should I learn Kanji by radicles?

4 comments

1. You should try it and see how it goes. Kanji study has radicals for free so could start there.

   I’ve been learning through Wanikani and it also uses radicals. I’ve liked it so far. (Going to get harder now as I need to learn Swedish)

2. >I’m finding different methods to make it simpler

   I don’t understand why seemingly every beginner here needs to re-discover the best ways to learn kanji. You are not exactly the first person learning Japanese. Just pick one of the well established popular methods from [the resource list](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/wiki/index/resources/#wiki_kanji) and try them out/read a few reviews.

3. Learn components, yes. Learning by *radicals* is a little bit pointless. The radicals are just a mixture between a meaning element and a method of sorting; it’s a bit like saying ‘should I learn in dictionary order’.

   That said, knowing what radicals *are* is useful. The left part of stuff like 持つ and 打つ is called 手偏 (te-hen) and is often used in actions with your hands, 三水 (sanzui) found in 泳ぐ and 流れる usually denote that water is involved, so on and so forth. It’s a good aid to memory, it’s just that learning in order of radicals is not the most useful method.

4. It is inefficient to separate kanji and words and remember them one by one.
   I say the same thing about this topic every time.

   “ It is recommended to memorize kanji by sticking them to your words and vocabulary.”

   There are about 2000 kanji that are required on a daily basis.
   After you remember these, if you don’t keep using them in your daily life, they will soon disappear from your head, so please keep writing in your daily life as much as possible.