Kanji in Context Reference Book [Revised 2nd Edition]

This is a course that requires the main text and the two workbooks. Otherwise the main text is an unwieldy pseudo-dictionary of kanji with selected vocabulary and no meaning associated with many of the kanji. This is a shame considering the considerable effort and sheer amount of knowledge that exists in this course. The publishers have produced a three-volume set of Japanese Grammar that is very good. Another reviewer noted that this required navigation and it is true. The authors noted that this was designed for intermediate and advanced students of Japanese and I agree. One should not attempt use of this book unless one already has about 800 kanji well under one’s belt. Seemingly this seems to bring to mind why no beginners version has been produced because it begs the question of what exactly an intermediate student must know in order to benefit from this “system”. From the first lesson, where 26 of the kanji for numbers, days of the week and time elements are introduced (very basic kanji) , one must know all of the kanji visible in the third and fourth photos I posted in order to complete the first workbook lesson. For some reason, furigana are given for some “as-yet-not-introduced” kanji/compound vocabulary items, in the example sentences, but not for others, but do not fret because one can navigate repeatedly to a special supplemental index at the back of the workbook to look these up. No English translations are provided for any of the workbook or example sentences.The problem is that many or most of the kanji do not have a meaning associated with them, only the meaning derived from the selected vocabulary items. If the kanji is capable of standing alone, as a verb with associated okurigana, or as a noun, etc., then it may be shown as the first vocabulary item (see second photo for examples), but generally one will have to derive a meaning of a kanji from the vocabulary compound kanji words, which limits the usefulness of this even as a kanji dictionary, which it is not. Please examine the photos with the idea that you want to know what each kanji actually means by itself, to understand my issue. Why the authors did not include a simple one-to-three word basic meaning for each kanji eludes me. However the stated goal of this course is the acquisition of fluent knowledge of kanji and vocabulary. Perhaps requiring the student to memorize multiple vocabulary items with each kanji is their method to do this. This is a long haul course not for the faint of heart. For those gifted with an extraordinary memory, my estimate is two to three years of study to get through the book and workbooks. For a more rapid acquisition of Kanji familiarity (with vocabulary items) I would recommend The Kodansha Kanji Learners Course (KKLC) by Andrew Scott-Conning…it take a different approach in advancing kanji by kanji, utilizing only kanji previously learned with successive vocabulary items. This KKLC would take a dedicated learner four months to a year to complete.In summary, this Kanji in Context volume clearly requires significant kanji knowledge to utilize because from the start, unfamiliar kanji are included in the vocabulary lists for each kanji. This, with the lack of the aforementioned meaning being indicated leaves one guessing as to the meaning of most of the kanji in this book even as you learn the vocabulary items which mainly are compound words consisting of at least two kanji.. The authors mark un-introduced kanji with an asterisk, but in kanji study this has limited usefulness unless one has precious knowledge of the first two of seven levels in the text, some 800 plus kanji…even then you need to know those particular kanji, and that presumes that the intermediate student has learned those particular kanji…in a perfect world.

I studied using Basic Kanji Book, vols I + II. After that I moved to Intermediate Kanji Books, but they did not really click for me, at which point I switched to Kanji in Context, from lesson 12 (kanji 250~ onwards).I have been studying with it at a pace of 1 lesson for week, and there are ~156 lessons. I am now at lesson 141, and thus will be finishing the book (new edition) in the next month. You heard it right, I planned the books to take me three years. This may sound long, but I think it is a small period to get to dominate the japanese kanji.I also use the workbooks a week after learning the lesson as a check. I feel it has been going very well and manage to get quite a good recall. The chapter divisions and ordering feel very useful to me, as they are grouped by frequency, semantic and vocabulary similarities (eg. king and slave are in the same chapter), thus they had a lot of "contextual" sense to me.Would definetly recommend. With serious study and perseverance, this can be your tool to kanji proficiency tool.

Complete list of jyoyo kanji and useful vocabulary words to learn. The workbooks are also well made. It's more daunting than another kanji texts I've studied from but definitely the best one I've purchased to date

It's pretty good if you want a standard systematic approach to learning (personally prefer learning as and when I encounter). The one thing it lacks (hence the 4 stars) is that it fails to explicitly state the meaning(s) of each kanji like my Kodasha one does. I guess this is designed to go with the workbook also which as I suspect is my misunderstanding I won't take any stars off.I have 4 kanji books now since I like to play with different resources, This is definitely my second favourite and gets some usage, It's nice and big and very easy to navigate.

Aspecto didáctico y estético para el aprendizaje de los kanjis.

If you're already happy with RTK or WaniKani, clearly you don't need this book. Although it could be helpful as a reference after you're finished as it contains unusual readings and tests of application. But if for some reason you need to study Kanji conventionally using a comprehensive text, this book is an excellent resource for systematic study. As an intermediate level student wanting to push into the early stages of advanced study and fortify my fundamentals, this book has really helped my reinforce what I've learned over the years, and provides a path towards relatively comprehensive foundations in reading and writing everyday language. Because I'm a bit of a slow student and learning Japanese has been a very long term project for me, Kanji In Context is a great book because it doesn't make any assumptions about the pace of my study. It's a very appropriate book for me personally. Like A Dictionary of Basic/Intermediate/Advanced Japanese Grammar, from the same publisher, the book is of exceptionally high quality. Clearly a lot of effort has gone into the presentation and organisation of the material, and it pays off for the reader. I've encountered a lot of low quality books that look similar but absolutely aren't. This one and its companion workbooks are worth taking seriously.

This book has so much kanji and vocabulary in it that it is both useful and a bit overwhelming. By itself it is not so helpful for a systematic study (I think there is a supplementary workbook you can buy with to use with it), but it is good for a comprehensive guide to all the kanji you may need to study

必須のアイテムで、前はカバンに入れて持ち運びしやすい大きさで、デザインも良かったのですが、改訂版になって、本が重く大きくなったのが残念です。書き順が入ったので、その分量も増えたのでしょうが、必要だったのかどうか、悩ましいです。