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User:Arknarok/Kanji Guide

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What does it mean to know kanji?

Kanji Learner's Achievements

帳 vs 帖

Ultra-weird Kanji

Alternative Readings

Yoru and You: a Kanji Perspective


The two ways to learn kanji.

If Japanese language is a game of Touhou, than kanji are the bosses. You know they're there, you've probably seen them or read about them, you know they are going to be challenging and keep you busy for a long time. And you know that they are one of the most attractive things in Japanese, once you learn how to handle them.

That's when you see that Japanese guides and textbooks don't usually give elaborate instructions on how to learn kanji. This always surprised me - kanji study takes months and probably years, so this process should come with elaborate instructions on how to actually learn them, right? Unfortunately, you usually get just the basic tips like "learn the correct stroke order", "learn to find the key element so you can look kanji up later in the dictionary", "practice writing kanji with a pen" and so on. This led me to believe that authors usually don't consider elaborate instructions and explanations necessary. Kanji learning is straightforward to them - you see a kanji, you tackle it until it's imprinted in your memory for good, go to the next one. Then you realize there's quite a number of kanji out there: you need to know 2136 Jouyou kanji to claim you know Japanese. And if you're aiming for real language fluency, you need to know even more than that (like 861 Jinmeiyou kanji, the variants, etc). And you're expected to learn that along with the grammar, vocabulary and everything else!

If you're reading this, chances are, you're not really a kid. You're past the elementary school, you know how learning stuff works. You care not only for what you're learning, but also for how you're learning something. By this point, you realize that many Japanese teachers will require you to memorize kanji via brute force. The reason for that is quite simple: they either are Japanese themselves or were taught by Japanese people. And the truth is that Japanese actually do memorize the kanji via simple repetition when they learn them. So, when they start teaching foreigners Japanese, they naturally try to use the same method they did. Let's call it the Japanese Kanji Learning Method (or just Japanese Method).

Japanese Method has two advantages. The first is that it works. It's used to teach Japanese children kanji, and it works, they really do know kanji. Of course, you have to keep in mind, that they already know how to speak Japanese before they learn their first kanji and they take about 10 years to learn all the kanji. The second good thing about Japanese Method is that it disallows cheating. It's really fair - you can't cheat something as simple as that. Either you cram the knowledge in your head, or you don't.

The disadvantages were already described earlier, but let's give them another run. First of all, it takes a lot of time. Second, it's poorly suited to expand your knowledge of kanji rapidly - you can't really go fast with this method, you have to take it slow. Third is that after some time you realize how illogical your study was - kanji learning patterns usually revolve around JLPT levels, and they don't really make much sense, since these levels were designed after the levels used in Japanese school kanji program: these levels don't make much sense to a foreigner. Finally, this way is just stupid. It's kept stupid so anyone can try to learn kanji. It's like "software" mode which we used to have in video graphics for some time - it was a surefire way to launch any game imaginable, but noone would guarantee the speed, because it was extremely ineffective. We abandoned that method because it was just so much better to have special hardware handle the graphics. With kanji learning, it is so much better to actually use that special hardware called the "brain" to speed things up. This brings us to an alternative way of learning kanji, which we will call the Western Kanji Learning Method (or just Western Method).

It's a bit hard to tell who invented the Western Method. While maybe De Roo fathered the idea of "hey, they must be a better way to mix your brain with kanji learning", the method in its modern form was probably made by Heisig and later, Henshall. The key to the Western Method is that you do not rely on trying to imprint the kanji in your memory, as this is unnatural for your brain (it's like trying to remember a photo exactly as it is), but instead to try and create a purely mental image that will serve as a key to remembering the kanji. I won't go deep into how this method works as I hope to help you understand it while I guide you through kanji myself.

The main advantage of the Western Method is that it's extremely time-efficient. By applying the necessary effort you can wrap up the Jouyou list in just a few months. This is about as effective as you can get with kanji study. Another advantage is that it starts to work better and better as you get used to it. Your brain can adapt to the process really well and after you finish the Jouyou list, you'll have enough experience to learn any other kanji really fast. Overall, this method is "smart", which brings us to its main disadvantage: you'll actually have to use your brain (specifically, imagination) when you learn kanji. This might not seem like a big deal, but it is. Remember when I said Japanese Method doesn't allow cheating? This is where it gets important. Your imagination can cheat by creating shoddy imagery which doesn't help you remember the kanji at all. You might think you're good, but then realize you can't remember that one kanji and you'll have to learn it all over again. The criteria of a good mental picture are different for different people, you'll have to master your own imagination fast. This is why it's not a surefire method to learn kanji - not everyone is capable of doing this. But since you've probably thought "hey, this Japanese Method is total garbage" and read up to this point, you're off to a good start already.

To reiterate, there are currently 2 methods of learning kanji: the Japanese Method, which relies on tedious repetition to burn the kanji into your mind, and the Western Method, which requires you to use your imagination to see beyond the simple shape of the kanji and use that mental imagery to remember it. Which method to use is totally up to you.