The Cunning Linguist

Everyone agrees that it is possible to learn to speak Japanese in a reasonable amount of time, but no one has ever said that about reading and writing it. It is widely held that spoken and written Japanese require separate efforts by the student, as if these two aspects were in fact distinct languages.

A first step toward alleviating this situation was taken by Yasuko Mitamura in 1985 with the publication of Let's Learn Hiragana and Let's Learn Katakana, which continue to help thousands of students every year to master these two forms of Japanese script. Now, Let's Learn Kanji goes to the heart of the problem: the learning of kanji (i.e., Chinese characters as they are used in Japan).

Not simply a brilliant exposition but also a workbook, it teaches the student how to write the basic strokes, how to put these together into full-fledged kanji, and how kanji function in the context of example sentences. Progress is continually checked, and the student is encouraged through quizzes and exercises. The result: 250 fundamental characters learned almost painlessly.

After graduating from Australian National University with a degree in Japanese and Indonesian, John Millen worked for several years as a teacher of Japanese in Australia, and contributed to the Japanese-language curriculum development for Australian high schools. He is currently employed as a teacher at Seikei Gakuen in Tokyo, Japan, and has recently worked as a co-translator on Mizue Sasaki's The Complete Japanese Expression Guide, also published by Tuttle.

All 448 kanji in this set are those prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education for the first three grades of school. This thorough revision of the 1995 language learning book is designed for travelers and beginning learners of Japanese.

Translator and freelance writer Alexander Kask lives in Tokyo, Japan.

The 448 kanji in this set are those prescribed by the Japanese Ministry of Education for the first three grades of school. Tuttle Flash Cards is a comprehensive series of flash cards designed to help travelers and beginning learners of Asian languages. The series will include Kanji Cards I and II, Kana Cards, Japanese in a Flash I and II , vocabulary-building cards, as well as parallel sets of flash cards for Arabic, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese.

Alexander Kask is an editor, translator, and freelance writer living in Tokyo, Japan.

Kanji Cards have been a standout bestseller on how to read and write the Japanese language for many years for good reason?they provide ease of use, efficient organization and a large amount of data packed into compact cards. An integral and essential element for anyone serious about the study of Japanese, Kanji Cards Volume 3 picks up where Volumes 1 and 2 left off. There is still a focus on fundamental characters, but Volume 3 covers the more advanced characters learned thereafter, thus completing the study of kanji in the Japanese language.
Consisting of a complete boxed set of flash cards, Kanji Cards Volume 3, along with Volumes 1 and 2, are a perfect investment for anyone interested in learning Japanese quickly and easily.

Alexander Kask is a practicing lawyer in Canada. He is the author of Kanji Cards Volumes 1 and 2, and the bestselling Japanese in the Martial Arts. Kask is also an accomplished martial artist and instructor of Classical Ju-jutsu.

Kanji Cards Volume 4 is the fourth and final installment in the Tuttle Kanji Cards series. It presents the student with the most advanced and complex kanji. Building on the foundation established in the first three volumes, Kanji Cards Volume 4 utilizes a highly acclaimed methodology that has become the gold standard for kanji learning for thousands of students worldwide.

The four volumes in this set present all 1,945 characters that the Japanese Ministry of Education has determined one needs to read and write Japanese (the kanji). On each Joyo card, the basic readings and uses for each character as verbs and adjectives are described in detail along with various meanings of the character as a noun. The radicals used to organize the kanji and the individual graphic elements that make up the remainder of a character are clearly presented for each character?essential information that helps the student master the kanji more effectively. In total, the four volumes also present 7,700 compound vocabulary items?words that have been carefully compiled to reflect the vocabulary most frequently used in everyday conversation, thus enabling the user to greatly increase his vocabulary and mastery of the Japanese language.

Alexander Kask is a practicing lawyer in Canada. He received a B.A. degree in 1991, and a B. Laws degree in 1999. He is the author of Kanji Cards: Volumes 1, 2, 3 and the bestselling Japanese for the Martial Arts. Alex is also an accomplished martial artist and instructor of Classical Jujutsu.

There are many things that make learning to read Japanese difficult, and all of them have to do with kanji. It has been suggested that kanji be banned from use, which might prove awkward considering that they have been a part of the language for over a 1,400 years. It has also been suggested that they be simplified, and a half-hearted attempt was actually made to do just that. But, in the end, the student has only one recourse—which is, to learn them.

Of the many difficulties presented by kanji, this book takes up one: the fact that many of them look so very much alike. In your early years as a student, you may think that what you see before you is the simple character for "big," only to be told that, sorry, that's its look-alike, "dog." Later on in your career, you see what you believe to be the recently learned "rope," only to be told that it is its kissing cousin "steel." Years later, with a great deal of experience under your belt, you are still caught flat-footed when you mistake "samurai" for "wait."

This book helps the student to overcome this problem of kissing cousins and spitting images, to become aware of the subtle differences that distinguish one kanji from another. With numerous exercises and charts, the tell-tale signs that give each kanji away are indelibly imprinted on the mind.

YAEKO S. HABEIN was formerly an instructor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, now retired. GERALD B. MATHIAL was formerly associate professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, now retired.

Essential Kanji is an integrated course for learning to read and write the 2,000 basic Japanese characters. It introduces the kanji that are now in everyday use, a mastery of which makes it possible to read most modern Japanese. Devised for either home or classroom use, the book has been tested and refined by years of use in university classes taught by the author.