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Read Japanese Today
Author Len Walsh
CategoryKanji learning - beginner and intermediate
ISBN0804804966 (softcover) [COPAC, Webcatplus, Wikipedia]

Review by Charles E. Tuttle catalogue

This concise and entertaining book introduces 300 basic characters through the pictures they represent.

Review by Hans van der Veen

This little book introduces about 300 kanji and is fun to read. It gives origins if helpful to remember them, or gives other mnemonics if the origins wouldn't help. Those mnemonics are in general very plausible and I found them a great help in recognizing the kanji.

For example: the character ... read more

Review by Ilya Farber

This one has a lot of just-so stories in it, but is small, easy to read, and deals with only the most common and useful characters. It's good for keeping your morale up, since it gets you fairly quickly to the point where you'll be recognizing a character here or there in anything you read (and believe me, that's a good feeling!).

Review by RandyF

There is also a 1969 book called Read Japanese Today by Len Walsh. It is more like Henshall in that it tries to accurately convey what the parts of the kanji actually represented. More readable than Henshall, but with only 300 kanji.

Review by Gene Fornario

I'm still struggling with the written language, but one of my favorite books is "Read Japanese Today" by Len Walsh. He covers 300 very basic kanji and various combinations found in Japan. He associates the various kanji with their pictorial origins, and it makes a nice learning method. I would call it a very good "first step" book for those just being introduced to kanji. Presenting Kanji as a character system with a history makes it easier on me than trying to learn it by rote, and after a while, it doesn't seem all that complicated.

Review by Khadejah J. Dein

For under $10.00 US, it will give you a taste of Kanji origins, pronunciation, compounds, usages, and mnemonic devices to help you remember. If you find that learning Kanji is helping you understand spoken Japanese (or at least making it more fun - learning is always more fun when you really ... read more

Review by MoebiusW

I have an old book by Len Walsh named Read Japanese Today, written back in 1966. I believe it is still in print. It begins with the Chinese roots of a character, and uses most of the metaphors from the Chinese Bo-Po-Mo-Fo. I do not profess to be a great scholar, my interest in Japanese is mostly ... read more


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