If you have any experience studying Japanese, you know what a challenge it is to remember over 2000 kanji. (If you're into literature that number is probably closer to 4000.)
My preferred way to study kanji is to read literature and look up whatever I don't know. However, over the past decade and a half, I've come across one textbook that I found particularly useful. It is called『漢字の実践練習』. Like many of the best textbooks, it's organized thematically, allowing you to learn kanji in a relational network rather than as separate characters.
The bad news is that this textbook is not publicly available and never was. It was only sold at one coop of a Japanese university where I studied. Not anywhere else: not on Amazon, not at any other local bookstore, just at that one campus shop.
The good news is that I made high-quality scans of the book. Please feel free to download the PDF files (workbook + answer key) here. This link will only be available for 72 hours, after which it will disappear forever.
If you want to know more about the books I read and the language learning resources I use, check out my new Instagram page.
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I personally have given up on writing Kanji by hand. Living in France, I just don't have any opportunity/reason to express myself in Japanese in hand-written form. So even if I did invest a lot of time studying writing, I would never put it in practice... and would forget it all eventually, like Japanese people tend to do nowadays once they're done with their studies. Heisig's Remembering the Kanji really was a game-changer for me as it separated learning how to understand / read (extremely important) vs learning how to write by hand (optional in 2022).
I understand how things can be different if you plan to live in Japan for years, or have to submit hand-written reports or essays in Japanese for work or school, or if you live in a household with Japanese people and want to leave hand-written notes. So based on individual experiences, writing Kanji can be inescapable. Writing also helps with memorization, definitely. But I believe teachers (esp. Japanese teachers) don't do enough to encourage student to quickly learn the meaning / pronunciation of all 常用漢字 vs spending years practicing 書き順. Learning a language and learning calligraphy are two different beasts.
I'll admit it is frustrating, though, how sometimes I just can't come up with some basic Kanji by hand or in my mind, even though I would have no trouble reading said Kanji in an article or book. But since it has no practical consequence, why beat myself up?
I do enjoy writing my favorite Kanji occasionally (鬱), just for bragging rights. That one's a monster and I'm proud to have tamed it. If only I could do the same with my actual bouts of 鬱病！
Thanks for your comment Jon! I completely agree that writing in these times is becoming less of a necessity. This is probably the exact reason I do want to keep doing it. Probably not very functional or practical, but I just like to write kanji out. It relaxes me. Haha and also a good move remembering 鬱! You also need 薔薇. That way you'll be covered when people ask you to write/read difficult kanji (笑).
Ah, 薔薇 ! So utterly useless it becomes indispensable. I'll probably try remembering it just because I'm such a sucker for ベルバラ, especially its magnificently campy opening song, which I won't deny singing at least once a week (it's good for you).
I found this post after watching your amazing video about learning kanji. What you say resonates very much with what I am trying to achieve... I am a beginner in learning Japanese language but I have been studying 書道 with a Japanese professional artist and Chinese calligraphy as well for over three years now. I ended up knowing quite a bunch of obscure kanji and not common ones :)
If I may ask - any chance you could share the pdf link privately one more time? I have been searching for the book itself but seems like it only could be found in a library in Japan and all my usual used books nooks do not carry any copies. I would really appreciate your help!
Thank you thank you thank you! This is amazing! Thanks for going through all of this trouble and sharing!
Hi Maya, you're very welcome! It's so good to see you here. Hope you enjoy the textbook :)
Interesting ! Thanks for sharing.
I personally have given up on writing Kanji by hand. Living in France, I just don't have any opportunity/reason to express myself in Japanese in hand-written form. So even if I did invest a lot of time studying writing, I would never put it in practice... and would forget it all eventually, like Japanese people tend to do nowadays once they're done with their studies. Heisig's Remembering the Kanji really was a game-changer for me as it separated learning how to understand / read (extremely important) vs learning how to write by hand (optional in 2022).
I understand how things can be different if you plan to live in Japan for years, or have to submit hand-written reports or essays in Japanese for work or school, or if you live in a household with Japanese people and want to leave hand-written notes. So based on individual experiences, writing Kanji can be inescapable. Writing also helps with memorization, definitely. But I believe teachers (esp. Japanese teachers) don't do enough to encourage student to quickly learn the meaning / pronunciation of all 常用漢字 vs spending years practicing 書き順. Learning a language and learning calligraphy are two different beasts.
I'll admit it is frustrating, though, how sometimes I just can't come up with some basic Kanji by hand or in my mind, even though I would have no trouble reading said Kanji in an article or book. But since it has no practical consequence, why beat myself up?
I do enjoy writing my favorite Kanji occasionally (鬱), just for bragging rights. That one's a monster and I'm proud to have tamed it. If only I could do the same with my actual bouts of 鬱病！
Thanks for your comment Jon! I completely agree that writing in these times is becoming less of a necessity. This is probably the exact reason I do want to keep doing it. Probably not very functional or practical, but I just like to write kanji out. It relaxes me. Haha and also a good move remembering 鬱! You also need 薔薇. That way you'll be covered when people ask you to write/read difficult kanji (笑).
Ah, 薔薇 ! So utterly useless it becomes indispensable. I'll probably try remembering it just because I'm such a sucker for ベルバラ, especially its magnificently campy opening song, which I won't deny singing at least once a week (it's good for you).
I found this post after watching your amazing video about learning kanji. What you say resonates very much with what I am trying to achieve... I am a beginner in learning Japanese language but I have been studying 書道 with a Japanese professional artist and Chinese calligraphy as well for over three years now. I ended up knowing quite a bunch of obscure kanji and not common ones :)
If I may ask - any chance you could share the pdf link privately one more time? I have been searching for the book itself but seems like it only could be found in a library in Japan and all my usual used books nooks do not carry any copies. I would really appreciate your help!