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The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering 2300 Characters
Kodansha's widely acclaimed Kanji Learner's Course (KLC) is a complete guide to mastering all the kanji needed for genuine literacy in Japanese. It anchors a comprehensive kanji learning system, supported by the KLC Graded Reading Sets, the KLC Green Book, the KLC Wall Chart, and keystojapanese.com (a user-support website for forming study groups, exchanging tips, and tracking one's learning progress with points and level ranks). The KLC is also cross-referenced for convenient use with Kodansha's companion volume, the Kanji Learner's Dictionary.
THE FOUR ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FOR KANJI LEARNING
The 2,300 entries of this main textbook adeptly integrate the four essential elements for mastering kanji meanings:
(1) Accurate keywords. Each character's core meaning is encapsulated in a concise, easily memorized keyword. The keywords for all 2,300 entries have been carefully chosen to be semantically accurate and to integrate the character's various senses into a core idea.
(2) Vocabulary to illustrate the keywords. The concept captured in each keyword is illustrated with up to five sample vocabulary items, carefully selected to clarify how the kanji is used in building typical words and phrases.
(3) Mnemonic aids for remembering the keywords. Each entry contains an original mnemonic aid that is carefully designed to help you remember the character's core meanings. Mnemonic aids pay special attention to helping you immediately recognize each kanji and distinguish it from lookalikes.
(4) Rational learning sequence. The course's widely praised sequence represents a breakthrough in kanji pedagogy. It aids learning by introducing kanji components step by step, grouping related kanji together, and building vocabulary progressively - all while teaching the kanji in rough order of importance.
A SELF-GUIDING, SELF-REINFORCING COURSE
The course arranges all the information needed to master 2,300 characters into a streamlined, self-guiding, and mnemonically self-reinforcing curriculum. Sample compounds include only such kanji as have previously been learned, ensuring that you are able to understand and use each compound, and giving you a built-in review of all the kanji already studied.
THE ULTIMATE KANJI LEARNING RESOURCE
• Provides a sophisticated, pedagogically sound method for remembering the core meaning of each kanji, conveniently summarized in concise keywords to facilitate memorization.
• Introduces the meaning and usage of each grapheme the first time it appears, helping you seamlessly learn new kanji based on a sound understanding of their component parts.
• Innovatively uses concrete imagery to simplify complex characters and make their meanings immediately recognizable in their graphical forms.
• Teaches characters in a pedagogically effective sequence, presenting graphically related characters together to help you give significance to their contrastive features as you learn them, and thereby avoid having to re-learn them later.
• Helps you actively apply each character's principal meanings and readings using key vocabulary words, carefully chosen to illustrate the character's uses and to help you employ it in everyday reading and written communication.
• Helps you differentiate among graphically similar kanji by showing how to remember the characters in a mutually contrastive manner that connects their graphical distinctions to their underlying semantic differences. Along the way, the course introduces nearly 800 pairs of easily confused kanji.
• Helps you learn to write kanji accurately, by indicating each kanji's stroke order and placing careful emphasis on distinctions among graphically similar characters.
• Includes all the kanji needed for genuine literacy in Japanese, including all 196 characters added to the official Joyo Kanji List in 2010.
THE FOUR ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FOR KANJI LEARNING
The 2,300 entries of this main textbook adeptly integrate the four essential elements for mastering kanji meanings:
(1) Accurate keywords. Each character's core meaning is encapsulated in a concise, easily memorized keyword. The keywords for all 2,300 entries have been carefully chosen to be semantically accurate and to integrate the character's various senses into a core idea.
(2) Vocabulary to illustrate the keywords. The concept captured in each keyword is illustrated with up to five sample vocabulary items, carefully selected to clarify how the kanji is used in building typical words and phrases.
(3) Mnemonic aids for remembering the keywords. Each entry contains an original mnemonic aid that is carefully designed to help you remember the character's core meanings. Mnemonic aids pay special attention to helping you immediately recognize each kanji and distinguish it from lookalikes.
(4) Rational learning sequence. The course's widely praised sequence represents a breakthrough in kanji pedagogy. It aids learning by introducing kanji components step by step, grouping related kanji together, and building vocabulary progressively - all while teaching the kanji in rough order of importance.
A SELF-GUIDING, SELF-REINFORCING COURSE
The course arranges all the information needed to master 2,300 characters into a streamlined, self-guiding, and mnemonically self-reinforcing curriculum. Sample compounds include only such kanji as have previously been learned, ensuring that you are able to understand and use each compound, and giving you a built-in review of all the kanji already studied.
THE ULTIMATE KANJI LEARNING RESOURCE
• Provides a sophisticated, pedagogically sound method for remembering the core meaning of each kanji, conveniently summarized in concise keywords to facilitate memorization.
• Introduces the meaning and usage of each grapheme the first time it appears, helping you seamlessly learn new kanji based on a sound understanding of their component parts.
• Innovatively uses concrete imagery to simplify complex characters and make their meanings immediately recognizable in their graphical forms.
• Teaches characters in a pedagogically effective sequence, presenting graphically related characters together to help you give significance to their contrastive features as you learn them, and thereby avoid having to re-learn them later.
• Helps you actively apply each character's principal meanings and readings using key vocabulary words, carefully chosen to illustrate the character's uses and to help you employ it in everyday reading and written communication.
• Helps you differentiate among graphically similar kanji by showing how to remember the characters in a mutually contrastive manner that connects their graphical distinctions to their underlying semantic differences. Along the way, the course introduces nearly 800 pairs of easily confused kanji.
• Helps you learn to write kanji accurately, by indicating each kanji's stroke order and placing careful emphasis on distinctions among graphically similar characters.
• Includes all the kanji needed for genuine literacy in Japanese, including all 196 characters added to the official Joyo Kanji List in 2010.
720 pages, Paperback
First published December 6, 2013
58 people are currently reading
246 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Scott Conning
18 books16 followersI created the kanji course because it was the kind of tool I wished had existed when I was studying kanji myself! To support KLC users, I've made a Graded Reading Sets series, Writing Workbook, Wall Chart, and supporting website. If you're learning kana, please take advantage of my Kana Wall Chart and Kana Learner's Course mobile app (a carefully curated and comprehensive kana curriculum, free except for tests).
I sincerely hope that these tools will help you on your way toward a more direct and profound understanding of Japan and its people. Connect with me at asc349 [at] mail [dot] harvard [dot] edu, and join the growing community of KLC users on our Facebook group.
Best wishes for your studies!
I sincerely hope that these tools will help you on your way toward a more direct and profound understanding of Japan and its people. Connect with me at asc349 [at] mail [dot] harvard [dot] edu, and join the growing community of KLC users on our Facebook group.
Best wishes for your studies!
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 31, 2020
If you are interested in teaching yourself the Japanese kanji do consider this book.
There are a number of well known earlier books & web sites that provide stories or mnemonics to help with recognizing and writing the kanji. It is well worth reading the introduction to KLC (as its is known) to see if Andrew SC's approach seems right for you.
The one thing that has progressed since this was published is that there is also a nine volume series of Readers that provide sentences from real texts for each kanji. Sentences have been chosen that only include kanji from earlier in the course. The first of these Readers is free if you want to test this side of using the KLC. It may sound implausible but learning how to 'read' kanji is arguably harder than how to draw them.
Ha-ha. Just spotted I can track how long it takes me!
There are a number of well known earlier books & web sites that provide stories or mnemonics to help with recognizing and writing the kanji. It is well worth reading the introduction to KLC (as its is known) to see if Andrew SC's approach seems right for you.
The one thing that has progressed since this was published is that there is also a nine volume series of Readers that provide sentences from real texts for each kanji. Sentences have been chosen that only include kanji from earlier in the course. The first of these Readers is free if you want to test this side of using the KLC. It may sound implausible but learning how to 'read' kanji is arguably harder than how to draw them.
Ha-ha. Just spotted I can track how long it takes me!
January 10, 2025
DNF
Although I do acknowledge this book as truly interesting and thought provoking, my experience with it has led me to my current position of being unable to recommend it to anyone else.
Now, before anyone draws their anime swords (katanas, yes. I know.) I'd like to explain, just a little, on how I've come to this conclusion and how, if you'd listen, I might be able to make your learning of Japanese just a little less painful and lengthy.
First, I'd like you to know that before even touching this book, I was able to pass the JLPT N2 on my first try. Why is this important? Because people obsessively learning kanji in isolation will tell you that that's impossible. How could I have passed the test without isolated kanji study? Simple. I studied words.
There are two polarized sides to the Japanese vocabulary learning Kingdom: one side is set on learning kanji all by themselves, and the other side is set on learning kanji inside of other words (for instance: 全 VS 全員)
(全: whole, entire, all, complete, fulfill
Pronounced ゼン、すべて、まったく)
(全員: all members
Pronounced ぜんいん)
The side fighting for isolation has to learn all of that on its own ONTOP of the vocabulary said kanji are in. (Also, did I mention the fact that kanji are pretty much NEVER seen on their own, totally isolated, in native Japanese content?)
The unisolated side, on the other hand, has to learn vocabulary that is used in daily life and will slowly but surely gain a stronger and more reinforced knowledge of kanji with each new word.
Which side is correct?
Well, that changes depending on who you talk to.
In my opinion though, learning isolated kanji is a massive waste of effort and time that could be spent learning words and phrases that you will actually come across in the wild (in native content).
Coming back around to my thoughts on this book...
On top of the fact that I truly believe that learning kanji in isolation is a glorious waste of time, this book also sports antiquated and obsolescent vocabulary that is of no to little use for modern learners, and it's sister books (used for learning the kanji inside this book by reading short sentences) have a depressing amount of confusing and loose translations that I found increasingly unhelpful for learners of lower levels of understanding (the learners most apt to read this kind of book imo).
That leads me to my conclusion, which is that I do not recommend this book in anyway.
I would instead highly encourage people to look into Tae Kims guide to Japanese (free), Cure Dolly for grammar that's so easily understood you could cry (free), and anki (free) or jpdb.io (also free)
Save your money, time and sanity.
Also, I have to wonder if the mnemonics that people use to memorize kanji via their radicals are also forgotten over time (this is a real phenomenon) and only the overarching main meaning(s) consistently persist, why go through all of that seemingly unnecessary effort?
P.P.S. I am actively preparing for the N1 test, using UNisolated kanji study. On a personal study level also, I am highly pleased with this way of learning, and do hope that it might help you as well.
Best of luck! 頑張ってくださいね！！
Although I do acknowledge this book as truly interesting and thought provoking, my experience with it has led me to my current position of being unable to recommend it to anyone else.
Now, before anyone draws their anime swords (katanas, yes. I know.) I'd like to explain, just a little, on how I've come to this conclusion and how, if you'd listen, I might be able to make your learning of Japanese just a little less painful and lengthy.
First, I'd like you to know that before even touching this book, I was able to pass the JLPT N2 on my first try. Why is this important? Because people obsessively learning kanji in isolation will tell you that that's impossible. How could I have passed the test without isolated kanji study? Simple. I studied words.
There are two polarized sides to the Japanese vocabulary learning Kingdom: one side is set on learning kanji all by themselves, and the other side is set on learning kanji inside of other words (for instance: 全 VS 全員)
(全: whole, entire, all, complete, fulfill
Pronounced ゼン、すべて、まったく)
(全員: all members
Pronounced ぜんいん)
The side fighting for isolation has to learn all of that on its own ONTOP of the vocabulary said kanji are in. (Also, did I mention the fact that kanji are pretty much NEVER seen on their own, totally isolated, in native Japanese content?)
The unisolated side, on the other hand, has to learn vocabulary that is used in daily life and will slowly but surely gain a stronger and more reinforced knowledge of kanji with each new word.
Which side is correct?
Well, that changes depending on who you talk to.
In my opinion though, learning isolated kanji is a massive waste of effort and time that could be spent learning words and phrases that you will actually come across in the wild (in native content).
Coming back around to my thoughts on this book...
On top of the fact that I truly believe that learning kanji in isolation is a glorious waste of time, this book also sports antiquated and obsolescent vocabulary that is of no to little use for modern learners, and it's sister books (used for learning the kanji inside this book by reading short sentences) have a depressing amount of confusing and loose translations that I found increasingly unhelpful for learners of lower levels of understanding (the learners most apt to read this kind of book imo).
That leads me to my conclusion, which is that I do not recommend this book in anyway.
I would instead highly encourage people to look into Tae Kims guide to Japanese (free), Cure Dolly for grammar that's so easily understood you could cry (free), and anki (free) or jpdb.io (also free)
Save your money, time and sanity.
Also, I have to wonder if the mnemonics that people use to memorize kanji via their radicals are also forgotten over time (this is a real phenomenon) and only the overarching main meaning(s) consistently persist, why go through all of that seemingly unnecessary effort?
P.P.S. I am actively preparing for the N1 test, using UNisolated kanji study. On a personal study level also, I am highly pleased with this way of learning, and do hope that it might help you as well.
Best of luck! 頑張ってくださいね！！
August 1, 2016
This is by far the most excellent and complete resource for learning kanji. SO well written...learning + pleasure reading in one! Fascinating and fun.
Bravo Conning-san!
Bravo Conning-san!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews