I’ve been studying Japanese for a while and I’d say I’m in between N2 and N1 now.
However, I’ve only ever studied by myself and on computer so I can read kanji pretty well, and I can write on computer pretty well because I just have to s left the correct kanji I want to use.
But I’ve never practiced writing kanji by hand so I cannot for the life of me recall kanji off the top of my head, and wouldn’t be able to write anything by hand.
Is this going to be a problem for life in Japan? I feel like most situations allow for computer input, or for me to have a phone so I can search what kanji I actually want to use if I have to fill in a form by hand etc.
4 comments
This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.
—
**Kanji Ability**
I’ve been studying Japanese for a while and I’d say I’m in between N2 and N1 now.
However, I’ve only ever studied by myself and on computer so I can read kanji pretty well, and I can write on computer pretty well because I just have to s left the correct kanji I want to use.
But I’ve never practiced writing kanji by hand so I cannot for the life of me recall kanji off the top of my head, and wouldn’t be able to write anything by hand.
Is this going to be a problem for life in Japan? I feel like most situations allow for computer input, or for me to have a phone so I can search what kanji I actually want to use if I have to fill in a form by hand etc.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
No, it’s not going to be a problem.
If you can read, but not write, you’ll probably be able to make it through fine with a phone at the tip of your hand to remember the kanjis when you need them. Besides your address, there aren’t that much stuff you write by hand on everyday life… If not anything…. Most will be through phone/pc, and for that, reading is enough.
I also speak Japanese pretty well, enough to use it professionally, but can no longer write most Kanji. The reason is simple, because there no need for me to write Kanji by hand. Every forms or processes I have been through, be it opening a bank account, contract for phone, internet, utilities, immigration, work contract, insurance, pension, doing my tax, hospital,… I can either fill them on the PC and print it out or just write in romanji.
If you can write Kanji then of course it a good thing. But I have the feeling that practicing hand writing is more and more of a diminishing return thing. I believe you can find much better way to use your time than learning to write a thousand kanji or so, that you almost never actually need.