In 1996 Jim Rose's Joyo96 website was the first in the world to provide an overview of the written Japanese language complete with stroke order diagrams and etymologies of the kanji. It it only covered 220 kanji or so, but the popularity of the site was unprecedented. And even today, despite the creation of more sophisticated programs online, such as Ice Mocha over at KanjiCafe.com, Joyo96.org still receives more visits. Why?
Joyo96.org shares a joint mailing list with Mangajin.com, Rolomail.com, JapanPoem.com, and KanjiCafe.com. No personal information is collected other than your anonymous email address. Your address is never sold, shared, or divulged. A message concerning Japanese related products, upgrades to online applications for studying Japanese, or other Japanese related announcements are made about once per week. You can manage your participation on this list as well.
| JAPANOPHILES |
| Into the Language & Culture? Join Rolomail's Email List: |
| <Join HERE> |
Katakana Chart
Hiragana Chart
Hiragana & Katakana
| The first step to mastering written Japanese is to tackle the kana. Jim's company Rolomail.com carries authentic imported Japanese elementary
school hiragana and katakana wall charts, depicted on the left. Each kana has a cute picture of the example word given which uses the kana. If you
can't afford to buy a real chart, there is a free image of the kana here: Basic Kana Chart (print
in portrait mode for reference and study). An even better pair of PDF format kana charts has also just been released
by the KanjiCafe.com. There are two very good books for learning to read and write the kana: A Guide to Learning Hiragana & Katakana by Professor Kenneth Henshall, which will also show the kanji from which the kana evolved and give the index in Henshall's A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters to that kanji, and the Japanese Kana Workbook, which is specifically designed to be used without the benefit of a teacher. |
|
The Katakana
A brief history and origin of the Katakana.
The Kanji Cafe now has a free four chapter eBook on the Katakana, and 2 of 4 chapters completed on the hiragana in a PDF book: Reading Japanese: The Kana Script (PDF) which teaches the reading and writing of the entire katakana syllabary.
The Hiragana
A brief history and origin of the Hiragana.
Kanji Charts
Kanji Evolution
Kanji Way
A brief history, origin, and types of kanji.
Once you can recognize the kana, you can begin to master the true building blocks of the Japanese written language: kanji. Rolomail.com sells authentic Japanese Junior High School kanji wall charts which depict the entire 1,945 general use characters. By law, any kanji printed in a newspaper or book outside of this set must be accompanied by yomigana/furigana - small kana which tell the reader how to pronounce the kanji. Therefore literacy is in fact dependant on mastery of this set. Rolomail.com also has the actual kanji charts used by each of the elementary school grades in Japan:
 1st Grade |
 2nd Grade |
 3rd Grade |
 4th Grade |
 5th Grade |
 6th Grade |
But the best way to learn what kanji mean and thus remember them is by understanding the meaning their shape imparts to a given word. To understand the ideas from which this shape evolved, and why it means what it means, is really the key to forming a mental identity for each kanji. Ken Henshall's A Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters is perhaps the definitive guide to kanji etymology available to the average student, and is a principle text of the Cross-Reference Tool for the Indexed Kanji References. If you cannot afford Ken's book, see Joyo96's 1st Grade Kanji section for a free etymology education on the kanji that Japanese school children must master by the 1st grade of elementary school. As for using the kanji, you should focus on the most important words and phrases which incorporate the most frequently occuring kanji. The Kanji Way to Japanese Language Power does a good job of this, and is also a principle text of the Cross-Reference Tool for the Indexed Kanji References.
Stroke Diagrams
Numbered Strokes
To learn the stroke order rules and properly render Japanese characters, read all about Calligraphy.
Joyo96 uses stroke order diagrams on its 1st Grade kanji pages, like those of A Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese: the definitive stroke order authority. To practice the stroke order depicted in this book, you can use the free Paper Maker ®. There are also 150 kanji on 10 pre-made Paper Maker templates to practice the stroke order diagrams of Joyo96's 1st Grade Kanji:
| Set 1 | Set 2 | Set 3 | Set 4 | Set 5 | Set 6 | Set 7 | Set 8 | Set 9 | Set 10 |
An alternative method of teaching stroke order uses numbered strokes instead of diagrams. Mark Spahn and Wolfgang Hadamitzky's Kanji & Kana numbers every stroke for each of the General Use Characters. In addition to covering more kanji, another nice feature of this book is that each character is cross-referenced with the index number of the kanji in their other book: The Kanji Dictionary. Both A Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese and Kanji & Kana are listed in the Cross-Reference Tool of Indexed Kanji References.
Kanji Cards I
Kanji Cards II
Kanji Study Cards
| Many a student, in many fields of study besides Japanese, adhere to the use of flashcards sets. There are two sets worthy of mention. The 440 card set Kanji Cards I and the 566 card set Kanji Cards II. Together these two sets comprise the entire kyoiku, or educational kanji set - a subset of the General Use Characters learned between the 1st and 6th grades of Japanese elementary school. Aside from these two, the largest set of kanji flash cards available, with over 2,000 to practice with, are James Heisig's Kanji Study Cards. For Those Preparing for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) Max Hodges has just released a set of 284 premium quality cards which are devoted to the specific 284 kanji needed to pass the Level 4 and more difficult Level 3 JLPT called Japanese Kanji Flashcards 1 for JLPT. A second set is expected later this year in time for the December test administered by the Japanese government. |
Just released 2005: JLPT Level 4 and Level 3 Flashcards! |
Classic Nelson
New Nelson
Kanji Dictionary
It goes without saying that once you become a true reader of Japanese, and perhaps a writer as well, you absolutely must have a good kanji dictionary. These three Japanese-English character dictionaries are the most exhaustive available to you in terms of their scope. Each one has unique merits that stand out and above the other two. Professional translators, or those studying technical Japanese are probably better off with either the NELSON or the NEW NELSON because of the vastly larger number of entries. Those focused on Kanji centric study should probably get THE KANJI DICTIONARY. Each of these are listed on the Cross-Reference Tool for Indexed Kanji References.
- The Original Modern Reader's Japanese-English Character Dictionary
5,446 kanji - 70,000+ kanji compounds - Andrew Nelson's dictionary uses the "Radical Priority System": 12 completely arbitrary rules for prioritizing the radicals to find the key radical that the character would be classified under. By the time you've gone through these 7 steps, you've identified the priority radical in Nelson for 97% of all kanji. The remaining 3% yield to the remaining 5 questions. Nelson contains a wealth of other information as well... especially interesting are the names in Japanese of many towns in Japan. Several chapters of Japanese and Chinese history and art are included as well. Some appendices deal with weights and measures, ancient prefectures vs modern ones...etc, etc.. - The New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary
7,000 kanji - 70,000+ kanji compounds - John Haig's dictionary uses the "Universal Radical Index System": each of 7,000 kanji are cross-referenced by each and every radical the kanji contains. Each character is thus referenced from 1 to 8 times depending on the number of radicals. Includes the entire JIS level 1 and 2 character sets. If you can find the character on your word processor, rest assured its in Haig's NEW NELSON. The URI index alone is some 270 pages and contains 32,000 entries (thus 70,000 dictionary entries with 32,000 locators). Though it uses a totally different principle of organization, like the classic Nelson it lists as examples of usage the compounds which begin with the kanji being looked up. - The Kanji Dictionary
7,000 kanji - 48,000+ kanji compounds - Mark Spahn and Wolfgang Hadamitzky's dictionary has fewer compounds, but a much more powerful reference system. Whereas THE NELSON and the NEW NELSON organize their compounds by listing words that begin with the referenced character - the KANJI DICTIONARY lists compounds that contains the kanji in any position - first, second, third, etc.. Another feature of THE KANJI DICTIONARY is that it abandons the traditional 214 radical system inherited from the ancients, and uses a look-up system of only 79 radicals. There are no one stroke radicals for example. By elimination of the traditional group of 39 radicals that contain 9 to 15 strokes, and reducing the number to 6, they compiled a list of 275 characters which they consider not to have a radical at all. Like the "Classic" NELSON, the Kanji Dictionary uses its own set of completely arbitrary rules, but there are only 7 of them.
Grammar
Particles
Having mastered the kana and a few good kanji, its time to matriculate from atoms to molecules. The Handbook of Japanese Grammar contains over 600 of the most essential grammatical function words from ageru to zenzen organized alphabetically. Each entry is fully described by meaning, part of speech, and has exaustive examples detailing situational usage with fully translated Japanese sentences.
What about Japanese particles? Particles are non-conjugate words that attach to main words and indicate the relationship of those words to the following word or the remainder of the sentence. There are also sentence final particles that comment grammatically on the entire sentence. They can really confuse a beginner. The Japanese Particle Workbook introduces 60 particles and their 188 basic functions in order of the frequency of usage. Each function is illustrated with example sentences, and exercises are presented every few lessons to allow users to test their understanding, writing directly in the workbook and checking their work against the answers provided. A basic vocabulary is employed throughout to allow students to concentrate fully on one important goal - the mastery of Japanese particles.
Street Slang
Making Out
Etiquette
Or for those more interested in the opposite sex, Making Out in Japanese. I really like this almost pocket sized revised edition because its very portable and has the phrases both in romaji and Japanese kanji/kana. The other really innovative aspect of the book is the clear demarcation of which phrases should only be used by females and which should only be used by males.
If such lewd language has your Taliban turban in a bind, restore your prim and properness with ETIQUETTE Guide to Japan. I wish I had this book in 1996 when I first worked at MIT with Japanese industry. It's a really great feeling to be complimented by your Japanese friends on your knowledge of their customs, and really essential to understand what politeness means to the Japanese when you are on the street in every day life. On the other hand, in Japan, the nail that sticks up may not necessarily be pounded down, but rude behavior will certainly cause enormous negative attention on you. You just don't want to make the mistakes this book can help you avoid.