Kanji help

[Jack]

I am looking for a book that teaches kanji pronounciation. I speak some Japanese and can read Hiragana and Katakana and about 400 kanjis. But I have serious problem with the latter in that the pronounciation is never what I think it is. For instance: If I write "ue" (up) and "te" (hand) together, it is not pronounced "uete" but pronounced "jyouzu". Is there a book that can help me learn kanji pronounciation?

Thank you,

[bluepxl]

oh, pronunciation is always going to be the same in japanese, but those are the different readings. i see what you mean. you just have to get dictionaries and stuff, get some flashcards, and practice! it's a matter of learning the different readings for each character, and their context, when and how they are used.

check this site out: http://www.kanjisite.com/ it has a lot of helpful instructions in learning about kanji and how to learn all that. gambatte!

[Andocrates]

[GomiGirl]

Flashcards, Flashcards, Flashcards and did I mention Flashcards.

You need to know the following things:

on-yomi, kun-yomi and the meaning in English so that you have something to relate it back to in your own mind.

Then it is good to set up some flashcards with jukugo - ie combinations using the target kanji. Usually just 2 glyph combos are OK but remember that the reading will be different depending if it is at the start of the combo or at the end.

It is a pity that you are not in Japan as I know an *excellent* flashcard program that can help you but of course it is only available on Japanese mobile phone. We have just included 4 glyph jukogo which stumps even native speakers.

so don't just study the kanji, study the combos as it has the benefit of increasing your vocaulary as well as your kanji recognition.

There are a few on the internet, but I haven't seen one that I really truely like as much as my own..

[Jack]

Thank you for all the replies. I did check the kanji website and it is very helpful. I will try learning the kanji in compounds. I wish I could write kanji on this computer to show my dilema. That website had a nice example of the character "u" as in "umareru" which is the same as "sei" in "sensei" or "nama" as in "nama bi-ru" and so on. There must be 8 or 9 different readings of that kanji alone. Anyway, got to practice and read more I guess.

Arigatou gozaimashita.

[kotatsuneko]

hey Jack, first, well respect for your studies!

there was quite a good free or maybe shareware kanji flashcard app called "kanji gold" a while ago, well, at least i thought it was pretty good.. dont know if its still in dev tho..

as for books, well the best that i have seen , and one the wife thought was pretty damn good was by tuttle , in a silver jacket by an australian writer i think it was called "remembering the kanji" or something..

some of these sites may come in handy, i hope so, they are from my own research, not ripped off from anyone/site.. when i get the hang of sorting tables out in dreamweaver i`ll get round to sorting the 1k or so links on japan i have found and do some kind of mini info site..

anyhow, GOOD LUCK!!!

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/henshall_mnem.html
http://webjapanese.com/wj/kanji-c/
http://www.schei.com/flashcards.htm
http://members.aol.com/Joyo96/index96.html
http://www.kanjiclinic.com/
http://www.kanji.org/kanji/japanese/writing/index.htm
http://web.uvic.ca/kanji-gold/
http://www.kanjistep.com/
http://www.kanjisite.com/
http://www.8ung.at/aikikai-wien/kanji.htm
http://www.genki-online.com/kyozai/kanji_by_lesson.html
http://www.rikai.com/cgi-bin/Home.pl?Language=En

[kamome]

Before going to the websites, you first should buy the most fundamental resource: a comprehensive kanji dictionary.

I have Hadamitsky & Spahn's "The Kanji Dictionary" (unabridged version). O'Neill's dictionary is the old standby. Both are heavy desktop references, but are great for translations. I have seen smaller reference books that are good for translations of common words, but they leave out technical and academic kanji.

[Andocrates]

You know despite all the PC and innovations, and I've tried a lot of technological things, the only thing that works for me is writing them a bazillion times each on a dry erase board.