Remembering Simplified Hanzi 2: How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Chinese Characters

If you have started learning Chinese characters using Heisig's method, continuing with this book is a no-brainer. The layout is identical to book 1: characters are introduced in 55 lessons as natural combinations of smaller character parts. This is supposed to make it easier to memorize. Included are a few of the mneumonic stories that filled the first book, but mostly you are left to come up with your own stories. But honestly, by the time you reach book 2, you should know 1500 characters and 1500 stories, so inventing more shouldn't be too difficult. I do wish the authors had included more mneumonics in the early chapters to aid students who use book 1 and 2 simultaneously (hence 4 stars instead of 5).You can get a list of the characters and their pronunciation online, so technically this book is not "required." But I highly recommend it because the authors point out important details of meaning or writing for many characters that you would not know just by reading the index. If you are a serious student of Chinese Hanzi, this book is highly recommended.

Excellent book! Greatly enjoyed. You can learn really fast with them :)

Just got the book and have not started it yet, but I quickly noticed that less than half of the characters have stories to them. The other characters simply have two key words listed next to the character where you make up your own story or just remember the keywords and hopefully remember the hanzi itself. The book is pretty much an overpriced Hanzi list, might as well just use the zhongwen.com or the flashcard deck that you can download for it on Anki, all of this is free.

Having Simplifed Hanzi and halfway though it, 1 I couldn't live without the second one. I highly recommend these books. Fast delivery and an excellent product!

Great Book!! Love this Book!!!

The review below seems to be annoyed by the lack of mnemonics given, but as the author states in the first book, it is better to create your own mnemonics. The author gives hundreds of mnemonics in Book 1, but by Book 2 you have to create your own. I've completed Book 1, and this is a much better method. Heisig is a long, probably one year, commitment, so this is not for a casual learner. If you don't have Book 1, this book won't be as useful.Final point: Heisig's books are invaluable for giving elements of characters that are not characters themselves, but reoccur a lot.

Great! Product as advertised. Quick delivery!

I was very sceptical about Remembering Simplified Hanzi sequel, but once I passed the mark of the first 300 words it finally got into place and I loved it. Highly recommend it!

Great book

A diferencia del volumen 1, éste trae pocas referencias culturales y las explicaciones son simples y directas; sin embargo, se asume que ya dominaste los mil y cacho de Hànzì del libro anterior, el cual por mi falta de conocimiento de la cultura gringa no pude aprovechar.Pero, si conoces algo (que tiene que ser bastantito) del idioma chino, éste libro sí vale la pena pq explica la mitad de los caracteres del chino simplificado de poco uso.

Wer das System von Heisig aus dem ersten Band kennt und schätzt, wird auch im zweiten Band nicht enttäuscht. Ich selbst finde die Methode sehr gut.Leider ist der Band bisher nur auf Englisch erschienen, der Erscheinungstermin für die deutsche Version bei Klostermann rückt jedes Jahr um ein Jahr nach hinten. Das ist deswegen umständlich, weil man für jedes Primitivelement und jedes Schlüsselwort noch die richtige Übersetzung im ersten Band (dem deutschsprachigen) abgleichen muss.Leider ist Heisig und Co. offenbar auch noch keine gute Methode eingefallen, wie sich die Aussprache im Mandarin didaktisch sinnvoll in Ergänzung zum Erlernen der Bedeutung unterbringen lässt. Für seine Kanji Bücher hatte Heisig eine Sortierung gefunden (wenn sie auch nicht ganz so elegant ist wie die Geschichten zum Erinnern der Bedeutung der Schriftzeichen), für das tonale Chinesisch scheint das schwieriger zu sein.

Of course, Chinese characters are a great challenge for the non-Chinese mind, but, with diligent application, one can gain so much pleasure from continually seeing links of meaning that are a cause of delight, with those "Ahah!" moments and an admiration for the stability of these artistic graphic works of art over several millennia. This particular book deals with "simplified" hanzi (characters) that Chairman Mao formally cemented into the official language in 1956.