kanji koohii FORUM
Question about Henshall for advanced stage learners.... - Printable Version

+- kanji koohii FORUM (http://forum.koohii.com)
+-- Forum: Learning Japanese (http://forum.koohii.com/forum-4.html)
+--- Forum: Learning resources (http://forum.koohii.com/forum-9.html)
+--- Thread: Question about Henshall for advanced stage learners.... (/thread-12630.html)

Question about Henshall for advanced stage learners.... - john555 - 2015-03-27

Do you find Henshall's (Guide to Remembering Japanese Characters) etymological analyses of kanji useful?

I'm asking because I have two nice hardcover copies of Henshall's book I've never really used (Heisig was much more useful for me) and I'm thinking of getting rid of them. But then I thought, maybe eventually the etymological explanations will be useful for learning compounds so maybe I should keep one of the copies.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Question about Henshall for advanced stage learners.... - yudantaiteki - 2015-03-27

I eventually got rid of mine; the etymologies are interesting but I never found the book useful for learning kanji or words.

Question about Henshall for advanced stage learners.... - john555 - 2015-03-27

yudantaiteki Wrote:I eventually got rid of mine; the etymologies are interesting but I never found the book useful for learning kanji or words.
Thanks. I'm leaning towards taking both copies to the local Goodwill.

Question about Henshall for advanced stage learners.... - rich_f - 2015-03-27

Maybe? It's a good book, but I never use it to remember words. I just remember the words. I don't bother with intermediate steps anymore.

If I want to look up a kanji, I use kanjigen on my electronic dictionary, read the Japanese definitions, and save myself the worry of going through someone else's translation.

Come to think of it, I should probably sell my copy of Henshall. >_>a

Question about Henshall for advanced stage learners.... - gaiaslastlaugh - 2015-03-27

I really liked it when I was first starting out, and found it more helpful than Heisig. Now, like rich_f says, I just learn kanji - I don't particularly care about looking up the etymology.

Question about Henshall for advanced stage learners.... - dizmox - 2015-03-28

I don't think that's a good use of time