How many Kanji do you know?

[GeorgeCostanza]

Gee, let me see how many I know. *Picks each Kanji out of mind and counts them all*
OOH I KNOW 5000

 

[Soloistic]

I know about 75 漢字 now. When I say that though, I mean I know the meanings, ON, kun readings, stroke order and a few compounds. Not bad considering I started less then two weeks ago.

 

[Sirius2B]

Uff!!! I just passed the 1300... thats why I came here right now.

I Mexico there is a horrible lack of books for people that, like me, wanted to study the Japanese as a self study thing.

It took me 3 years to collect a number of books (grammar, dictionaries, etc.)... and then I had to fill some gaps with material created by myself (I filled 3 binders).

Then I ordered this out, and began to study... the way you would "study" an indoeropean language... but after one more year, I discovered that I was making really no progress. It was that I thought that I could "study" the Kanji as I went through the material... but it proved wrong approach.

Now I giving me time to memorize the 2000 Joyoo Kanji. It is more than I year that I started, and already know 1300, being careful in recognizing each radical and stroke sequence, using the Heisig method.

Only after I reach the 2000 (hopefully before January 2008), I will retake my study of vocabulary and grammar.

Regards.

 

[mkd_girl]

im still studying nihongo here in the phil at MKD, so at least I think I know at least 20-30 Kanji's. I'm still a beginner so there... but hopefully as the years go by I can finally learn about 2000-8000 kanji's.

 

[Glenn]

What on earth made you choose that range? You'll be fine with way less than 8000 in Japan. Probably 3000-4000 is about right for the average educated adult.

 

[pjanaway]

I don't know any.

 

[mauron]

About 300 I can write, and maybe another 100 to 200 I can just read.

 

[Goldiegirl]

two....my last name.

 

[gofai]

中国語は常用漢字が多分３０００－５０００ほどです。 そのうえに、中国語は日本語と漢字について意味はほぼ 同じです。しかも、見るからに意味が分かるが、読み方 はぜんぜん。。。できない

 

[Skullcrushergurl]

I feel so stupid here but maube around 20.

 

[Sirius2B]

Uff! today I passed the 1450... ...

 

[HarajukuxBoy]

Um..I know around 20 or so.But I'm still working on it.

 

[Aki-chan]

I know about 500+ I learn this alone in home Y_Y

 

[papercut]

I feel so stupid here but maube around 20.

Don't feel stupid,you are not alone. Yeah maybe 20 or so..

 

[B1ueM4oM4o]

I can write 881, which are the exact characters the Japanese Ministry of Education has selected for grade 1-6 students. And of course, other kanji I use often.

My reading ability goes far beyond that. At least maybe 1400. Enough to read books and stuff.

 

[hanreisei]

I think I can read and understand about 2500 kanji but maybe I can write about 1500 kanji.

 

[Petenshber]

I really couldn't say, not many.

 

[B1ueM4oM4o]

I know roughly 50ish which is absolutely ridiculous given that I'm supposed to be JLPT2-3, it really cripples me to the point where I essentially can't read. I'm starting to really focus specifically on the kanji at the moment though

Anyone going for jlpt2 needs about 800-1000... You don't need writing for the exam though, so if you really want to pass that, just learn to read for now. Learning to write a kanji takes no time if you can read it already.

 

[orochi]

>Learning to write a kanji takes no time if you can read it already.

I disagree entirely.

 

[Charles Barkley]

>Learning to write a kanji takes no time if you can read it already.

I disagree entirely.

I think learning how to write a kanji is easy, even if you can't read it already. But remembering on the other hand...its easy to forget how to write kanji you know how to read...

 

[davmandy]

Hi

The poll was lighthearted, but really when you start to think of it, it opens up a can of worms. What do you mean by "know"? Does that mean that you recognize the meaning of the kanji, can rattle off every possible pronunciation, and can write the kanji given the pronunciation and meaning? And what good does any of that do in the real world without memorizing a half-dozen compounds incorporating the kanji?

Japanese is definitely a challenge!

David Petersen
"Absolute Beginner's Guide to Hiragana" from Lulu Press

 

[scorpion da black]

some where between 200 amd 300

 

[Haruspex]

Well its not that bad once you're past the stroke order of a couple of characters, you start to figure it out, but still, im doing flashcards day and night, I really learn fast how to read the symbols, but I couldn't write down most of them.
But still, flashing the information in front of your eyes over and over and thus burning it into your brain seems to be the best solution even with this drawback.

 

[Hopeanuoli]

Well, I've got a Kanji book and I was looking through it last night and it was really good - telling me how to write letters and New Years cards and letters meaning certain things. I can type them though - also I know about 0-99, that was the lowest I could go for, I think I know at least about 20 or 30-something. Is Kanji the most popular Japanese character?

 

[ninjinsamax3]

300-399 for now, I can read more than I can write, but I can type more than I can read. ;D