Sunday, May 20, 2007

Advice on learning Kanji

This post is for you guys and girls also struggling with the kanji characters.

I'm not an expert and haven't studied kanji for much more than a month or so, but this is my 5 cents so far on how to learn them.

1. Study and repeat EVERY day. Don't take a break and not study for a few days every now and then and then try to catch up by studying like a mad man.
If you don't repeat every day, you'll learn them and then forget them again in a few days and start mixing them up with each other. It's better to study the kanji for a shorter time everyday than for a long time every 3rd day. But of course, it still takes alot of time, so try to find some joy in the studying. Otherwise you've gotta be really stubborn.

2. When you try to learn a kanji, associate it with the meaning it carries, not with its pronounciation. Otherwise you'll be in one hell of a mess as soon as you learn a few kanji. A friend here just got into this trouble, that's why I'm warning you.
Do you know how many kanji that has the pronounciation 'sha' for example? Try searching for 'sha' in a kanji dictionary and you'll see. It's quite a few. So, associate the kanji with it's meaning and think of its pronouncations as a separate thing.

3. Try to find the general meaning of each kanji and remember that this meaning can be slightly flexible. If you just learn that the kanji '外' in the context of '外人' (gaijin), means a foreigner, you'll be lost when you suddenly see the same kanji in another context. Instead, learn that '外' by itself carries the meaning outside, or something coming from the outside. Then you can figure out what it means in other contexts as well.

4. Make kanji flash cards. Get post-it notes and write the kanji on one side and the meaning and it's pronounciations on the other side. Keep the notes with the kanji you're currently studying in your pocket and look at them every now and then. I always keep them next to my bed and have as a routine to look at them before I go to sleep and immediately when I wake up. Actually, I notice that my brain is often thinking about these damn kanji immediately when I wake up, before I've even looked at them.

5. Buy an electronic dictionary with handwriting recognition. They're a bit expensive and I don't know if you can find them in other countries, but it's a really good thing to have. If there's a kanji I see but don't know, I write it on the screen of my Casio ex-word (xd-sw9100 if anyone wants to google it, I can recommend it) and it shows up with an explanation.
I bought the "Kodansha kanji learner's dictionary" separately on a memory stick for my electronic dictionary, which is very good. It's a dictionary specifically made for people who want to learn kanji, unlike the other dictionaries included in the Casio ex-word which is made for Japanese people and therefore shows the kanji you're looking for and example sentences, but not how to pronounce it. The Kodansha dictionary shows the pronounciations and how to make the strokes correctly when writing the kanji, so it's really useful.

6. Go to Japan! It's just boring to study the kanji when you're in a country where you don't have any use of your new knowledge. Personally, I just couldn't find the motivation to study kanji in Sweden. Here in Sapporo, when I'm in the city or anywhere, I always keep my eyes open for the kanji I know and feel a bit happy when I for once manage to figure something out. Like the name of the subway station where I'm supposed to get off for example.

Right now, I'm just worried about how I'm supposed to remember all the kanji when I return to Sweden and don't use them anymore.
For your info, the books we use at school is 'minna no nihongo'. Text book, grammar book and kanji book. We study about 25-35 kanji per week.

If anyone has more advice on how to learn kanji, please write them!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Brandt-
I recently found your blog having googled "Casio sw9100" which I aquired, thinking it was something different. Anyway, now Im stuck with it and im kind of disappointing at the million functions I dont know what to do with...I have the one with all the TOEIC/TOEFL test study, english pronuciation, etc. It does not have the medical japanese dictionary like the sw 6500. Do you use yours for anything other than kanji and japanese lookup? Do you attempt to use the japanese-japanese dictionary as well? Also, if your feeling helpful, Im in East Hokkaido and I would like to get the Kodansha Kanji Learners card for the EX-word, any advice on where I can find it (or order it online..) Thanks. Good luck with your studies.

Anonymous said...

What about flashcard software link Anki? I find it motivating to keep all the "stats" going up, and it's so much easier than trying to manually track flashcards.

How to learn kanji said...

Hello Brandt. I couldn't agree with you more. It actually happened to me; I studied kanji for a really long time, and I decided to stop and work on other projects. And now... I barely remember all the kanji I learned. I will have to start from scratch again someday.

BTW, the method that you describe of associating a meaning to each kanji and study them using flashcards is described in Heisig's Remembering The Kanji. For me, it is the best and most rational method one can follow to learn kanji. Also, using Anki or the website Reviewing The Kanji is a much better option than paper flashcards.

readingcare said...

keep going on

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