How many Kanji do you know?

[Putrefaction]

You passed the JLPT2!? Congratulations!!
Past 800, somewhere around 820, but still forgetting a bunch. Most likely going to do a complete review a week before September or so.

 

[sh1k1g4m1]

Thanks, Putrefaction. Actually, I just passed the 2008 JLPT 2, though.
Had taken it once in 2006, but I didn't pass. Probably because I didn't concentrate enough. Luckily, I passed on my second attempt.

I learnt Kanji mostly from playing Japanese games (galge), reading novels, and watching non-subbed animes. But still, I feel that I'm still lacking something. nn;

 

[Putrefaction]

Well, that's amazing. Good job, how long have you been taking Japanese?

 

[sh1k1g4m1]

Around 4 years, I think. I took Japanese Studies as my major in university. It's hard to learn hiragana and katakana in just 2 weeks during my first year. And, we also had to finish Intermediate Kanji Book 1 in one semester during my second year.

Here's some books that I use (it's quite expensive):

ＢＡＳＩＣＫＡＮＪＩＢＯＯＫ
ｖｏｌ．１
ISBN:9784893580917

ＢＡＳＩＣＫＡＮＪＩＢＯＯＫ
ｖｏｌ．２
ISBN:9784893581198

漢字１０００Ｐｌｕｓ ＩＮＴＥＲＭＥＤＩＡＴＥ Ｋ ＡＮＪＩ ＢＯＯＫ〈ＶＯＬ．１〉
ISBN:9784893582485

漢字１０００Ｐｌｕｓ ＩＮＴＥＲＭＥＤＩＡＴＥ Ｋ ＡＮＪＩ ＢＯＯＫ〈ＶＯＬ．２〉
ISBN:9784893584892 (partially used, though)

 

[Putrefaction]

Well, I think I have a book containing 2000 Kanji. You're right, those two intermediate Kanji books are a lot! I'll scour for those. How about grammar and other wise, what books did you use?

 

[Limerix]

I'm still just starting to learn my kanji and kana (I can't seem to get myself to memorize katakana, but I have all my hiragana down). As for the kanji, I was brought up taking Chinese (Mandarin) class, so I understand the kanji, but I can't pronounce it ^^;;. As for the kanji that I can write, pronounce and understand, I only know around 50.

 

[AJBryant]

It's been months since I've said this, so I'll say it again:

I really believe that one of the true signs that you're becoming literate and really understanding Japanese is when you stop counting how many kanji you know.

 

[Jimi]

I know 0 But that is probably because i am studying Japanese for only 1 month now (just on my own here on the Internet and Nintendo DS).



But reading all these post demotivates me, over 1500 to read Japanese newspapers ! Its going to be a long way for me to achieve my goal kashii:

 

[paryn]

I know about 11, or so. Counting from one to six, and a handful of other random kanji. Once I'm confident regarding kana I'm going to start building up my vocabulary with nouns, verbs, and pronouns and then once I have a large base, I'll work on grammar. If you google, kyoiku kanji, I think there's a nice list of beginning kanji right there

 

[Koos83]

For all of you who are discouraged by the sheer amount of Kanji to learn and how much time it will take, I really recommend Heisig's method 'Remembering the Kanji'.

The general idea behind this book is that we're adults learning Japanese from scratch, not Japanese children who already know the pronunciation but have no abstract skills yet.

So instead of taking a Kanji and writing it over and over again to learn the correct stroke order, which Jaoanese kids do in school, and somehow also having to learn the pronunciations in some way, which Japanese kids don't have to do anymore, it focuses on first teaching you how to write the Kanji and understand its meaning (in English) and after you've learnt the 2042 Kanji in the book, teaching you their pronunciation (second book).

It teaches you the Kanji by breaking them up into so-called Primitives (certain shapes that come back in multiple Kanji) and then coming up with an imaginative story (later on you have to come up with them yourself) to help you remember the Kanji.

I started this a few weeks ago and I've been taking my time (it's not all I do in a day) and I know almost 200 Kanji now. I think it takes me about an hour for 10/15 Kanji, this includes the reviewing on a website and using flash cards. In the beginning you just can't believe how ridiculously easy it is this way. You keep finding yourself thinking: I must be doing something wrong, it can't be this easy. But it is! XD

If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me or leave me a visitor message.

It's been months since I've said this, so I'll say it again:

I really believe that one of the true signs that you're becoming literate and really understanding Japanese is when you stop counting how many kanji you know.

For me, that would mean that I'm losing interest in them.
Being a competitive person, I love nothing more than beating myself in my previous 'records'. So I'll always keep an eye on how many Kanji I know, because it keeps me motivated, interested and eager to learn more.

I doubt that will change with how literate I get or how easy or hard it is for me to understand Japanese.

 

[fangsryoga]

For all of you who are discouraged by the sheer amount of Kanji to learn and how much time it will take, I really recommend Heisig's method 'Remembering the Kanji'.
The general idea behind this book is that we're adults learning Japanese from scratch, not Japanese children who already know the pronunciation but have no abstract skills yet.
So instead of taking a Kanji and writing it over and over again to learn the correct stroke order, which Jaoanese kids do in school, and somehow also having to learn the pronunciations in some way, which Japanese kids don't have to do anymore, it focuses on first teaching you how to write the Kanji and understand its meaning (in English) and after you've learnt the 2042 Kanji in the book, teaching you their pronunciation (second book).
It teaches you the Kanji by breaking them up into so-called Primitives (certain shapes that come back in multiple Kanji) and then coming up with an imaginative story (later on you have to come up with them yourself) to help you remember the Kanji.
I started this a few weeks ago and I've been taking my time (it's not all I do in a day) and I know almost 200 Kanji now. I think it takes me about an hour for 10/15 Kanji, this includes the reviewing on a website and using flash cards. In the beginning you just can't believe how ridiculously easy it is this way. You keep finding yourself thinking: I must be doing something wrong, it can't be this easy. But it is! XD
If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me or leave me a visitor message.
For me, that would mean that I'm losing interest in them.
Being a competitive person, I love nothing more than beating myself in my previous 'records'. So I'll always keep an eye on how many Kanji I know, because it keeps me motivated, interested and eager to learn more.
I doubt that will change with how literate I get or how easy or hard it is for me to understand Japanese.

Koos knows where it's at (pardon my grammar)
Remembering the Kanji is a gold mine! At least books 1 and 3 are. Book 2 would be a good idea assuming you're not going to be doing the whole Alljapaneseallthetime.com method (aka AJATT method 10,000 SRS sentences)
Google it. This method actually uses James Heisig's remembering the kanji as a a means to memorizing the writings for the 2040 joyo kanji and then applying the knowledge of these writings as a sort of alphabet for 'learning to read in Japanese'.
If the AJATT method is too extreme for you or it doesn't suit your tastes then...too bad. It's super effective. I've been doing it for about 2 montsh now during summer break and the dreams in Japanese won't stop rolling in even more so than the past two years of Intensive Japanese I've taken at Williams College. I'm a Japanese Economics double major by the way.
In the past month and a half I've learned the meaning and writing for 1,000 of thes kanji and I plan on learning the next 1000 or so in the next two weeks, cause I'm so hard core( and because I don't have a summer job this year! or money to hang out with my friends, pool parties be enough)
As for those of you who doubt I will retain these 2,000 kanji that I've gotten down in 2 months. The reason I KNOW I WON'T forget them is because I'm using an SRS(spaced repetition system) called mnemosyone(it's a free download check it out!) to review the kanji.
Koos seriously check out Mnemosyne, Anki, or Supermemo if you haven't already done so. I happen to apply an SRS to University studies as well and I have to say I know things much better one year after taking a course than a freshman who just finished the same course. It's freaky and It'll change your life YAY 4.0 in college!!! Now on to GRAD SCHOOL!! IN JAPAN!!! IN JAPANESE!!!
And to this who will inevitably state "but you can't read those kanji!!!" Yeah, I know I can't read them I already said I simply know the writing and the meaning behind each of these 1,000 kanji and nothing more.
Also, I will learn the readings of these myriad kanji by reading books in Japanese building up from the Harry potter series all the way up to Economics Texts in Japanese.
-a philanthropist

 

[cuckoo16]

like 50 by sight only. but i'm just getting started

 

[1Sakura]

At the moment I just started to learn by myself, but it is a little dificult after some age...and because I don't have the time ...
So my vote was 0-99

 

[bubblerei]

I learned 2 Kanji! (is all proud of herself)


Yeah, so much more to go...T_T

 

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

Kanji 80 characters to learn in the first grade at an elementary school with this song are learned.

Kanjite goran

Kanji 160 characters to learn in the second grade at an elementary school with this song are learned.

Kanjite goran 2

 

[Emoni]

Great little videos!

 

[Putrefaction]

I'm still at 820, maybe nearing 850 now. School, etc made me stop for a while, then I re-started from scratch. When I hit 1000, I'm going to double back and make sure I know!

 

[Silv3rTig3r]

we're learning them in class. we're up to about 80. i should know a couple hundred by next year.

 

[robby in Japan]

I guess I know about 2000 Kanji more or less. I mean I "more or less" know them. For some I know the meaning but not how to pronounce them, for some I know how to pronounce them but not the meaning... So it depends on the definition of "to know"...


But remember: the better you know how much Kanji you know, the less Kanji you know Ask this question to Japanese and Chinese, and they will just say "thousands", because they have no idea how many they know.


Best,


Rob

 

[tummai]

I know between 1500-2000 I think. It's hard to know for sure because I don't keep count, but I think it should be just a little short of the Joyo

 

[ChrisGR]

I know reading+meaning+writing of about 50 kanjis but i can recognise the meaning of many more by experience.

 

[Hatsumiko]

I voted 100-199. I can recognize a few more than that, I believe. I'm trying to learn at least 5 new kanji every day. I'll get there eventually.

 

[sakaeyellow]

I know around 3000 Kanji because I am Chinese. ^^

By the way, I think how many individual Kanji you know is not as important as how many Kanji phrases you can use.

 

[Willem]

I know only a very few kanji but i keep learning them

I know the numbers 1-10 (although i have to review them when i use them)
And some simple words like Cat, Rain, Rice field, Meat..

Feels bad and good to be a beginner tho its fun to learn all those kanji!

 

[micahcowan]

I really believe that one of the true signs that you're becoming literate and really understanding Japanese is when you stop counting how many kanji you know.

To echo and expound on this, counting how many kanji you know is perhaps an indication that you're not really understanding Japanese.

What does it mean to "know" the 80 characters from first grade? That you've read a book that teaches 上 = うえ/up, 下 = した/down, 生 from 学生 = せい/life? What about other readings, and other meanings, such as 生まれる (うまれる/born), 生きる (いきる/living), 生々しい (なまなましい/fresh)? 上げる (あげる), 上る (のぼる), 下がる (さがる)? If you've encountered a kanji and have been introduced to one or two of its pronunciations, but there are another 10 in common use with which you are unfamiliar, can you really claim to "know" that character? Until you're familiar with all of a character's readings and the nuances of where it is used, do you really "know" it? You can "learn" the 80 first-grade characters in a couple weeks, and still spend another several months completing your knowledge of them. And it's not really very efficient to try to study all of the meanings for each character as you come across it, just in order to know that you "know" it, so basically the only point at which you could truly (begin to) say that you "know" a certain number of characters, is when you're already beginning to complete your understanding of the entire set of Joyo (and then some), and no longer need to keep track anymore (since the answer now approaches "all the usual ones").

--
Micah J Cowan
JapaneseReader.com