How many Kanji do you know?

[Gee337]

I think I learned Kanji with a similiar method - I found a book, called Kanji and Kana, which is less detailed than the one linked above, but as someone who already spoke some Japanese, it was a really easy way to learn. I didn't have to worry too much about the meanings, because I already knew them, especially in the beginning. And it was really fun as well, realizing how the words I already knew were made of other words... It's easier to understand the logic behind words.This is an example of how similiar kanji followed each other, while trying to keep kanji of the same topic close, if possible.

After learning for about six months, (alone, in addition to my normal studies in my last year in grammar school) I could recognize about 1000 kanji - but not write all of them down. Just remember the meaning if I saw it somewhere. (Sometimes I didn't even remember the reading, only the meaning.) Especially with more complicated ones. But that was exactly my goal, as I expected the test for MEXT scholarship to be reading only, so I had to jam as many kanji in my head as I could in half a year. ^^

 

[Zlarp]

Yesterday I was at 760, today I'm at 800 and I'm gonna do some more today. With Anki I forgot quite a few of the ones I repeated, let's say about 20-30 percent, from what I felt. I only needed to see them once for a short time to remember them again, though. I'll keep you posted if you're interested

Edit: stopped at 858. Still have to do the Anki reps for the 98 new ones today.

Edit edit: Remembered the number wrong yesterday, was only at 830. I'm at 865 right now because the Anki reps today took a lot of time - I'd forgotten quite a bit, and I didn't have as much time to learn Kanji. Tomorrow I'll have quite a bit of time to kill though, so I'm hoping to go on ahead and hit 1000. Wish me luck

...Unless the Anki reps are even worse tomorrow. I don't know how much that'll slow me down. It'll take somewhere from 2-3 hours.

 

[Zlarp]

Can't find an edit button for my post anymore... time limit? Anyway, I got to 1026 Kanji today, so past the half way mark! Still have some reviews left to do, but it's going well. Lots of Kanji I didn't remember, but those I'd forgotten yesterday that Anki brought up today had stuck with at least 95 percent.

This was a whopper of a day, guys...

Edit: Forgot to add: Had fun in Kung Fu Class today. I could actually recognize some of the symbols on all those certificates around the room. I found "Warrior" and "World" and some numbers. They were Chinese symbols, lots of which I'm pretty sure aren't Japanese Kanji at all, but it was still a bit of a thrill to find myself a lot closer to those mysterious magic words

Edit edit: yesterday was slow, only 40 new Kanji because I'd had a lot of leftover reviews from the 160 kanji day. Today was easy, though, so I had time to learn 120 new kanji, bringing me up to 1183. I don't feel burnt out at all yet, though the projected 600 kanji review day is giving me the willies a bit Still, I remember them better and better and am having lots of fun. I'll keep you posted.

 

[Zlarp]

Ack, okay, so there's an edit limit, apparently. I have to make a correction to the post above: I read the statistics wrong. There is, luckily, no 600 card review day. The highest review projection is 250 reviews in one day. The 600 cards are the ones with a 4 day interval. Other accumulations are about 200 cards at a 10 day interval and about 175 at a 13 day interval.

 

[Mike Cash]

I'd be interested to see you putting this huge number on kanji you "know" in such a short time to use by reading some block of Japanese text. It should be easy for you....

 

[Zlarp]

I'd be interested to see you putting this huge number on kanji you "know" in such a short time to use by reading some block of Japanese text. It should be easy for you....

Please read my posts, I stopped putting quotation marks around what I was saying a while ago because it was getting annoying, but please, please, please don't misinterpret me like that. I did not mean to say I "knew" the Kanji in the way of reading them, I was very clear about what I was doing, and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't attack me like that. Thank you.

 

[Mike Cash]

Attack? I think it's wonderful and amazing you have done in a few days what native speakers take years to do. You are to be commended.

 

[Zlarp]

Attack? I think it's wonderful and amazing you have done in a few days what native speakers take years to do. You are to be commended.

Again with this. I never said that. I said I knew one English keyword meaning and am able to draw the Kanji from that key word. Where in that does it say that I am doing what a native speaker is doing? I will still have to work on all the vocabulary, readings, compounds, and grammar, that is needed to actually be able to speak/read/write the language. I was *very* clear that I am aware of this, yet there you go trying to make me out to be someone who thinks he knows Japanese because he can draw a few Kanji.

 

[vonessa]

What does "know" mean, when it comes to kanji... You recognize it and know the English meaning, but don't know how to read, or write it? Or... you can read it, write it, and also know the English meaning... Anyway, I "know"... a few.

 

[Zlarp]

What does "know" mean, when it comes to kanji... You recognize it and know the English meaning, but don't know how to read, or write it? Or... you can read it, write it, and also know the English meaning... Anyway, I "know"... a few.

Let me quote from my first post in this thread: "I don't know any kanji. Well, maybe one or two by accident. But hey, I only started learning them a week ago.

I know the meaning of about 760 Kanji and how to write them (let's say with maybe 90 percent accuracy, so let's say 600 to be safe)"

To specify, I know *one* English meaning, and how to write them. The one English meaning I know often isn't the main one because then it'd overlap with other Kanji.

 

[Zlarp]

Quick update: I finished Remember the Kanji and the supplement a few days ago. I'm still reviewing so I don't forget anything, which takes about 3-4 hours a day right now, though that time is getting less and less.

I now have one English keyword for 2200 Kanji memorized. I know how to write them, though I didn't pay enough attention to stroke order at times (though my problem isn't stroke order as much as it is stroke direction, which I only realized getting near the end of the book that it mattered a lot more than I'd initially thought)

I've now started doing Tae Kim's grammar guide and I already find RTK helping me a lot. It's much easier to remember how to write words like 友達 or 学生 with the correct Kanji. The English keywords are not interfering at all with me knowing that these are "tomodachi" and "gakusei", even though I learned "達" as "accomplished" and "生" as "life" (though study+life for gakusei actually kind of makes sense, I don't memorize it that way)

It's more like I now know the letters and all I have to learn now is how to spell the respective words.

 

[RAW09]

About 2500, many outside the common kanji list. I'll gladly help anyone who's having a hard time with memorization in regards to difficult/forgettable kanji.

 

[AkiraChan25]

I only know 100 or so. Just the most basic ones.