Comments on: 5 Traits of a Successful Japanese Learner

By: JW

JW — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 21:19:34 +0000

I found that working write everything in the proper stroke order helps a lot with memorizing the actual kanji.

Great Article!

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 04:23:46 +0000

Agreed, particularly about the kanji. What you said actually corresponds with studies (that I can’t cite >_<) that have been done on the learning curve for kanji. What they determined was that the first couple hundred are very relatively easy, and then it turns into this unbelievable SLOG — which is likely where kanji loses the most foreign students — where every new kanji is a chore to cram into a brain that's so ready to be done with kanji. It's a nightmare every step of the way — until about seven-hundred or so, at which point something just *clicks*, and then it's easy again.

I'd heard this before, somewhere near the beginning of my kanji study, but it was hard to believe when I was in the middle of the slog. Then suddenly, around kanji #700, it clicked — and it was all smooth sailing from there.

My theory is that up until that point, you're trying to memorize every single kanji as a unique object, but after exposure to enough of them (re: hundreds) your brain picks up on the method to the madness, and you can start to see patterns, particularly in the use of radicals. Instead of having to learn every character from scratch, you look at it and go "Oh, it's got the same right-hand radical as X, and it's pronounced the same, but it's got the left-hand radical of Y, because it's related to [people/animals/connections/whatever]."

I wrote about that a bit on my website, because once you figure that out you're like, I HAVE SEEN THE WORD, AND THE WORD IS RADICALS! and you want to share it with everyone.

By: Sjamon

Sjamon — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 07:07:48 +0000

Good article as always !

But I am a big fail according to your criteria, just like almost all the foreigners living in Japan I know
Actually even a fair number of native speakers can’t be called “successful”, since many of them struggle with kanji as well (I think jouyou kanji is JLPT N2 ?)

I guess we could call it “top-level bias”: maybe because you’re up there you didn’t take into account that only a few percent of learners will ever make it to the level you’re talking about

This or I know only losers… I’ve been wondering lately actually ;-D

By: Orison

Orison — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:55:14 +0000

I was extremely afraid of kanji at first, it’s kind of norman for many Westerners to be wary of them. I recently realized how useful they are to manage and learn new words. Just as you said, like pieces of a puzzle. I think losing fear of kanji is the biggest step when learning Japanese.

By: tsnepseg

tsnepseg — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:22:39 +0000

Speaking personally, I find that if I’m ever growing a little bored/tired/grumpy/whateves, it never hurts to have a little 松岡修造 on-hand for a pep-talk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc_UVpFayaw

「周りのこと思えよ、応援してる人たちのこと思ってみろって!」

Really though, Thanks for another fantastic article.

(１００ポイントの経験値を得た!)（笑）