(long) List of Heisig Keyword Gradings V0.5

[James R Hester]

LIST OF HEISIG KEYWORD GRADINGS VERSION 0.5 (June 1995)
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Compilers: Michael Barthelow (mich...@pacificrim.net) and James
Hester (j...@nirim.go.jp). More welcome!

Introduction:
-------------

For those who came in late: A certain James Heisig once wrote a book,
'Remembering the Kanji I' in which he claimed that it was possible to
learn the meaning and writing of the 2000 odd Jouyou kanji with about
one month of full--time study. He went on to present these kanji, in
a special order, with a simple mnemonic scheme. The following file is
being compiled in response to one criticism of this book, that is,
that some of the keywords suggested by Heisig are incorrect.

A separate (computer generated) list of the most frequent kanji
arranged in Heisig order will be posted at a later date. This will
aid those who are only interested in a subset of the kanji.

This list is presented as a source of information that people may or
may not find useful. There are many people who have used an
unadulterated version of Heisig who consider that their kanji
knowledge has not suffered.

Users of this list should also be aware that the kanji keywords were
chosen by Heisig to be both memorable and descriptive of that kanji's
function in compounds. These aims are not always compatible, leading
to inaccuracies in meaning. As an obvious example, Heisig avoids
duplication of keywords, and thus sometimes deviates from the most
common meaning of a kanji. Choosing the most common meaning in all
cases may reduce the effectiveness of the method.

About the List
--------------

Every kanji in Heisig is being checked against the core meanings given
in Jack Halpern's `New Japanese English Kanji Dictionary'. Four
degrees of error are recognised:

no error: Heisig's keyword corresponds to a Halpern `core meaning' for
that kanji, to one of the meanings in lower case bold face (`keywords' in
Halpern's terminology), or to a `kun' meaning.

B: Heisig's keyword appears as the meaning of one of the compounds
in Halpern (ordinary text, no bold face). If such a meaning is
marked 'rare' or 'archaic', an 'A' grade is given instead.

A: Heisig's keyword is not mentioned in Halpern, but can be
obtained by association (eg `crystal' and 'sparkle')

A+: Heisig's keyword cannot be obtained by association.

The choice of A or A+ is somewhat subjective. In each case the
Halpern kanji number is given to facilitate checking. Halpern
keywords are not included because of possible copyright problems.
Depending on your taste, you may consider only those Kanji marked `A+'
as having erroneous keywords, or you may consider a grade of B as
sufficiently off target to warrant correction.

Currently, the Heisig kanji 1--600 and 1597--2042 have been checked.
***********************************************************************
Heisig# Error Halpern # Notes
Grade
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1-100
_____

22 A 2474
24 B 2187 Yes
28 A 3496
30 * 2389 Yes
32 B 1939
42 B 3455 Yes
53 B 2155
55 A+ 2083
56 B 2269
66 A 827
68 B 2933
71 A+ 3339
86 A 2001
87 B 894
91 A 3348
92 A 1113

101--200
________

101 A 3475
110 B 223
114 B 2205
118 B 1448
119 B 2391
120 B 2152
124 A+ 2449
131 A 39
134 A 3009
138 A 262
145 A+ 337
151 A 203
155 A 2165
157 A 512
163 B 1022
164 A+ 528
183 A 3052
189 A+ 2276
190 A 2171
194 B 1509
198 B 198
199 * Not in Halpern

201--300
________

207 A 819
208 A 834
209 A 900
217 A 3505
218 * Not present in Halpern
235 A 225
237 A 1171
239 A 272
241 A+ 2782 Heisig gloss is correct
242 * Not present in Halpern
247 B 2409
250 A+ 1967
260 B 269
276 B 1759
281 B 3110
290 B 2266
298 A 2200

301--399
________

311 B 2072
316 A 2060
328 A 390
329 B 873
330 B 242
331 B 1476
333 A 1141
334 A 1701
340 A+ 1456
352 A 1598
356 B 465
358 A 3297
361 B 3537
366 A 601
367 A+ 932
372 B 526
376 A+ 3019 Heisig gloss is correct
388 A 2436
393 B 1579
397 A 3299
400 B 756

401--500
________

405 B 2973
410 * Not present in Halpern
421 A 2209
430 * Not present in Halpern
435 A 2073
436 B 2130
439 A 2116
448 A 2413
454 A+ 461
460 A+ 925
463 A 1679
472 * Not present in Halpern
473 B 2695
478 A 1670
487 B 2016
489 A 2742
493 B 2210
494 A+ 877

501--600
________

501 * Not present in Halpern
503 B 1634
505 B 991
506 B 129
507 B 240
511 A 2357
512 B 2490
514 * Not present in Halpern
518 A 2591
526 B 3307
528 B 243
529 A 1453
531 A 917
538 B 976
539 B 3102
540 A 3138
543 A 2140
545 A 558
548 B 2264
552 A 3139
553 * Not present in Halpern
554 A 3311
556 B 463
557 B 2770
560 A+ 127
563 A 1055
567 A 1228
570 B 1867
571 B 1065
572 B 1880
577 A 793
578 A 3025
579 A 3070
584 B 353
586 B 3055
587 A 754
598 B 1546

701--1600 Not done yet

1600 A 1617

1601--1700
__________

1630 A 2104
1631 B 1815
1634 A 490
1638 A 1995
1639 B 98
1643 A 148
1645 A 1407
1652 A 1459
1656 B 2175
1657 B 2041
1670 A 2871
1671 A 1672
1686 B 3279
1688 B 3278
1691 B 3290
1695 A 2962
1697 B 865
1698 A 886

1701--1800
__________

1709 A 3288
1715 B 1860
1716 A 3295
1718 A 574
1720 A 2066
1722 A 123
1725 B 1962
1729 A 2054
1730 B 1669
1732 B 2115
1737 B 2118
1739 A+ 650
1748 A 2098
1759 B 2560
1763 B 987
1767 B 2673
1770 A 559
1776 B 1337
1778 A 1161
1780 A 348
1789 A 1806
1793 A 733
1799 A 386

1801--1900
__________

1801 A 2515
1802 B 1101
1817 B 1625
1826 A 1481
1837 B 437
1851 A 1289
1854 A+ 578
1858 A 3106
1863 A 2931
1864 B 69
1871 A+ 1317
1872 B 2851
1876 B 1365
1891 B 2575
1898 B 405

1901--1950
__________

1901 A 16
1907 A 1197
1910 B 2360
1911 A 1897
1914 B 1309
1917 B 1455
1921 A 474
1923 A 1003
1926 A 2825
1944 * Not in Halpern
1945 B 2355
1950 * Not in Halpern
1951 A 586

1950--1978 Not finished

1979 B 1827
1981 A 1834
1982 A 1826
1985 B 1835
1986 A 1821
1987 B 2894
1989 A 1106
1995 A 3254

2001--2042
__________

2001 A 3173
2009 A 2736
2012 B 408
2016 B 3093
2022 B 3187
2032 A 2617
2033 B 3457
2036 B 1751
2038 A 3441
2040 A 3433

---------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:
#24: Halpern chooses the phonetic reading as the keyword. This
is obviously not as memorable as Heisig's choice of meaning.

#42: As for #24

#30: Heisig chooses an unusual word, 'nightbreak' which is
explained in the text as being identical to the standard meaning,
'daybreak'.

***********************************************************************

--
_______________________________________________________________________
James Hester
Postdoctoral Researcher
National Institute for Research Into Inorganic Materials

e-mail: j...@nirim.go.jp NIRIM, Namiki 1-1
Phone/Fax: +81 298 55 4394 Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305
Japan
________________________________________________________________________