Important note for self-learners is that (if I recall correctly) George mentioned in one of his streams that if you're already going through Japanese From Zero 1-5 books, you don't need Kanji From Zero, cuz most of the kanjis are presented in the base book series.
I know what it's like to deal with nonsense publishing issues with your own books. I hope he finds a way to keep making this great content for our community!
The reason to write the kanjis out with the "rest of the word", or within sentences is to help with memorization - if your subconscious is sitting there watching you do all that extra stuff, then when you need to write out those compound kanji/kana combos, it's more likely to "flow out of your hand", even if you initially feel like you can't remember it... Or you may go... "music... is enjoyable! Oh, that's right the kanji for tanoshii is the same", etc. Your final theory is spot on: this is a "kickstart" to really solidly ground you with 240 kanji - which will make expanding out to the next 600 much easier, even if you're using a "harder" method/book to study them. This is basically how it's done in Japanese elementary schools.
I bought the book since I really like the From Zero! series and am almost finished with it. Would definitely recommend it, its a bit slow but I feel like you memorize the kanji really well:)
I main Wanikani as my method of learning Kanji, but this book was a blast to go through. There is something quite soothing about hand-writing the characters and going through workbook-style activities. Looking forward to Kanji from Zero 2!
I am halfway through the book and I really like it! I bought it as a supplement - I had a feeling I just couldn't memorize kanji and it helps tremendously. I would recommend it if you neee an extra kick for learning kanji.
The good thing about this book is that he makes it less intimidating to learn kanji. You're accompanied throughout. And the task looks less daunting. Even though the numbers of kanji learnt is smaller, it looks like a book that you can finish and not only remember the kanji but actually know them and have a deeper understanding of them. Right now I'm on the hunt to such book and I'm strongly considering it. As you said it could be a good appetizer to a more formal book like a dictionnary. EDIT: While browsing Amazon japan I came accross the Kanji learner's course. There seems to have a dictionnary type book, a green book for writing practice and multiple books for reading from kanji 0-100 etc. I was wondering if you could present them in your channel ?
I haven't gotten the Chance to try this book yet, but I am almost through the last book of the Japanese from Zero series, which teaches Kanji in the same way - And I can tell you that the method used is really good for actually remembering kanji and getting a feel for how they are used, while learning a Ton of vocab along the way
I've followed the author but have not bought into this series. Does sound like a way to get started before transitioning into another method, as you mentioned. I do enjoy the video content he provides on his channel.
That subtle self-promotion though 😏 I’m glad you’re doing better! I think this would be great to keep on the shelf honestly. If anything, it can be a refresher and a new way to study the kanji.
I think that having to write the kana starts making more sense when you try to write out essays using kanji whenever possible. I’ve used Heisig to remember how to write out the 2000+ kanji I know but I’ll forget 送り仮名 from time to time since i never focused on them when I first started learning
I want to buy the heisig book but now that I've see this review I can't decide personally which 1 is better and is how long did it take you to learn the kanji? Was it easy using the heisig method?
I've followed George for a long time. I had a premium account on their site for a while. I never got round to buying the books though as I loved in the UK at the time. Now I live in the Americas again it might not be as much to ship as is it it to buy! I've been trying to bash RTK and other books of the the same format into my head for years with little to no avail. I've realised that I learn better by using the language (probably the same for everyone) and doing things like going to the ward office to register my new address, while I think it's a gross violation of human rights, actually helpse learn new kanji, I have to write it too and I can learn a little about grammar too! I thinks this book would be useful for me as I don't get on well with the smash the kanji into your brain method so I might look into this series.
wow, as a slow casual learner , that bought zero 1, which took me 6 months to go through, have tried several apps, and am still struggling to grasp the fundamentals and am still failing to do so, i bought kanji 1, after is saw lots of recommendations from utubers , saying that i needed to learn kanji asap, was a huge waste of money for me, couldn't follow it at all, books seems for me to be a intermediate level.
My question as someone who has the first 3 books but not this one would be does it overlap with the kanji I seem to remember the third book starts teaching you (一、二、三, etc) and which I assume the 4th and 5th books continue.
@@ryansanders8458 The hair needs to be cut for sure XD Probably gonna shorten it before summer, but I missed you dearly! If I could send a gif in here it'd be that jumping hug from Panyo!
Oh there isn't fakes of my book! That's of George's books haha My book just had companies buy it from us before it was supposed to go public, and oversold our presale price XD Different thing. They are all legit ones!
