Remembering the Kanji
by James W. Heisig, Tom Minehart · first published 1993
39% recommend50% neutral11% critical
Why HN recommends it
Mnemonic-story method for learning to recognize and write about 2,000 kanji, with many reporting they finished in roughly one to three months. Works best paired with Anki flashcards, for self-studying learners.
Common criticism: Some argue mnemonics are a poor substitute for rote drilling and vocabulary in context
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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On the topic of learning to remember characters - Japanese students attempting to learn kanji (very close to traditional chinese characters) often use a book called "Remembering the Kanji" by James Heisig. The method devised by the author for learning the characters is truly ingenious. He developed this method after moving to japan in the early 80s for a position at a research institute.…
on “Why Chinese Is So Damn Hard (1992)” ↗There's a great method for learning the characters in the context of Japanese, described in a book called "Remembering the Kanji" by James Heisig. It helped me work through about 1000 characters in a month; doing it full-time, you could probably to recognize 2,000 in a month, and read them in another month. He's published a similar…
on “Forget Me Not - How to win the U.S. memory championship.” ↗A fantastic book for learning Kanji is "Remembering the Kanji", by James Heisig.[1] It teaches you the meaning and writing of each character independent of its Japanese readings, which drastically reduces the cognitive load of memorization. It also arranges the…
on “Language Learning is Broken” ↗Yes, please add kanji to the system. I'm learning Japanese and use SRS's for kanji memorization, along with Heisig's Remembering the Kanji (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembering_the_Kanji). While Anki (http://ichi2.net/anki/) works wonderfully on my Gentoo system, a web-based option would be nice as well. However, beware of lag; that…
on “Ask HN: Feedback on Skritter, Learning Chinese with Spaced Repetition on App Engine” ↗I used a book "Remembering the Kanji" by James Heisig, which employs a special mnemonic technique, to learn to write 2000 Japanese kanji in three months, which was a leisurely pace (twenty-something a day). Many people did the same in a…
on “How You Can Be a Memory Champion” ↗Have you tried using Heisig's Remembering the Kanji?
on “How I Learned French in One Year” ↗…1) Are you in this for the long haul? If you are then master learning and writing the kanji first of all. Dont worry, its not as hard as it seems. Your a hacker so your going to appreciate this book "Remembering the Kanji" by "Heisig". Use that book with a site called "Reviewing the Kanji". The author truly is a hacker, his methodology of learning the kanji is absolutely brilliant. I finished the book in 2 months and could…
on “Ask HN: What's the best way of learning a foreign language on your own?” ↗…was learning Japanese is that I could learn vocabulary along with the kanji faster than I could learn the vocabulary alone. Kanji is a fantastic mnemonic and is constructed in a comprehensible way. "Remembering the kanji" by James Heisig is a great technique for learning kanji. I don't like his choice of keywords, though (some are arguably just wrong). I recommend reading the first section of the book and then deriving…
on ““Tsundoku,” the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves” ↗…first, so that you'll have that as a base of knowledge to learn the actual language. [1] a good intro: http://akitajet.com/wiki/Heisig_Method if you want to try the method I would suggest picking up Remembering the Kanji volume I and then utilizing http://kanji.koohii.com for the mnemonic "stories" and to practice with their spaced repetition method.
on “Learning New Information Is Easier When It Is Composed of Familiar Elements” ↗…Dictionary of Basic/Intermediate/Advanced Japanese Grammar, Makino and Tsutsui. These have 99% of all of the grammar you will ever need, and they are packed with lots of helpful example sentences. * Remembering the Kanji, Volumes I and II (III is extra credit), James W. Heisig. Keep in mind you need about a month of dedicated brain time for volume I (great for ALT jobs!), and volume II can then be repeatedly skimmed afterwards…
on “An introduction to Japanese” ↗…explain the grammar in a really good way, and progress into more advanced topics as you go along. Make sure to get the kana versions, not romaji! For learning Kanji, the most efficient option I've found is Remembering the Kanji by James Heisig. It's a bit of a long-term investment, in that it takes a while for them to really pay off (you don't learn the readings/sounds until book two, the first one is completely focused on the…
on “The Logic Behind Japanese Sentence Structure” ↗…specifically targeted at adult learners of Japanese—way saner than reading actual Japanese kids' books. After getting a solid grammar/vocab foundation through that combo, I'd recommend working through Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji." It's a controversial allocation of resources, but probably the single most useful "hack" I used when studying Japanese. Completing that (and grinding more advanced vocab decks) will leave you in a good…
on “Ask HN: Best Resources to Learn Japanese?” ↗Yes, IMO the easiest way to 'learn' the kanji is Heisig's book "Remembering the Kanji", along with an Anki deck to review daily. I 'learned' 2000 kanji this way in 3 months, with a daily time investment of about 1 hour. There are plenty of pre-made RTK Anki decks. The reason I'm putting…
on “English is relatively easy to learn, but not to master (2018)” ↗I'm learning Japanese, and I'm learning the kanji using Heisig's Remembering The Kanji method. I combine that with flashcards on Anki on my PC. When it shows a keyword card, I'll write out the character on paper or I'll trace it in the air with my finger, then check if I got it right. That…
on “Handwriting is better than typing when learning a new language, study finds” ↗I highly recommend this site for that. https://kanji.koohii.com/ which goes along with the book "Remembering the Kanji" by James Heisig (strictly speaking, you don't need the book, but I think it will help understand the idea behind the process). But the stories (mnemonics) on the website are better than the ones in the…
on “Learning to Learn” ↗