false 389271 1 How does one learn kanji, the characters of written Japanese? The traditional approach is rote memorization. Japanese children write each kanji hundreds of times at their desks, and eventually they are acquired. Michael Rowley offers a different way, a mnemonic-association approach that provides a hook on which to hang the meaning and retrieve it easily when the kanji comes into view. The concept is simple: each character is represented under the word or concept it stands for (such as <i>turf</i>, <i>bamboo</i>, <i>eat</i>, or <i>duty</i>), followed by the pronunciations of the word in Chinese and Japanese, and a drawing that captures the meaning and resembles the character enough so that it'll come to mind whenever the kanji is seen.<p> Organized thematically in chapters such as "Power," "Places," "Tools," "The World," "Food," "People," and "The Body," Rowley's book lets you learn the root symbols before teaching the words that add to them for further meanings. For example, the character for <i>water</i> is a splatter of three dashes that Rowley pictures as three splashing water drops. Later, you see that <i>steam</i>, <i>float</i>, <i>boil</i>, <i>dirt</i>, and <i>bathe</i> all build on the <i>water</i> character. For steam, there's the <i>water</i> character plus a series of lines that Rowley exaggerates to resemble swirling, vapory tendrils, and the association helps. Building on units of memory and relationship, recall is aided considerably by the simple yet evocative drawings. Rowley even manages to help with the hiragana and katakana syllabaries, providing appealing pictures that look a bit like the letters in question and begin with the same sounds. So the <i>na</i> letter looks like a knot, <i>nu</i> resembles Rowley's drawing of noodles held by chopsticks, and it's easier to remember which symbol means <i>te</i> when you picture a telephone pole.<p> It's hard to do Rowley's book justice with words, since the visual element is what makes it tick. He does a wonderful job, blending insight, imagination, and drawing technique, in a book that far surpasses the old rote method, making kanji learning both appealing and accessible. <I>--Stephanie Gold</I> 378888 1 6 1992 Kanji Pict-o-Graphix: Over 1,000 Japanese Kanji and Kana Mnemonics total:44|5:10|4:21|3:10|2:1|1:2| 44 168 80 9 4 0 false false Sun Jan 25 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 11:49:38 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 12:26:10 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Jul 05 12:59:30 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 05 13:01:18 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Thu Jan 29 00:56:21 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 00:57:52 -0800 2009 Makes Japanese people laugh hysterically. But quite effective.
]]> 3 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Wed Jan 28 13:13:40 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 15 12:12:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Mon Sep 08 22:09:43 -0700 2008 Mon Sep 08 22:12:40 -0700 2008 For those who are skilled in drawing or copying drawings from books, or even those good with computer copy and pasting, this book is great to use as a guide for home made Flash Cards!

It's not comp...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 18:46:55 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 07 13:11:34 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jun 18 21:13:25 -0700 2007 Mon Jun 18 21:14:22 -0700 2007 3 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Feb 29 12:08:55 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 29 12:08:55 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 27 11:14:51 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 27 11:14:51 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Fri Oct 30 23:41:38 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 23:41:38 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Oct 06 19:25:29 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 06 19:28:07 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 23 14:22:30 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 14:22:30 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Sep 22 15:56:41 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 22 15:56:41 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Sep 18 14:56:01 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 18 14:56:01 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Sep 14 03:53:43 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 03:53:43 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Aug 24 09:41:59 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 09:42:05 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Aug 18 17:54:48 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 17:54:48 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Jul 28 12:23:40 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 12:23:40 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jul 14 16:48:54 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 14 16:48:54 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Tue Jun 09 09:33:08 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 09 09:33:08 -0700 2009