encouraging the student to use the stories as practice for creating their own. After the 508 kanji in Parts I and II, the remainder of the kanji (Part III) have the component keywords but no stories. In cases where the reader may be easily confused or for difficult kanji, Heisig often provides a small story or hint.
All the kanji are analysed by components—Heisig terms these "primitives"—which may be traditional radicals
, other kanji themselves or a collection of strokes not normally identified as independent entities. The basic primitives are introduced throughout the book, just as they are needed to learn the kanji that use them. This order is designed to introduce the kanji efficiently, from the primitives and kanji already learned, rather than the order of their frequency or the dictates of the jōyō grading.
This edition is available via University Of Hawaii Press.
The additional kanji in the sixth edition have also been made into a supplement for older additions.
The remainder of the Chinese readings are introduced in separate chapters, designed to help the student learn the readings from everyday words and useful compounds.
Volume 3 presents a further 965 kanji in addition to the 2042 kanji introduced in Volume 1 and Volume 2. It is split into two parts. The first is in the style of Volume I, where the writing and keywords are learned. The majority of the new kanji are introduced according to their traditional radical. The other part is in a similar style to Volume 2, where the readings of the kanji are learned.
and katakana
. It uses mostly the same imaginative memory technique as Remembering the Kanji I, though some katakana are prompted to be learned as simplified forms of their hiragana counterparts.
Remembering the Kana succeeds the book Remembering the Hiragana: A Complete Course on How to Teach Yourself the Japanese Syllabary in 3
Hours, (75 pages. 10th printing, 1999,) which only taught the hiragana (and not the katakana).
Study
For the Hanzi books:
The kana book:
James Heisig
James W. Heisig is a philosopher who specializes in the field of philosophy of religion. He has published several books, their topics ranging amongst the notion of God in Jungian psychology, the Kyoto School of Philosophy, and contemporary interreligious faith...
, intended to teach the 3007 most frequent Kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
to students of the Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. The series is available in English, Spanish and German. There is a supplementary book (Remembering the Kana) to the series to teach the Japanese syllabaries.
- Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not To Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters
- Remembering the Kanji 2: A Systematic Guide to Reading Japanese Characters
- Remembering the Kanji 3: Writing and Reading Japanese Characters for Upper-Level Proficiency
- Remembering the Kana: A Guide to Reading and Writing the Japanese Syllabaries in 3 Hours Each.
Remembering the Hanzi by the same author is intended to teach the 3000 most frequent Hanzi to students of the Chinese language
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
. (This book has two variants: Remembering Simplified Hanzi and Remembering Traditional Hanzi, each in two volumes.)
- Remembering the Simplified Hanzi: How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Chinese Characters
- Remembering Traditional Hanzi: How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Chinese Characters
The royalties of all the remembering the kanji volumes are donated to a postdoctoral scholarship fund at the Nanzan Institute for Religion & Culture in Nagoya.
Remembering the Kanji 1
Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not To Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters (usually simplified to Remembering the Kanji 1 and abbreviated to RTK1) is the first in the Remembering the Kanji book series by James Heisig. It was first published in 1977, with the sixth edition of the book released in 2011.In the book, Heisig presents a method for learning how to associate the meaning and writing of 2042 kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
, including most of the jōyō kanji
Joyo kanji
The is the guide to kanji characters announced officially by the Japanese Ministry of Education. Current jōyō kanji are those on a list of 2,136 characters issued in 2010...
. There is no attention given to the readings of the kanji, as Heisig believes that one should learn the writing and meaning first, before moving on to the readings in Volume II.
Heisig's method
The method differs markedly from traditional rote-memorization techniques practiced in most courses. The course teaches the student to utilize all the constituent parts of a kanji's written form, and a mnemonic device that Heisig refers to as "imaginative memory".Each kanji (and each non-kanji component) is assigned a unique keyword, a simple concept with a specific range of meaning. A kanji's written form and its keyword are associated by imagining a scene or story connecting the meaning of the given kanji with the meanings of all the elements used to write that kanji.
The method requires the student to invent their own stories to associate the keyword meaning with the written form. The text presents detailed stories in Part I, proceeding through Part II with less verbose stories, encouraging the student to use the stories as practice for creating their own. After the 508 kanji in Parts I and II, the remainder of the kanji (Part III) have the component keywords but no stories. In cases where the reader may be easily confused or for difficult kanji, Heisig often provides a small story or hint.
All the kanji are analysed by components—Heisig terms these "primitives"—which may be traditional radicals
Radical (Chinese character)
A Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...
, other kanji themselves or a collection of strokes not normally identified as independent entities. The basic primitives are introduced throughout the book, just as they are needed to learn the kanji that use them. This order is designed to introduce the kanji efficiently, from the primitives and kanji already learned, rather than the order of their frequency or the dictates of the jōyō grading.
Sixth Edition
A sixth edition was released in April 2011. The sixth edition includes the corrections for all the current errata, as well as additional kanji. The additional kanji has been included in response to the changes to the "general use" kanji list (in December 2010).This edition is available via University Of Hawaii Press.
The additional kanji in the sixth edition have also been made into a supplement for older additions.
Remembering the Kanji 2
Remembering the Kanji 2: A Systematic Guide to Reading Japanese Characters (often referred to as Remembering the Kanji 2 and abbreviated as RTK2) is the second in the Remembering the Kanji. Volume II presents the official readings of the 2042 kanji introduced in Volume I.Differences from Volume I
Unlike the first volume, this book does not rely on "imaginative memory". The book is mainly focused on the Chinese readings, however one chapter does suggest a mnemonic device for learning the Japanese readings. Heisig splits the kanji into various chapters, according to the most appropriate method to learn their readings. For each Chinese reading of a kanji, an example compound word is given.Heisig's method
Heisig groups roughly half the kanji according to "signal primitives" that signal a certain Chinese reading. There will be one or more exceptions to this rule. These are presented by Heisig in an increasing order of difficulty.The remainder of the Chinese readings are introduced in separate chapters, designed to help the student learn the readings from everyday words and useful compounds.
Remembering the Kanji 3
Remembering the Kanji 3: Writing and Reading Japanese Characters for Upper-Level Proficiency (often referred to as Remembering the Kanji 3 and abbreviated as RTK3) is the third in the Remembering the Kanji book series by James Heisig. This volume was co-authored by Tanya Sienko.Volume 3 presents a further 965 kanji in addition to the 2042 kanji introduced in Volume 1 and Volume 2. It is split into two parts. The first is in the style of Volume I, where the writing and keywords are learned. The majority of the new kanji are introduced according to their traditional radical. The other part is in a similar style to Volume 2, where the readings of the kanji are learned.
Remembering the Kana
Remembering the Kana: A Guide to Reading and Writing the Japanese Syllabaries in 3 hours each (Combined edition) is a book by James Heisig for remembering hiraganaHiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...
and katakana
Katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
. It uses mostly the same imaginative memory technique as Remembering the Kanji I, though some katakana are prompted to be learned as simplified forms of their hiragana counterparts.
Remembering the Kana succeeds the book Remembering the Hiragana: A Complete Course on How to Teach Yourself the Japanese Syllabary in 3
Hours, (75 pages. 10th printing, 1999,) which only taught the hiragana (and not the katakana).
Remembering the Hanzi
Heisig and Timothy Richardson have also written Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1 (University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 2009) and Remembering Traditional Hanzi 1, which apply the same method to Chinese. Volume 2 of each book is planned for publishing in 2012.External links
- English page for Remembering the Kanji I, including links to other languages.
- English page for Remembering the Kanji II, including links to other languages.
- English page for Remembering the Kanji III.
- List of Heisig keyword gradings by James R. Hester at sci.lang.Japan
- A sample of "Remembering the Kanji" by James Heisig containing the first 200 kanji.
- Publisher webpage contains errata
- The Author's index at Nanzan U
Study
- a formatted index to Remembering the Kanji 1, including primitives.
- A formatted index to Remembering the Kanji 1.
- Reviewing the Kanji A site for story sharing among people using the book, including a review system (using spaced repetitionSpaced repetitionSpaced repetition is a learning technique that incorporates increasing intervals of time between subsequent review of previously learned material; this exploits the psychological spacing effect...
) and forum.- The associated wiki of Reviewing the Kanji.
- Reviewing the Hanzi The Chinese version for Remembering Hanzi learners (currently supports Traditional Hanzi).
- Anki a generic spaced repetition software with support for Remembering the Kanji.
- Tagaini Jisho a Japanese and English Dictionary with Kanji stroke order.
- A support and encouragement group for people using the book "Remembering the Kanji"
For the Hanzi books:
- Heisig's page for the books, containing downloads of the introduction and first 100 or so characters, and errata to the first printing.
The kana book: