There are many books on the market for learning Kanji, the Japanese alphabet that originally comes from Chinese, and Kanji Power focuses on 240 characters. As you flip through the first few pages of the book you will find that each chapter consists of an introduction, first grade characters, second grade characters and answers. The introduction explains how the 240 characters taught in this book are the same as those Japanese students learn when they start school.
Each lesson follows a specific structure; the introduction is given in both English and Japanese then a set of 80 characters are listed at a time. There are example sentences, common compounds and 20 small boxes for practicing writing. After 12 characters there is a small quiz which requires the student to write in hiragana and katakana (the other two Japanese alphabets) then after going over 24 new characters there is a proper test which follows a similar format to the mini quiz. At the end of the first grade there is a review test for all 80 characters. The second grade section follows the same format with 160 characters listed, and then it is more of the same as the first grade. The end of the textbook lists all of the answers for the exercises throughout the book.
"In order to expose students to other characters the student will also see combinations of each character taught with other characters, however this is meant to be a passive exercise which doesn’t actually require the student to try to memorize more than the expected 240."
The author recommends that students not only memorize the characters but also take the time to write them out repeatedly so that they can remember the stroke order. In order to expose students to other characters the student will also see combinations of each character taught with other characters, however this is meant to be a passive exercise which doesn’t actually require the student to try to memorize more than the expected 240. After each group of 24 characters there is a quiz to help reinforce the student’s learning.
Unfortunately, learning and memorizing Kanji can be a bit time consuming and it is one of those things that are necessary to learn when studying Japanese. If you want to get a good head start on learning these Japanese characters, Kanji Power will help you in you in an efficient and practical manner.
