What is the best way to learn Japanese Kanji?
I came up with several different strategies that I used, but I don’t know if it is easiest or fastest. Also, there are two levels of knowing the kanji: recognition (reading) and production (writing).First, go buy a wall poster of all the Joyo Kanji approved by the Mombusho and sold to Japanese students. I bought one and it had a square for each kanji and then all the official readings of that kanji plus exceptional readings (some are pronounced a unique way in only one known word). Memorize the chart so that you can reproduce it. You can memorize it in pieces, for instance one line in the chart each week. When you can reproduce the entire chart from memory, you know everything a college-bound Japanese student would ever be tested to know in order to get into college.To help, I also grouped kanji into types and learned them as groups. For instance, learn the ones that have only one reading. Learn the ones that are things. (Rice, water, tree.) Learn the ones that have kun readings and are used in verbs and/or adjectives.I had a separate project that I never finished. I used the books Learning the Kanji to make flashcards of compound (double-kanji) words where the set of flashcards such that each Joyo Kanji appears in the set the least number of times possible.And finally, if the question was: what is the one best piece of advice for learning kanji, I would say learn each of the radicals and what they mean, and then each of the common components of a kanji that are not really radicals, but like radicals, in that they have a meaning of their own, or you can even make up a meaning for these pieces. Absolutely use mnemonics to make a story that uses each piece of the kanji to tell a story that reminds you of what it means and how to draw it.For example:門 (mon) - gate耳 (mimi) - ear口 (kuchi) - mouth聞く (kiku) - to ask問 (mon) - a questionsThe guard at the gate will ask you questions with his mouth and listen with his ears. Many of the mnemonics are natural because kanji were designed to be mnemonic in the first place.木 (ki) - tree本 (ne, moto, hon) - root, source/origin, bookConsider the line that has been added to be the ground. The root of the tree lies underground. Books are the source of knowledge.Good luck!
Do I have to learn kanji to speak Japanese?
To speak Japanese? Definitely not. I learned to speak Japanese long before I even started learning kana, and have yet to learn more than a handful of kanji.Think of it this way - up until fairly recently in history, the vast majority of people were functionally illiterate. This did not stop them from speaking. Every Japanese child learns to speak long before they start learning basic kanji in elementary school.I would actually say that you have it backwards - you really should be able to at least speak basic Japanese before trying to learn kanji, as otherwise you will just end up very confused: There are around 3,000 commonly used kanji, and Japanese children learn them over the course of their general education, elementary through high school. It will very likely take you far longer to gain a solid understanding of kanji than it will to learn spoken Japanese.Luckily, everything written in kanji can also be expressed in kana (hiragana and katakana), which are a lot easier to learn, and a lot of reading material aimed at younger audiences (manga and light novels) include furigana, which are kana written in small script above each kanji, letting you know how it is meant to be read.In my opinion, it is best to think of learning spoken Japanese and kana as “Phase 1” of learning Japanese, and learning kanji as “Phase 2”. After phase one, you will be able to functionally communicate in the Japanese language, as well as read basic materials. Phase 2 will result in general mastery, and you will be able to read most everything.
Learning Japanese: Kana or Kanji?
Japanese writing uses kanji and kana together in sentences, and both are very important and necessary to learn. Some words are written with kana, some with kanji, and some with both. People learning Japanese usually learn kana first because there are only 46 characters each in hiragana and katana compared with thousands of kanji. Also, one could say that kana are like the building blocks of the Japanese writing system because they are the characters that represent sounds and are sometimes presented next to kanji for pronunciation. To show you how kana and kanji are used together in writing, here's an example: 私は日本語を話します。 -2-1-2--2--2-1-2-1-1-1 (1 = kana, 2 = kanji) Watashi wa nihongo wo hanashimasu. --- I speak Japanese. The first character is a kanji and it represents the whole word for "I", "watashi". "Wa" is written in hiragana. "Nihongo" (Japanese) is written with three kanji. "Wo" is written with hiragana. The first part of "hanashimasu" (just the "hana" part) is written with kanji, but the ending of the verb is written with hiragana. Since kana and kanji are interwoven throughout sentences, there is no way to learn Japanese without learning both. Both are equally important, and you can't really judge whether one is used more often than the other. Hope this helps, and good luck learning Japanese :)
How long does it take to learn Japanese kanji?
I have always wanted to learn Japanese but never actually got around to it, but now a game (Pso2) that I have been waiting on since 09 was released in Japan and will not be out till summer of 2013 for America :( Soo figured now would be a awesome time to start learning to read the weird looking Japanese letters that look like smileys lol. I have Rosetta Stone Japanese 1,2, and 3 but haven't installed it yet. Can anyone tell me how long it would take and other good ways to learn the Kanji? Maybe some awesome tips too :D
How long does it take to learn Japanese and Kanji?
A lifetime.There are some other great answers in this thread. Here’s my contribution.An academic linguist would describe Japanese as one of the world’s simplest languages. However:it’s very different from any European language - the deep structure requires you to rewire how you say things at a fundamental levelJapan is very homogenous; not only are nearly all residents Japanese, ethnically and legally, but the education system is extraordinarily coordinated so all Japanese have an eerily similar level of cultural empathy with each other. This means that for almost all situations, there is a “Japanese” way of phrasing things that is almost expected. Your Japanese may be grammatically correct, perfectly pronounced, with appropriate vocabulary, and it’ll still sound odd to a Japanese person unless you’ve also learned the appropriate expression for the situation or feeling.learning the different registers of formality in the language requires, first of all, that you understand the social context of relationships and obligations in Japanese society; that in itself takes study and sensitivity for a non-Japanese personKanji can be learnt. It’s a lot of work… but easier than learning, say, traditional Chinese. But remember, to write kanji beautifully, or to write kanji fast but legibly… a Japanese person has a lifetime’s head start over you.But it’s an entertaining and satisfying journey!
How long will it take to learn all the kanji in Japanese?
There are less than 2000 official kanji in Japan. So I'd guess the average person who grew up in Japan knows about that much. Even Japanese have to look up kanji. A lot forget how to write them too because they're always using word processors that give choices. What's "safe" to you? Most people studying Japanese as a foreign language can't even learn the official 1800 or so kanji. You'd be doing well if you could "know" all of the official kanji. You can find books on them. Like others have said, there's a lot to learning kanji though. As opposed to Chinese, kanji in Japanese often have several meanings and readings. It's good to learn kanji in conjunction with immersing yourself in Japan. That way you've got context for the kanji, which makes things much easier. You won't be studying things you don't need to study. Well, you will, but you'll have a much better idea of what's important to study. Also, be careful of de-motivating people, especially Japanese ones. There are a lot of Japanese who will look over your shoulder while studying and say things like, "That's difficult. You don't need to study that." or "We don't use that." They're not always telling the truth, or they just don't know themselves. They're also unfamiliar with studying Japanese from a non-Japanese standpoint. The fact is if you're non-Japanese you're going to have to use some unconventional (to the Japanese mind) ways to study the language. Also, there's no such thing as "all the kanji". There are countless kanji. There's nothing stopping anyone from using a kanji that hasn't been used by anyone for 300 years.
Best way to start learning Japanese kanji?
Learn radicals, and write words in the correct stroke order. This is all you can do, you remember how to read words, by reading words. Its best to learn Japanese on a learning website because the good ones teach "casual Japanese which is used 99% of the time. The following websites are the best websites for the following reasons, http://www.123japanese.com ★★★★★ - Teaches FULL Japanese lesson FREE - Polite, Casual and slang Japanese (all Japanese) - Fully explains lessons - Teaches kanji and kana aswell - Has video lessons - Books - Largest vocabulary list - A forum - Lots of other study materials They also have a youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/123japanesecom http://www.japanesepod101.com ★★★★ - Has many lessons and study aids - polite and casual Japanese - unfortunately not free, you only get 1 week free trial (but just keep signing up with fake email) http://www.maggisensei.com ★★★★ - It teaches random lessons - Detailed lessons on wide variety of topics - Casual and polite Japanese - You can find a lot of stuff here you wont find anywhere else What to stay away from. - books. : books only teach polite Japanese and usually have general translations rather than explanations. Polite Japanese isn't even used in casual speach, and books don't have a lot of information. - Websites with not a lot of explanations: when learning a language, its easier if you get a good detailed explanation on the translation of something because a lot of times, something can't be directly translated.
What is the best way to learn how to read Japanese names in kanji?
Thanks, Brianna, for the A2A.Sorry. There is no good way.As the Japanese government, banks, and any other agencies/institutions that need official forms filled out know, they need the little line above the name for furigana, and they make sure the person filling out the form puts the furigana in the appropriate box before they are allowed to submit the paperwork. In other words, the only way to know for sure that you have the correct pronunciation is the ask the person.If you think that there are too many ways to pronounce a kanji in normal, spoken Japanese, get ready to have that amount increased for names.So, the best way to read the kanji, for common names, is to get used to them. To see a lot of them, and figure someone with the same kanji in their name as someone whose name you already know will probably have the same pronunciation. I also use the Internet to search Japanese web sites to see if some famous person has the same first or last name, then steal the pronunciation from the famous person.When you still don't know how the kanji in a name is pronounced, the second best way is to ask a Japanese person. I tend to ask my wife. If the name is uncommon, she'll be stumped too. (She also searches web sites.)The third best way (and if I have to resort to this way, I'm pretty sure I will never get it right anyway, so I'm just trying to find a reasonable-sounding approximation) is to use a kanji name dictionary. The one I use is "Japanese Names" by P.G. O'Neill and published by Weatherhill. (It requires that you know how to look up kanji.) It is more likely to not have the name you're looking for, so you sort of have to look at the possible pronunciations they give you for individual kanji, and mix and match pronunciations until you get something that looks like a natural-sounding Japanese name. And even then, you're probably wrong.Whenever I'm forced to translate names in a paid translation, I always include a note to my client explaining that it's impossible to be absolutely sure of the pronunciation without the person his-or-herself confirming it for you. I tell them that I did the best I could, but they should be prepared for at least a few names being in error.Like I said. There is no good way.
Should I learn Japanese kanji by the JLPT level or by the grade level Japanese kids learn at?
The JLPT kanji and the jouyou kanji are the same thing... Jouyou kanji is just "commonly used kanji" that the Japanese government has decreed most important for everyone to know to read Japanese. The JLPT takes those kanji and just separates them by order of difficulty and when they are learned by a regular Japanese student (example, the ones in JLPT 4 are just basic ones first graders learn). There is no difference between the kanji on those lists because it would be silly if a test covering Japanese proficiency required you to learn nearly two thousand kanji that are not used, according to the Japanese, daily.
How much kanji do Japanese students learn while in school?
I am a university student right now, and I am barely starting to learn kanji right now. But I plan to keep learning up to 3 years of Japanese, which would make me learn up to 1,020 kanji (up to the Level 2 on the JLPT) I just wanted to know how much kanji Japanese students actually learn in Japan, and see if it is comparable at all when I finish learning all of the 1,020 kanji I will be learning. I hope to get to Level 1 on the JLPT sometime in the future, but will have to learn about 1,000 more kanji (2,000 TOTAL) to get there. Thanks.