Category: language

Students who have learned to read and write the kanji taught in Japanese schools run into the same difficulty that Japan university students themselves face: the number of characters included in the approved list is not sufficient for advanced reading and writing. Although each academic specialization requires supplementary kanji of its own, there is considerable overlap. With that in mind, this new, updated edition of Remembering the Kanji 3: Writing and Reading the Japanese Characters for Upper Level Proficiency, by James W. Heisig, employs the same methods as in Volume 1 and Volume 2 in this popular series to introduce additional characters useful for upper-level proficiency, bringing the total of all three volumes to 3,000 kanji.

The 3rd edition has been updated to reflect the 196 new kanji approved by the government in 2010, all of which have been relocated in Volume 1. The selection of 800 new kanji is based on frequency lists and cross-checked against a number of standard Japanese kanji dictionaries.

September 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3702-0 / $34.00 (PAPER)

Following the first volume of James W. Heisig’s popular series of textbooks Remembering the Kanji, this new edition of Volume 2 provides students with helpful tools for learning the pronunciation of the kanji. Behind the notorious inconsistencies in the way the Japanese language has come to pronounce the characters it received from China lie several coherent patterns. Identifying these patterns and arranging them in logical order can reduce dramatically the amount of time spent in the brute memorization of sounds unrelated to written forms.

The 4th edition has been updated to include the 196 new kanji approved by the government in 2010 as “general-use” kanji. A new edition of Remembering the Kanji 3, which completes the series, will be available in Fall 2012.

April 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3669-6 / $32.00 (PAPER)

Remembering Simplified Hanzi 2, by James W. Heisig and Timothy W. Richardson, is the second of two volumes designed to help students learn the meaning and writing of the 3,000 most frequently used simplified Chinese characters. (A parallel set of volumes has been prepared for traditional characters.) The 1,500 characters introduced in Book 1 include the top 1,000 by frequency, plus another 500 best learned at an early stage. Book 2 adds the remaining 1,500 characters to complete the set.

January 2012 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3655-9 / $29.00 (PAPER)

Concise descriptions of grammar, use, and genres make Learning Japanese for Real: A Guide to Grammar, Use, and Genres of the Nihongo World, by Senko K. Maynard, indispensable for adult learners of the language. The volume presents a holistic view of the knowledge required for proficiency in Japanese. Following introductory chapters on the language’s background, sound system and scripts, word types, and grammatical categories, it introduces readers to simple then complex sentences. A chapter on emotive expressions contains highly useful entries on attitudinal adverbs, exclamatory phrases, interjections, and rhetorical questions—all of which carry emotive meanings. Learning Japanese for Real then goes beyond grammar to discuss how the language is used in interaction.

February 2011 / ISBN 978-0-8248-3540-8 / $30.00 (PAPER)