Basically what the title says, I’ve been learning for around a month now, and have learned all hiragana and a lot of vocab that I can spell in hiragana, but I have trouble remembering kanji. I’d say that in a month I can recognize maybe fifteen kanji and write five or seven of them.
I’m learning on the app JA Sensei, which I find absolutely amazing, but I find that typing with my Japanese keyboard to a japanese language exchange partner makes me lazy as the keyboard suggests the right kanji.
Any advice?
4 comments
Pen and paper. And wanikani I guess for learning some fast
That’s normal. Kanji are one of the most complicated parts of Japanese and one that takes a lot of time to learn.
There are strategies that can increase the retention, like using an SRS system or improving your recognition of Kanji with the Heisig method (supported by a tool like Kanji Koohii), Wanikani or KKLC, but it’s still a multi year endeavor a lot of the time to be able to use the 2300 or so kanjis that are recommended to learn.
Not writing the kanji due to the digital recommendation system is also normal, but learning kanji is mostly about recognition anyway.
Many people seem to like WaniKani, which is a site for rote memorization of the kanji, others will say to just learn words (many of which do so by using Anki). I personally don’t use either and just read as muh as I can since I find it more fun and effective for myself. If you download a browser dictionary like YomiChan, it becomes very easy to look up words on the spot.
There are some basic things you should know about kanji before trying to learn Kanji in any way though:
1: All kanji are made up of parts or components called radicals that differentiate specific Kanji from one another. Many people, including myself, opt to use mnemonics to memorize the kanji by creating stories with the radicals. Some Kanji will make more sense than others. 好, the Kanji for “like” is very easy to understand since, in general +women (女) like children (子). I use Kanshudo to learn the radicals/Kanji I don’t know.
2: Most, but not all kanji have what is called kun-yomi and on-yomi. Kun-yomi is the Japanese pronunciation of the kanji that is used for single-kanji words while on-yomi is the Chinese pronunciation that is used for kanji compounds. There are exceptions to the rule, but, in general, when a word is two kanji together, you use the on-yomi of those kanji e.g. 状況 (じょうきょう).
3: Regardless of how you choose to study kanji you have to find a method that is FUN and ENGAGING. Learning kanji is like running a marathon for years on end. If you aren’t enjoying yourself while doing it, you WILL inevitably burn out and potentially give up. Regardless of what you do, I wish you the best of luck!
it takes time, you don’t learn it overnight. 10 years in and i don’t know every kanji. give yourself a break and just learn as you go. handwriting them is a good way to reinforce things that get lazy when typing.