しあわせ

My teacher, Chika-san, is giving a one day beginners kanji course at the City Lit in London on Sunday the 9th of March.
From the sounds of it it is most suitable for people who haven’t learnt any kanji yet but who can read and write kana and have the basics of Japanese grammar.
Chika-san is a good and prepared teacher and her classes are good fun so I’d expect it to be useful and enjoyable.
It will cost £31 for one day (4.5 hours) and will be held at the main City Lit campus in Keeley Street off Kingsway near Holborn Tube.

…in which I stray from the path

Heisig isn’t really working for me straight from the book. So I’ve decided on my own Shiawase system. It takes longer. So it’s not the speed system that Heisig mk1 might be.

What I’ve decided to do is incorporate it into more standard learning. I go beyond the keyword and kanji and I look up Jack Halperns keyword in the Kanji Learners Dictionary, because I don’t trust Heisig sometimes, and I believe Halpern is more accurate. I look up the onyomi and kunyomi. Most importantly I look up example words. Preferably words I already know, and preferably compounds.
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In the basement of Mitsukoshi Department Store on Lower Regent Street is JP Books which is probably the biggest Japanese bookstore in London if not the UK or possibly Europe!
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…in which I persevere.

But I wonder if it’s truly worth it.
I find the kanji character can be memorised fairly quickly, and I can produce them when prompted by keyword. But what I’ve learnt is of no immediate use. Even when I look up the kanji a lot are fairly obscure.
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Remembering the Kanji 1 James W. Heisig. pub: University of Hawaii Press

Heisig is the Marmite (or Natto) of Kanji learning. It’s mostly a love it or hate it affair. It also seems to have cultish tones with talk of unbelievers and converts amongst its fans. 溜め息

But because it has so much written about it I decided to give it a try.
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…in which I begin to have doubts.

Already.

I’m coming up against the 2 huge faults the detractors of Heisig come out with.
The “stories” are long-winded nonsense.
The “meanings” given to components are often very forced and sometimes just aren’t true.
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