Mushi
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2010-07-06
Posts: 252
I enjoy occasionally reviewing my Heisig books, although what bugs me about them (and I've mentioned this before) is that there's no Japanese edition of his books. I'm not all that great at context switching, so when I'm studying kanji, I'd prefer to stay in Japanese.
When I was last in Japan, I enjoyed reading my sister's kanji dictionaries and other references, although they were a bit dry.
So I'd like to study kanji more from Japanese kanji study gudes. And the Japanese, of course, being quite invested in kanji themselves, seem to have plenty of these types of books.
Browsing amazon.co.jp today, there were some books that looked enjoyable, like "読めないと恥ずかしい漢字1500 -日本人なら、これくらいは知らなくちゃ!" ("Kanji you'd be embarrassed to not be able to read 1500 - If you're Japanese, you'd better at least know this much!"), or "社会人の常識漢字ドリル" ("Drills of common sense kanji for everyday people").
I was wondering what other recommendations people here may have in this vein?
chamcham
Member
Registered: 2005-11-11
Posts: 1444
You can try the "gakushu" step books for the Kanji Kentei Shiken (exam).
It has 10 levels. Pre-level 2 is supposed to be roughly the level of an educated
college graduate with some study. At the highest level (Level 1), it tests 6000 kanji, many of them are rare forms no longer in use. Maybe 100-200 people pass Level 1 each year.
Go to Amazon.co.jp and search for "日本漢字能力検定協会".
Last edited by chamcham (2013 February 02, 1:21 pm)
Mushi
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2010-07-06
Posts: 252
Ah, good idea! A search for kanken brought up a variety of books. A lot of them are a bit hard-core for my taste, since I'm not taking kanken, and would be reading more than cramming for an exam.
There's nevertheless a lot of variety, from 9/10 kyu with cutsey pictures and elementary kanji, through 1/2, which are above my level. Probably there are some there that match my level and preferences.