I’m looking for some advice on how to approach learning to read and write Kanji. I started learning the Hiragana and Katakana from the PDF guides on [Tofugu](https://www.tofugu.com/learn-japanese/), and I’m very happy with my retention. I’ve been using Anki with the Tofugu cards to quiz myself. I find I can visualize the mnemonics from these guides quite easily.
TLDR; Wanikani doesn’t seem to be working for me, any suggestions to learn Kanji for a person with ADHD?
A few of the guides I’ve read online mentioned lot’s of learners have had success with Wanikani, and I’ve been going through level 1. This is where I’m running in to troubles. I don’t think my learning style matches the Wanikani way. I’m doing well with the Radicals, they make sense to me, but I have little retention on the Kanji after spending about 8 hours over the last week. I can recall the English translation for the Kanji (which is likely why the radicals have stuck) after only a few viewings, but I’m having issues remembering the Hiragana for the Kanji.
I’ve tried writing out the Kanji with the Hiragana as they come up, and using Wanikanis mnemonics, as well as substituting my own when theirs haven’t made sense to me, but it hasn’t really helped. Looking at my dashboard I have 3/17 Kanji guru, and 7 leeches.
Part of the issue could be my ADHD, I struggled to learn English in grade school, and wrote memorization has never worked for me. Also, sitting down with a text book and reading to learn has never worked for me.
At work, I learn best by looking at examples, and then using trial and error to figure out how things fit together. I’m able to retain quite quickly this way. I taught myself enough of the Python programming language to do my job.
I’ve been reading a few guides, one being the [Year to learn Japanese](https://docs.google.com/document/d/10bRzVblKVOsQJjTc2PIi1Gbj_LrsJCkMkh0SutXCZdI/edit#heading=h.ff9mg4fv0ytd) as well as posts here on Reddit. But the more I read the more choice paralysis I get.
Does anyone have any advice on an approach I can take based on the information I provided above? I really like the concept of SRS and mnemonics , and hope to leverage those. Am I giving up to soon on Wanikani?
2 comments
When it comes to the reading/pronunciation of kanji and learning them I’d suggest learning from practice.
So reading a short text or story around your level would be appropriate.
Wanikani should be fine for memorising, but I suggest you maybe try and maintain an Anki deck with your own mnemonics. They stick better in my experience, and especially when the kanji get harder wanikani’s mnemonics might fail you.
Lastly, I think you shouldn’t take it too hard if something doesn’t stick as well. I might not have ADHD, but I think that as you gain more experience things will come to you a bit more naturally. That is because you have way more knowledge and context to draw from than before.
TLDR; You’re doing fine, if mnemonics from wanikani don’t stick try making them yourself in an Anki deck. It’s better to not learn kanji “dry”. Always try to learn from context so it gives a clearer picture.
I’m adhd and I find I prefer to learn kanji along with vocab. I also really enjoy the kanji sections of the app Drops. It uses writing and sounds out the kanji as you practice it.