Customer Reviews
amazing book to get you started! - By: A. Gilthorpe, 04 Sep 2006 
If like me you have always been interestedin learning japanese but did not have a clue how to start, get this book!!
I was really suprised at how quickly I rememberd the kanji. this book really is fascinating, & I could not put it down! I feel much more confidentin my approach to learning kanji now as this book explains the idea behind the kanji which i have found other books dont.
all i can say really is BUY THIS BOOK!! its so interesting & suprisingly easy!!! to understand & learn & actually remember!!
A brilliant resource - By: Ms. C. E. Caie, 21 May 2006 Ok, I've had this book for quite some time now & finally decided to review it. This book is a fantastic little resource for those who want to learn to read Japanese script. Which, is an important factor if you want to learn the language properly.
This book teaches you about Kanji & also the fundamentals of both hiragana & katagana. In simple & easy to follow activities as well as end of chapter tests.
However, if you want to learn about reading & writing Japanese - I do suggest other more indepth books. But for the absolute beginner, this is a good place to start.
Caution - By: , 03 Nov 2005 
First the good points. For learning kana (the phonetic scripts of hiragana & katakana) this book has good sections & exercises. It also has the best system for learning Kanji I've seen, not that i've seen them all. It builds up with simple nature derived Kanji & gruadually builds up. You won't find this an any textbook.
However, you will not learn the readings for Kanji which is a very important point. You will also not have very good ability at identifying the parts within kanji, vital to understand more complex ones.
Another point of note is that this book does not, nor pretend to, teach any Japanese. By using this book, even by the end you will not be able to produce even a simple sentence.
While I do reccommend this book, it is not by itself but as part of a wide range of books to use.
Excellent ! - By: , 07 Jul 2005 From a total beginner to Japanese script, this book was great. It takes you through the very basic kanji first, giving great mnemonics to help you remeber them. It teaches you about compound Kanji also, & how they are made up. The book also takes you through Hiragana & Katakana with tables & exercises to help you remeber. It goes at a good pace & has little exercises & end of chapter tests. Overall a great buy !
Great introduction to Japanese reading and writing - By: , 11 Jul 2004 This book introduces the beautiful & complex Japanese written languagein a simple & basic manner. It won't take you too far but there are other books out there to do that. I was a complete beginner & the pace of this book is just perfect.
Buy it along with a CD-Rom for the basic spoken language side of things & take it nice & slow.
