The Kanji Code: See the Sounds with Phonetic Components and Visual Patterns

I was struggling with the apparent randomness of katakana, hiragana, kanji. This book in the first 15 pages blew my mind. To see them connected in such a beautiful way is a game changer for learning to read Japanese. The author suffered from the same confusion and is essentially sharing the fun realizations that she was able to have seeing the whole system unified into one coherent system.

Very interesting and well made/ organized; be sure you are specifically interested in phonetics when buying. This book has some examples of kanji shape generalizations, which is cool.I am more interested in semantics/ logography than I am in phonetics, but I do say -- if you are like me -- have this in your collection if you want to really get full on kanji research info!Also, as a more visual person, the imagery is a super nice bonus! Not exactly illustrative in the fine arts sense, but good for visually keeping up. Also, the descriptions are short and sweet, so that is great!Additionally, I believe this book is from research done by a single person, using works made by others to form theories... And I really appreciate that. So, give it a try! If you can read it at a library or flip through it in a store (post Covid) I would say that would help inform you on if you want it full-time!

I learned about this book through the kanji learning website, Wanikani, which I highly recommend for anyone serious about learning kanji. I'm not even halfway through this book but I have to leave a review. At first I was reading through and looking at how the kana was made, and I thought maybe this book wouldn't really be useful to me. Then during my next Wanikani review session I could see it. I have to say I am pretty amazed. I am looking at the kanji in a different way, a more creative way, rather than a mechanical way like the Heisig method alone. This book is changing the way I think without me even realizing it, using very little effort on my part which is fantastic. If you are a fan of the Heisig method, like me, I recommend this book, and Wanikani as accompaniment. This book is interesting and not a drag like you're studying something. I commend the author for the work on this, thank you!

I found the Kanji Code book through the Wanikani community and am using it for my Japanese reading studies. So far I have found it to be a brilliant primary resource to achieve fluency in reading Japanese texts. I wish I had the Kanji Code when I studied Japanese in college and on the JET Program. This is what us gaijin students of Japanese have needed and waited for.

I haven’t been able to finish reading the book due to time constraints, but I really liked what I’ve read so far. The author definitely spent a lot of time researching history to provide a lot of background on kanji. For serious students, having that kind of detail is very helpful. I’ve been studying the language for a while now and I can say that I was unaware of all the details the book has. I will be using the kanji code as a resource for my N2 exam. I’m sure it will be helpful.Tip - spend time practicing the guidelines given by the author in each chapter. These are really meant to help you!

I have long studied Michael Pye's The Study of Kanji, which is an exhaustive record of phonetics used in Jouyou kanji. I still haven't mastered them all. No wonder, since I have read that there are around 850 phonetics. This book selects around 150 of the most useful phonetics, on the basis of a simple form, consistent sound in a number of kanji, and kanji that are relatively common. By this selection, Ms. Hamilton makes the phonetic method more practical than an exhaustive list for most students. Hooray for her in advancing the cause of phonetics as a learning tool for kanji.

Doesn't work on kindle.

I really enjoyed the book and found the three methods for learning the ON-readings of kanji to be both intuitive and effective. I can easily recommend this book to anyone who is learning how to read kanji.

The sales pitch for this book does not tell you that first you must learn Katagana and Hiragana. The Kanji book is written like an academic text book and the first 40 or so pages is basically the authors academic justofication for writing it. Rather tedious. The premise for using the book as a method for remembering Kanji is also very questionable. It adopts a largely phonetic approach which you may or not find helpful. At times it is tenuous at best. It also has limited coverage - there are over 2100 Kanji and this book does not cover them all by any means. Finally, a lot of the Kanji are printed in a small font. If you are used to reading Kanji this may be ok, but if not you will strain to differentiate between them. Hence overall, despite some undoubted academic merit, I don't recommend this book unless you are already some way down your journey to learning Japanese.

Based upon intensive research but using innovative and imaginative methods this is perfect for those who enjoy the visual appeal of learning kanji. With more solid basis and potential historical truth in the patterns recognised and neatly combed out by the author, this book serves as a more academic approach to studying kanji than using mere mnemonics more personal perhaps to the other inventive authors than necessarily one’s own. More like a science where results could be repeated (and indeed references are made to other authors who detected the same patterns) I couldn’t put this book down. Questions I would ask but not found in other books on the subject were concisely answered as if I had found a kindred spirit in my curiosity. I hope the author is immensely proud of her hard work.

Some of the patterns in this book are the same as those which are discussed elsewhere. Others are new, fresh ideas which use much more abstract aspects of the characters to hint towards their readings (overall form rather than specific components). Of particular interest to me were the hints towards the "rhyming" component, i.e. not guaranteeing a particular consonant-vowel couple, but just the vowel part.Really enjoyed this one. Glad to add to my library.

Perfect

The title seems promising, and on the back it says "we've cracked the code". Personally i find the book to be of limited use in spite of the promise. I guess the slogan comes from the marketing department, rather than from the author herself. If i had found the book in a real bookstore, i would probably have browsed through it and put it back on the shelf. Some of the so-called similarities between kanji in the chapter on "Series", for instance, are quite far-fetched and of little or no practical use to me. There are a few "tricks" that anyone who has studied kanji for a couple of months or years has probably already found for themselves, the book doesn't really add much to that. And i don't think absolute beginners will find it useful either. That being said, some people might find their curiosity stimulated by this book, and it might be an eye- and ear-opener for them.