When I read Japanese tend to vocalize the text in my head and pronounce the reading mentally. Based on what I’ve read most people do this.
But I tend to gravitate towards easier methods when learning and my brain just naturally got into the habit of recognizing words not by the characters but by their readings. Instead of thinking about what the characters mean put together I just pronounce the word (usually correctly) and then try to match a meaning to the reading afterwards.
As you can guess this is not a sustainable strategy with words that have the same exact meaning. This is a minor problem for now, I don’t confuse words like 橋 or 箸 because the distinct look of the kanji. But where there’s a repeating kanji, or just characters sharing similar radicals I find myself making repeat mistakes – eg. in the case of 非難【ひなん】 and 避難【ひなん】where I’ll just pronounce ひなん in my head and then basically guess which one of the meanings it is.
It also makes it hard to distinguish between words that have the same meaning, but different readings – eg. with 垣 【かき】and 塀【へい】 where they both esentially mean similar things, but their readings are different. I feel like if I was leaning into recognizing the characters better I should be able to distinguish these two, but I find that after some time I tend to lose the concrete meaning for a symbol and just have “hunch” as to what it probably means. If I look at these 2 kanji for example, I can tell they both mean fence, but I don’t go deeper and I also forget my mnemonics for the reading.
This is not a major problem for now. I answer 80-85% correctly to cards in Anki, but for mature cards (those with intervals longer than 21 days) my success rate falls below 75%. I feel like the longer I go the bigger the issue. I’m still at the starting phase immersion in my studies, my question is: does reading more eventually help recognize the symbols more and concentrate on the readings less? And if not, how do I get my brain to actually recognize the kanji instead of jumping to the quickest (possibly wrong) solution that comes to mind?
9 comments
This is what happens when you only use anki and don’t supplement it with real reading.
So yes, this problem will get better as you read more.
The only ‘reading trap’ here is that you’re not reading. Being in the middle of a reading and having context clues will go a long ways toward answering your questions.
I have no idea what you’re talking about. You have just started immersing and you have trouble reading? How is this an issue?
It takes a lot of years to be able to read comfortably.
I don’t think this is really a problem, just keep reviewing/reading until the meanings stick
You know, it is actually good that the sound of the kanji is coming to your mind first. When I read kanji, I first think of the meaning in English, then the pronunciation in Mandarin, and then I try to figure out the sound in Japanese, by trying to figure out what the English translation of the character is.
For this reason if a kanji is one I know from Mandarin, I have to take extra care to learn the whole thing in Romaji first, or I substitute Mandarin.
Apparently you’re relying too much on the transcription rather than the actual meaning of what your read.
It’s almost how kids who just started to learn how to read might describe why they find it difficult.
One thing that you must have in mind is that the “words” are not how they’re written on a paper but what you listen. Taking the example you gave, you should recognize ひなん by the context not by its transcription. Kanji helps you to recognize the meaning at first sight but again you don’t have to depend on the kanji to remember the meaning, you have to do this guided by the pronunciation of the word.
First learn to listen and then you will be able to transcribe what you hear. You did’t learn to read before start talking when you were a kid, did you?
Some of these like the 避難 and 非難 sound relatable to me. I also have a similar issue when listening to the news and having to “wait” for the context to make sure my brain assigns the correct word to the sound.
Subvocalizing is definitely something people do, but I’m not sure how often. Some of the learners I know drift towards just recognizing words and sentences instead of actually reading them.
To answer your question – context and practice. Eventually you’ll know which is which. Also, it might be worth having a closer look at kanji meanings to make it easier for you.
This is kind of like the opposite/converse of that other post that’s currently up there talking about how they recognize the “meanings” of kanji but not the “readings”.
I mean absolutely no offense by this, but — just like that other post — it’s not some special problem uniquely related to you or to kanji. It just means you don’t know the words well enough. If you knew the words 避難 and 非難 and their meanings, and knew them well, you wouldn’t have this problem.
I never used Anki/SRS or anything, so I have no idea really what advice to give you on that end, but just keep learning words and reading more, and when your skills get better you won’t have this problem. That’s all there is to it.
FWIW 垣 and 塀 are different *types* of walls/fences, which is pretty easy to see with a google image search of each. 垣 is [usually made of bamboo](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E5%9E%A3&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS777US777&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiN_p6P5av4AhXom1YBHZlvB2YQ_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=1280&bih=609&dpr=1.5) (竹), meanwhile 塀 is specifically for enclosing a home, and is [usually made of gray stones/blocks](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E5%A1%80&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS777US777&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiy7a2R5av4AhV5glYBHcWfAWYQ_AUoAXoECAIQAw&biw=1280&bih=609&dpr=1.5).