The best
Japanese Language Instruction eBooks:
Reddit reviews
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
The best of Japanese Language Instruction eBooks by number of unique Reddit comments:
![GENKI: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese I [Third Edition] 初級日本語げんき[第3版] (Japanese Edition)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41zMV3WWUhL._SL500_.jpg)
Top Reddit reviews mentioning Japanese Language Instruction eBooks:
You may find Seely and Henshall’s “The Complete Guide to Japanese Kanji: Remembering and Understanding the 2,136 Standard Characters” (2016) to be interesting. The authors give etymologies for all the common Jōyō characters, and are very responsible about citing the authorities for each explanation and presenting alternate theories when the scholars disagree. It also has pictures of the oracle bone script and seal script versions of characters, when attested. I have found the kindle version very useful to keep on my phone for quick lookup via the search function. Please find the Amazon link below: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Japanese-Kanji-Understanding-ebook/dp/B01DIF7RBI/ref=nodl_
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DIF7RBI?ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_NTCQEK67SAG7RNGM5G56
But, to be honest, etymology doesn't really help (if only as a mnemonic device) — been there. Meanings of semantic components are often unclear or disputed, and phonetic components (being related to 1000 years old pronunciations of some obscure Chinese words) don't help at all.
What country are you in? Some countries can't use the link I provided you have to use your country's Amazon site. But if you are in the US use this link: https://www.amazon.com/Speak-Japanese-90-Days-Becoming-ebook/dp/B014RTDPBA?ie=UTF8
There should be the option to get the Kindle (free) or paperback (not free). Click the Kindle link and check out on the right (this is how it appears on desktop it may be different for mobile)
If that doesn't help let me know.
Edit: a word
It's so ridiculously different from English so it's a real pain going from English to Japanese, or probably even worse Japanese to English. Like I can understand a sentence fine when I read it in Japanese but ask me to translate it into English and if it's at all complicated it's going to sound really weird the first time, until I can rephrase it. Can't imagine the skill it takes to be a live translator doing it on the fly.
If you ever want to give it a shot, Genki I is a nice starting point.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086PGVPC3
At the same time, it's just a matter of putting enough time into it and doing uncomfortable shit like watching lots of anime without subs (or with JP subs) even when you hardly understand anything whatsoever. After enough time and enough study one day you'll all of a sudden realize you understand a good amount of it. Very weird feeling. Same for reading, same for playing games. Hope to one day get to the point where I all of a sudden understand it all.
There are a few books on it I think! The main one I'm aware of is <em>The Kanji Code</em>, by Natalie Hamilton. I've never read it myself so I can't give a quality assessment, but it seems to be well reviewed, and worth checking out.
I got this book for $5 on Amazon that has what you want. They're short stories made for beginners. First they show you the whole story in Japanese, then the English translation and then it goes over each paragraph explaining all the vocab and grammar. Honestly it's pretty great.
It’s not a website but it is a series of books that you can get on kindle which teaches you kanji in context, building up from Basic kanji to more and more advanced level. Each section is titled with a new kanji and it introduces different words that use the kanji in the context of a sentence. At the same time it introduces grammar and gives references to other resources such as dictionary of Japanese grammar. Gimme a sec and I’ll update with the url on Amazon
Kanji Learner's Course Graded Reading Sets, Vol. 1: Kanji 1-100 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07416SYL9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_hntuFbXZXEDGS
Looks like it’s massively discounted right now too
When I was in Japan I bought this book. It includes all 2136 Joyo kanji, gives ON and KUN yomi, gives a few vocabulary for each, has a list of around 200 radicals (if remember correctly) and explains how this particular kanji came to be what it is now. It also gives out some mnemonics. Not sure if that's what you're looking for, but hope this helps !
https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Short-Stories-Beginners-Captivating-ebook/dp/B08FDXBPT3
This is the first "Japanese book" I read, comes with furigana and English translation, very good for beginners imo.
thats right, using genki books + anki is enough i think. and also i used app called "bunpo" (in app store), it basically like grammar practice that they give you repetition like when using anki and it helps me a lot. and also for mastering your reading, after you mastered all Nx kanji dan know the Nx grammar, you can buy book such as This, it helps me a lot when reading in kana + kanji and also to practice how to understand japanese sentence and how native use it. hope it helps ^^
Not a light novel, but check this out:
It's specifically written in easy Japanese for language learners. It's kind of like those goofy dialogs from language textbooks, but stretched out to novel length.
I came across a great book called "Japanese Short Stories for Beginners" by Lingo Mastery. It makes for a great Kindle book. You get a series of short stories in Japanese followed by the same story in English with notes. Highly recommended!
The most popular one I know of is The Kanji Code. I haven't read it so I can't say much about it specifically, but it seems to be well-reviewed!
It should help a lot! I'm rather frustrated that it's not more often taught explicitly. Here's a book about it, if you're interested.
> I havent made it very far in my Kanji studying
That's why you're still bothered by "images" and "meanings". The truth is they're next to irrelevant. You can buy Seeley & Henshall's book, but I assure you, if you don't use it as the main learning course, you will stop constantly looking at etymologies after maybe a hundred learned kanjis or so. An excerpt from the book:
> [...] left-hand shows skeletal remains (possibly occipital bone); right-hand (person) is phonetic with associated sense i] ‘flesh rots and drops to ground’, giving ‘corpse turns to bleached bones free of flesh’ (Katō), or ii] ‘divided up into small pieces’, giving ‘die and bones come apart’ (Tōdō). In ancient China a person was only seen as dead when the corpse became a clean skeleton after exposure to weather (Mizukami). By block script, left-hand changed to 歹, and right-hand to 匕. Modern form comprises , known as ‘meatless bones’ (cf ‘meaty bone’ 骨 877), with ‘fallen person’ 匕 (see 258).
Could this be the one you are thinking of? https://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Code-Phonetic-Components-Patterns-ebook/dp/B07N6NPKM3/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=natalie+hamilton&qid=1603053335&sr=8-1
This is the book I'm looking at https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Zero-Methods-integrated-Workbook-ebook/dp/B08HQWYQ28/
I believe there are digital copies being sold, such as for the kindle. Though in regards to anywhere else, I'm not too sure.
here you go. they're the kodansha graded readers
if you wanted a reference book, yours (the kodansha) is the most complete one then and best suited for what you're looking for.
I didn't realize before, but apparently there is a kindle version of Genki now. USA Amazon listing and JP Amazon listing.
Japanese from Zero also has a kindle version and Human Japanese is available as an app, for some other options.
It sounds like that you need a book like this one https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Reader-Beginner-Language-Graded-ebook/dp/B01NBPIPMY/ref=sr_1_5?crid=20WFUXGEIYA4J&keywords=japanese+reader&qid=1565433775&s=gateway&sprefix=japanese+rea%2Caps%2C456&sr=8-5
It is available Kindle and it isn't too expensive and it may be the type of book you are looking for.
Might use Speak Japanese in 90 days to start instead of Tae Kim - any thoughts? The "in X time" title almost scared me off, but from the preview it seems pretty good I think.
The general plan it gives seems fairly simple: read grammar lesson with example sentences > book tells you which vocab/grammar flash cards to make for review > move on to next lesson. Repeat while reviewing old stuff regularly. I just don't know if the explanations themselves are actually good, haven't heard much about these books.
I have been using this for my kindle, and it has worked fine. Sometimes it has trouble reading the conjugated forms of verbs, but I think that's just an issue with the kindle, not the dictionary.
Ah, yes. There is a built-in 英和・和英辞典, but it's awkward and misses a lot of stuff (it's really designed for English->Japanese). You can buy a JEDICT one for 200 yen (or $3 if you're using a US account) which gets the job done.