So many people in my class keep saying âwhy do I need to learn Kanji when I can just write in hiragana?â There are soooo many reasons why, but here are just a few of my favorites:
Makes it easier to read Japanese sentences. OK you might be thinking âhow does it make it easier to read? Itâs more confusing!â but please bear with me. Iâm going to write two different sentences, and you see which one is easier to read: æšæ„ăăèćăéŁăčăăăăČăŒă ăăăăăćèȘăććŒ·ăăăăăŸăăă OR ăăźăăăăăăăăčăăăăČăŒă ăăăăăăăăăăčăăăăăăăăăŸăăăThe first one, right? Using Kanji makes it easier to differentiate words apart from each other while hiragana leaves you guessing where one word ends and where another begins.
You can always guess the meaning of a word by itâs Kanji. Each Kanji has a different meaning, when you put different Kanji together, the meanings of those Kanji can give you a gist of what the word means! Hiragana doesnât do this. Letâs say for example you donât know what æšæ„ means. You can gather âcontext cluesâ from the fact that the first character means âpreviousâ and that the second character means âdayâ. You can guess from those two that the word means âyesterdayâ.
Kanji is everywhere. If youâve seen any photos of Japan (namely the cities), youâll see Kanji everywhere. Might as well learn it. Not only that, but itâs also found in books and in writing everywhere, not only signs.
Donât study just the meaning, Kun-yomi, and On-yomi. I made this mistake for the first few Kanji quizzes I ever took and it kicked my ass. It made me second guess everything I was writing and I would just get extremely frustrated.
Instead, study example words using that Kanji. In my experience, it is so much easier to study different words that use that Kanji. Say your character has 3 different sayings; learn those words and when the Kanji comes up, go through those words and find the best saying for it!Â
Learn the radicals. Radicals are pretty much just smaller characters that make up the bigger character! Often times, when you see a Kanji you donât know, you can depict the meaning from the radical. You can use this list to guide you in learning the radicals.
Use the radicals and make up stories. This is something that my first Japanese teacher told us to do. She told us to, after we learn the radicals, think of a story to help us remember that kanji. For example, the Kanji for âday of the weekâ is æ. My teacher would tell us âduring the week, a feathered(矜) bird(éč) would fly over the sun(æ„)â. Now whenver I write it, I think about the radicals for âsunâ, âfeatherâ, and âsmall birdâ.
Keep learning Japanese fun! I canât stress this one enough! If you donât love the language youâre learning and you dread learning it, youâre not going to learn it to the best of your ability. So keep it fun! Donât stress yourself out with Kanji, it can take years to learn a good amount of them, so donât stress yourself out if you canât find the time to do 10 a day!Â
Keep a Learning Journal: Keeping a journal is a great thing to do when youâre learning anything. Itâll help  you keep track of your studies and, if youâre ever feeling down in the dumps, show you how far youâve come and motivate you to continue learning!Â
Obviously, to learn Kanji, youâre not going to get much use out of using a Mind map to study them. Thereâs simply too many characters and youâll end up drowning in paper. Instead, try one of the following methods:
Flashcards: There are multiple ways that you can make flashcards out of Kanji. My personal favorite is to put the Kanji character on the front and the meaning and readings on the back. Quiz yourself daily for 5-10 (or longer if youâre up to it) while switching off. I like to use a piece of scratch paper and quiz myself on the writing as well. This method also works well with Memrise or Anki.
Read: Reading articles online will get you exposed to not only Kanji, but new vocabulary words, and will help you get a better feel for the language. Childrenâs books, magazines, and newspapers will also have furigana attached to difficult Kanji so theyâre easily readable (One website that I use is News Web Easy). I also practice my writing by writing down the article in a notebook and highlight the words I do and donât know (you can see an example of one of my notebooks here)
Write:Â Write the Kanji over and over and over until you get it! I usually like to do this while saying the Kun-yomi and On-yomi as well as the meaning. I find that pronouncing them works better than saying them in your head, so if youâre in a position that you can do so, please do! Writing a single Kanji 10 times a day will really help you remember it for later on.
Use Apps: Use apps on the app store or google play store to study up on Kanji! I currently use Obenkyo.
My personal favorite method? Writing. I spend a good hour or so every day studying Kanji by writing out example paragraphs and sentences using Kanji characters that I know. Not only does it help me with vocabulary, but it also allows me learn the different sounds a particular Kanji makes. For Example, the Kanji éŁ means "eatâ or âfoodâ. You can pronounce it with any of the following sounds: ăăăăăŻăă·ă§ăŻăor ăžă. Now, I could just learn the sounds and not have to spend x hours a day working on example sentences. However, if I know that I can make the following words with this specific Kanji, then I know that that Kanji can also be pronounced with any of those sounds: ăïŒéŁăăăïŒéŁăčç©ăăŻïŒéŁăăă·ă§ăŻïŒéŁć ăăžăïŒæéŁ. Now that is a lot easier than learning the sounds only.
I really hope that this helps those of you struggling with Kanji. If you have noticed any mistakes in this or would like you add your own, please feel free to do so!Â
Other Links for More Tips & Tricks
You canât âlearnâ Kanji!! by Guide to Japanese
How to learn 2,000 Kanji in 3 Months by Fluent in 3 Months
The 5 Biggest Mistakes People Make When Learning Kanji by Tofugu
How to Learn Kanji: 7 Tips from a Guy Who Did It and Survived by FluentU
