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Home - Japanese Language Learning Instruction Book : Kanji Pict-o-Graphix : Over 1,000 Japanese Kanji and Kana Mnemonics
by Michael Rowley (Author) Paperback: 216 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.65 x 7.96 x 8.00 Publisher: Stone Bridge Press; (June 1, 1992) ISBN: 0962813702 Amazon.com: 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 turf, bamboo, eat, or duty), 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. 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 water is a splatter of three dashes that Rowley pictures as three splashing water drops. Later, you see that steam, float, boil, dirt, and bathe all build on the water character. For steam, there's the water 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 na letter looks like a knot, nu resembles Rowley's drawing of noodles held by chopsticks, and it's easier to remember which symbol means te when you picture a telephone pole. 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. --Stephanie Gold Wired Magazine: Michael Rowley has created a visual vocabulary that is striking and, most importantly, memorable." -Wired Magazine Review: Michael Rowley has created a visual vocabulary that is striking and, most importantly, memorable." -Wired Magazine Book Description: Japanese written characters, or kanji, have their origin in a picture-language developed in ancient China. Over time this language evolved into stylized abstract forms that are difficult to memorize. This delightful book presents 1,200 kanji with readings, main definitions, standard printed forms, and visual and text mnemonics to make them easier to remember. Fully indexed and cross-referenced. Winner of several international design awards. About the Author: Michael Rowley is an illustrator and graphic designer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also the author of Kana Pict-o-Graphix. Customer Reviews Picture Perfect (almost), April 2, 2003 Reviewer: Alex Runner from Milwaukee, WI United States The first thing you will notice about Rowley's book is his creativity in language study. Some will surely say, "What creativity?! Kanji are already word pictures...he's just doing what's been done for thousands of years!" True. However, this book is definitely geared toward the Western reader, and Rowley's methods of memorization are sure to make Japanese study significantly easier (especially if you are American, British, Australian, etc.) More "serious" scholars will undoubtedly turn up their noses at such sophomoric scholarship. But I say: whatever works. I lived in Japan for almost two years, and this book helped me to start recognizing kanji [if you're not familiar, there are three major ways to write Japanese: hiragana = a rather easy alphabet for words native to Japan; katakana = another alphabet (with less curves and more "sharp" characters) for foreign words (mostly English words); and kanji = a group of thousands of Chinese characters that each represent an IDEA, rather than an alphabet that represents SOUNDS.]. Memorization doesn't have to be dry and boring...it can actually be fun, and Rowley definitely makes it fun. Unfortunately, a couple of the pictures/explanations are definitely off-color...but then, so is much of life. Great introduction to Kanji, October 20, 2001 Reviewer: Mike Karapcik from Temple Terrace, FL United States While the number of Kanji is a bit small (the Toyo Kanji list was 1,850 when I was in college), and it is not always useful in remembering the Japanese onyomi and kunyomi, it is perfect for simply learning the meanings. Since this is the first step to learning kanji, and all many people are interrested in, this book is a very valueable learning tool. I wish I had it in college. It made me to love Kanjis!, September 14, 2001 Reviewer: A reader from Meguro-ku, Tokyo Japan I am a forein student in Japan. Last year I started to study Japanese after coming ti Japan. It was extremely difficult to memorize Kanjis and I failed my first Kanji exam. Then a I started to study kanjis using Kanji Pict-O-Graphix : Over 1,000 Japanese Kanji and Kana Mnemonics by Michael Rowley, it changed the way I looked at kanjis. It is giving easy eaxmples that you can remember easily. I think that there is no better way to learn kanjis. Beautiful Iconography, April 8, 2001 Reviewer: Kevin Barrack from San Mateo, CA I'm a visual designer, and I bought this book because it shows some amazing interpretations of abstract concepts in iconographic form. Both the actual Japanese characters, and the author's illustrations are superb examples of iconography. The fundamental topic behind the broader meaning for each character has been distilled into one succinct character or one illustration. The illustrations in the book are beautiful in their own right, for fans of graphic illustrations. I have never tried to memorize any of the actual characters, but this book is entertaining even without a stong desire to learn Japanese. If I did intend to learn, this would be where I would start, because I am a very visual learner, which is the focus of this book. This book is a great addition to a coffee table or night stand. Wow, that was unexpected., January 28, 2001 Reviewer: Brian Duffy I picked up this book at the library and i was highly skeptical. I was reading through it, looking at the pictures this guy uses to help you remember the kanji. I thought it was really stupid. I set the book down and started reading other books on japanese i had checked out. Poop on me, it works. I reluctantly learned from this book. I dont know why. I just remembered all the meanings because the explanations were so weird. Oh well, go with what works. I wish that he put more effort into the translations though. He needs to have it so we can look at the kanji, and instantly know what it means in english and the one wayto say it in japanese. Otherwise, very strangely good. Wonderful for learning kana!, October 20, 2000 Reviewer: CJ from East Asia At first glance this book looks like the way to solve the problem of learning those tedious kanji in Japanese! It looks like a completely NEW way to do it! But I am not sure it is. Firstly, I have to say that some of the pictures are good for learning the meaning in relation to the shape of the kanji, like the one on the front...but what about the ON and KUN readings? They still have to be learned somehow! They are included in the book, but the kanji are not placed in any context that might help you relate them to vocabulary. This is an interesting innovation which is, I daresay, helpful, but not definitive. However, I can say with my hand on my heart that Mr Rowley took a lot of the pain out of learning the kana with the ingenious drawings he came up with (even if the pronunciation is ostensibly American!). A New Twist, June 11, 2000 Reviewer: Leah Harris from Utah, USA As an intermediate supplement, it's perfect! This book is a wonderful help of explaining the radicals the kanji are made up of.. so when you run across it again, it will be easier to learn. It's helpful in use alongside a more traditional academic course - it lightens it up and gives a fresh perspective! Highly reccomended, great visual & written mnemonics, May 2, 2000 Reviewer: Angel Lee from Cleveland, OH I have bought lots of Kanji books and this is one of my favorites. I would recommend this book to anyone trying to learn to read the Kanji characters. The visual and written mnemonics really helped me remember the characters. The book is broken down by subjects; some include the world, food, body, people and animals. For each word the Kanji character, reference #, English meaning and visual/text mnemonic are show. On and Kun readings, as well as the schematic of elements are also included. There is a Kanji index in the back.My only wishes were that it had the romaji translation and contained information on how to write the characters. also useful for Japanese, April 11, 2000 Reviewer: Hideto Matsumoto from Japan Not only for non-Japanese but also for Japanse, Kanji is somthing strange, hard to understand and interesting. Many dictionary called 'Kanwa-Jiten (kanji dictionary)' have been published in Japan, but they don't have a good idea of displaing such Kanji's attractiveness. This book has done the great thing. Good for the coffee table or bathroom!, February 26, 2000 Reviewer: Iain T White from Australia An enjoyable, well presented book, though more for entertainment than a serious study aid. If you really want to learn Kanji then try Ken Henshall's "Remebering the Japanese Characters". Kodansha's Let's Learn Kanji/Let's Learn More Kanji are really helpful too. |
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