Kanji Fast Finder

by Laurence Matthews

Book Overview

This Kanji reference book employs a revolutionary and user-friendly new way to look up Japanese Kanji by appearance rather than radical. Kanji (Japanese characters) are fascinating, but frustrating part of the Japanese language. In particular looking up kanji in a traditional dictionary can be a nightmare as there is no "alphabetical order." With Kanji Fast Finder you can find a kanji in seconds from its appearance alone. From the finder chart inside...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804833931
• ISBN13: 9780804833936
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Good introductory text

This isn't an exhaustive book on the kanji, but it is a useful one. It is perhaps best for the beginning student of kanji who is still struggling to sort out the radicals (a complex endeavour to be sure). It won't replace works such as Nelson's, but then it isn't meant to. It is great for beginners, though.

Does what it says & very well.

This is an excellent book for simply finding Kanji very very fast. If you take the time to cut out the quick tabs as the book instructs it speeds things up even faster. No need to count strokes, although they are listed. Kun & On readings as well as translations are shown. A great addition to any Kanji learner's library. No Kanji book is going to do *everything* for you. But this one does an excellent job of it's specific task.

Wonderful tool

This is the best Japanese tool that I have ever used. As a cataloger at a major research library, I use this book on a daily basis. In fact, since purchasing this book, I find that I only use other Japanese dictionaries in special cases. The format is extremely user-friendly and as the title states, it is very "fast" indeed. I have never seen another book like it.

Japanese Kanji Fast Finder really works

After studying Japanese while stationed in Tokyo, I keep up by jotting down Kanji (or Chinese characters) when I see them in restaurants or signs, then look them up when I get home. Kanji Fast Finder has made that easier. I get my answer really quickly, and now I use my big character dictionary only on those occasions when I want to search through a lot of compounds to translate a phrase. For individual characters, this clever little book is greased lightening! Ed Sroka, Cherry Hill NJ

A whole new world - I thought Japanese was hard to learn!

This is brilliant! At last a kanji book where you don't need to count up strokes! No, it isn't a dictionary, but then it isn't pretending to be. The Kanji Fast Finder does what it says in the title. And boy is it fast. And also very clear. The kanji are all laid out across the page which makes it easy to find the one you are looking for. Yes, this means there is only a small amount of info for each kanji. But often you don't need lots of info. When you are learning kanji like me, all you often want is to check on which kanji was which, when you've forgotten one or mixed them up. I guess you will still need a dictionary for looking up compounds and so on. But as an extremely fast and user-friendly memory-jogger and quick-reference, the Fast Finder would be hard to beat. Horses for courses.