Books >> Reference

Seriously, if you want to learn Kana, this is the book for you. It starts with a good explanation of the why/how/what of these two syllabaries. Then it goes right into hiragana but doesn't overwhelm you. After you've been introduced to enough material, you get a review. (There are tons of reviews and they all cover word examples that are practical to know for cultural or historic events.) Once you've completed hiragana, the book moves on to katakana. The system builds upon itself and the two syllabaries make sense the way they're presented in this book.

I started this book back in XMAS 2003. Three months later, I know both kana syllabaries like the back of my hand.

Best Japanese purchase EVER.

The material is divided in sets of characters (8-10), at the end of each the mini review follows. A good way to study (my suggestion) is to practice writing the characters (preferably in a blank piece fo paper, one sheet per character), do the mini review, make 'flash cards' with the words and the next day do a review of previously studied material and advance to the following set of characters. In that pace I was able to finish the book in about two weeks (I borrowed it from the campus library), but my ability to read and write was very good by the end (a couple of Japanese classmates where quite impressed).

The book definitly does what it claims to do, that is to teach reading and writing the Hiragana and the Katakana. It does not claim to be a grammar, syntax, vocabulary or phrase book and does not deal in any way with such aspects of the language. It has nothing to do at all with the Kanji; nevertheless, it is rather futile attempting to read anything in Japanese without prior solid knowledge of the syallabaries (they are used to show pronounciation of the Kanji at many texts and the common script is always a mixture of Kanji and Kana signs).

If you want a place to start your trip through the actual Japanese language, going beyond romanized scripts and phrase books, this is an exellent place to start.

te evita gastos de excuelas y academias...Y si ya sabes algo de inglés, como fue mi caso, LO MEJORA ENORMEMENTE ! Te da más vocabulario y flexibilidad al hablar !

I wondered, in my ignorance, who the heck was Iris Murdoch, and why all the fuss and feathers.

Then I bought this gem of a book by Nicol. I am transported. The text, with telling quotes and illustrations, tells me what I have overlooked, pre-ALZ. Do I feel guilty as an Emeritus Professor in resorting to the Classic Comics of the 21st Century?
Not in the slightest: Nicol puts forth one idea in serial fashion and for the first time I understand rational humanism, existentialism, selfism & Simone Weill.

Murdoch defines my AA Higher power as "A single perfect transcendent non-representational and necessarily real object of attention." I can live with that in preference to the Ontology of Neo-Scholasticism of my own undergraduate daze.
I am indebted to Nicol for pointing out Murdoch's notion of love as the ideal of attention: "When we really love someone (rather than just lusting after them or seeing them as someone who can improve our self-image)--we are really seeing them. . . We become so immersed in them that we actually forget ourselves for a moment. We obliterate our self by attempting to empathize with another." [And CODA be damned.]

Therefore, I am truly grateful for this "trot." It gives me what I can no longer do for myself, due to my own data overload ALZ deterioration. Thank you, Nicol.

Memory Impaired "Reverse Mike."

I wondered, in my ignorance, who the heck was Iris Murdoch, and why all the fuss and feathers.

Then I bought this gem of a book by Nicol. I am transported. The text, with telling quotes and illustrations, tells me what I have overlooked, pre-ALZ. Do I feel guilty as an Emeritus Professor in resorting to the Classic Comics of the 21st Century?
Not in the slightest: Nicol puts forth one idea in serial fashion and for the first time I understand rational humanism, existentialism, selfism & Simone Weill.

Murdoch defines my AA Higher power as "A single perfect transcendent non-representational and necessarily real object of attention." I can live with that in preference to the Ontology of Neo-Scholasticism of my own undergraduate daze.
I am indebted to Nicol for pointing out Murdoch's notion of love as the ideal of attention: "When we really love someone (rather than just lusting after them or seeing them as someone who can improve our self-image)--we are really seeing them. . . We become so immersed in them that we actually forget ourselves for a moment. We obliterate our self by attempting to empathize with another." [And CODA be damned.]

Therefore, I am truly grateful for this "trot." It gives me what I can no longer do for myself, due to my own data overload ALZ deterioration. Thank you, Nicol.

Memory Impaired "Reverse Mike."

I wondered, in my ignorance, who the heck was Iris Murdoch, and why all the fuss and feathers.

Then I bought this gem of a book by Nicol. I am transported. The text, with telling quotes and illustrations, tells me what I have overlooked, pre-ALZ. Do I feel guilty as an Emeritus Professor in resorting to the Classic Comics of the 21st Century?
Not in the slightest: Nicol puts forth one idea in serial fashion and for the first time I understand rational humanism, existentialism, selfism & Simone Weill.

Murdoch defines my AA Higher power as "A single perfect transcendent non-representational and necessarily real object of attention." I can live with that in preference to the Ontology of Neo-Scholasticism of my own undergraduate daze.
I am indebted to Nicol for pointing out Murdoch's notion of love as the ideal of attention: "When we really love someone (rather than just lusting after them or seeing them as someone who can improve our self-image)--we are really seeing them. . . We become so immersed in them that we actually forget ourselves for a moment. We obliterate our self by attempting to empathize with another." [And CODA be damned.]

Therefore, I am truly grateful for this "trot." It gives me what I can no longer do for myself, due to my own data overload ALZ deterioration. Thank you, Nicol.

Memory Impaired "Reverse Mike."