Comments on: How I studied kanji

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 13:39:28 +0000

Hi! your blog is great and very helpful. Im studying kanji aswell for i will (hopefully) make it to japan to work as a KANGO, However it really frustrates me on what and how to begin. I want to study basic kanji first but we are advised to study medical and nursing kanji terms for our pending interview. so thats my dilemma. Anyway Thanks for sharing your tips really helpful thanks”!!! Justin from Philippines domo arigatou gozaimashita!!!

By: darren

darren — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:32:19 +0000

grizzwintgreenlc@hotmail.com

By: darren

darren — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:31:27 +0000

yes i would like to see how you write the word “boring” in kanji. can anyone help. if so email me. thanks

By: Matt Katch

Matt Katch — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:54:32 +0000

I really like the spaced repitition method that’s big in flashcard programs now like Anki (free online and lots of public Japanese decks). The one I’ve been using recently is from OrangeorApple.com and is an iTouch app called Flashcards Deluxe. It doesn’t have as big of a public library of decks as Anki yet, but it is more flexible, and I’m adding my own decks as I make bazillions of flashcards. Still, my writing suffers w/ only flashcards, and I think I’m going to try the approach from here as well.

By: Lloyd Vincent

Lloyd Vincent — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:38:36 +0000

@Bryan: Good job, sticking with it is the real key, more than what particular method you do.

I had the furigana and meanings in my notebook, but cheating was never a problem. The information was right there if I wanted it, but it never “tempted” me. After all, what’s the point of cheating with yourself? I also never “accidentally” saw any of the answers: you’d be surprised how small your field of vision really is for reading.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:46:14 +0000

I like how you are studying your Kanji. I am using a fairly simular method but concentrating on 10 kanji per week using all the compounds I think are useful. My method fits quite snug in a short-hand notebook page using one line for the Kanji, meaning and all the on-yomi and kun-yomi, then the second line with compounds and Okurigana WITHOUT Furigana or meanings. Then I practice with sentences and write the compounds again and again saying (outloud) the reading (about 10-20 times depending on the less obvious radicals). The repetition is for the stroke and compound order, the sentences are for ‘placing the kanji into a situation’. On the 7th day, I review the list and make an extra 10. The list forces you to remember both the meaning and reading. If you are tempted to cheat, hide your other notes and write the kanji you are still unfamilar with and re-learn them. You can increase the number of Kanji per week but I work full-time and so this suits me…for now. I can quite happily say I know 300+ Kanji.

Let me know if this method works for you

By: Pepper

Pepper — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:11:08 +0000

I don’t see the point in just learning the meaning and the way to write them. I learned all the ones I know with their readings because I want to be able to pronounce the compounds, rather than just go “oh, that means x”.

One thing I don’t see, does the Heisig method address the issue that sometimes, the Kanji in the compounds don’t make a whole lot of sense?

By: David

David — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:21:31 +0000

I’ve only done book 1 of Heisig so I can’t speak of what exactly book 2 teaches, but book 1 only teaches you meaning (i.e., you see 本 and learn it means “book”). The idea isn’t to teach you the kanji entirely, but rather to put you on more equal footing with Chinese and some other Asians who come to the table already knowing the meaning of most kanji. And in so far as teaching meaning only, it works brilliantly. Most people who complete the book not only learn the meaning but also master writing them.

I believe book 2 goes back thru everything you learned in book 1 and then teaches pronunciation, but again, I’m not sure as I haven’t done it. After finishing book 1, I decided to learn readings in context so I chose a different path.

By: Lloyd Vincent

Lloyd Vincent — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:26:30 +0000

It seems the Heisig method has a good following.

But @Joe, the fact that you can write more characters than you can read seems very unusual to me.

I have to question how well the Heisig method teaches you jukugo. Learning the writing and reading for a kanji is pretty easy, it’s learning how the kanji is used and combined with other kanji that takes much more time and effort.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:35:33 +0000

I didn’t realize people still rote memorized kanji since the Heisig method has gained popularity. I’ve been studying Japanese a total of 16-17 months, and thanks to the method I can write roughly 2300 characters and read 1800 (based on my flashcard software’s kanji statistics).