Japanese Kanji for Beginners

The method that's helped thousands in the U.S. and Japan learn Japanese successfully.

The Japanese language has two basic writing systems, kanji characters-which are based on Chinese characters and hiragana and katakana-a mnemonics based alphabet. This handy book teaches you a new mnemonicsubased method to read and write the 410 highest-frequency kanji characters.

Japanese Kanji for Beginners contains everything you need to learn the kanji characters required for the Advanced Placement Japanese Language and Culture Exam. It is designed for use by high school or college students as well as independent learners. The kanji learned in this book closely adheres to the kanji introduced in every major Japanese language textbook.

Key features of Japanese Kanji for Beginners include:

• The 410 highest-frequency kanji characters
• 44 simple, easy-to-follow lessons
• Concise information on kanji elements, readings and pronunciations
• Extensive exercises, drills, and writing practice
• Free CD-ROM with printable flash cards, practice quizzes and extra exercises

This book is organized into 44 simple lessons, each presenting around 10 new kanji characters-starting with the simple ones and working up to the more complicated onesureflecting the normal progression taught in first-year college-level Japanese courses. A set of simple exercises is provided in each lesson to let you check if you are retaining them.

The introduction to the book provides basic information on the history of kanji, explaining how they are formed by combining basic elements, their readings and pronunciations, and other interesting details. Valuable tips and tricks to help you to learn the kanji more quickly are provided here as well as throughout the book.

In order to remember the kanji you need to write them repeatedly. Nearly every page of this book gives you extensive opportunities to write the kanji. Simple drills and engaging exercises promote rapid learning and kanji proficiency.

To build up your vocabulary, a number of common compounds (two or more kanji characters which together form a word) are presented for each character-between three and six useful words. By learning these together with the single characters, you will find that your proficiency with Japanese will increase in leaps and bounds!

The free CD-ROM inside the book contains a set of printable kanji flash cards to assist learners in reviewing and memorizing the kanji in the book. It also contains sample vocabulary quizzes in a multiple-choice format similar to those in the AP exam, as well as additional exercises that further reinforce the newly learned kanji.