How many of the actual ON/KUN readings are used today?

eru777

後輩

2 Jul 2012

21

0

• 8 Jul 2012

• #1

I've been learning Kanji for some time now and I have been learning pretty much all the ON and KUN readings, but I was wondering, is it really necessary to learn all of them? How many of them are actually used?
Am I cluttering my brain with useless, obsolete readings or are they actually useful ?
Thanks

 

FinancialWar

Sempai

19 May 2006

1,065

44

• 8 Jul 2012

• #2

You don't need to learn all the reading of a kanji, just the main one. Usually one onyomi and one kunyomi, the kanjis you learn at latter stages usually only have one onyomi and no kunyomi.

 

A

Andromedashun

先輩

3 Jan 2012

842

9

• 8 Jul 2012

• #3

There are many different reading, depend on sentence structure and usage. I focus on ON first because it is easy and feel a little similar to my native language.

 

nekojita

先輩

14 Jan 2009

1,660

444

• 8 Jul 2012

• #4

Kanji are not always read with on/kun readings, there are other readings as well (for example words like 大人 and 今日)

Learn a few words, rather than learning readings out of context. There are some readings which are relatively uncommon (白 as びゃく I think is far less common then the other readings) or are attached only to certain meanings. For example, 日 is never read ジツ when in compounds where it means "Japan"; it will be ニチ , and there are sound changes, so 日系 (person of Japanese descent), is read にっけい not につけい.

 

JimmySeal

Tubthumper

5 Mar 2006

1,516

78

• 9 Jul 2012

• #5

You should focus on learning words, not individual readings. Once you've got a fair amount of kanji knowledge under your belt, then you can look at studying readings to polish it off.

 

eru777

後輩

2 Jul 2012

21

0

• 9 Jul 2012

• Thread starter
• #6

Thank you all for your input

I will study Kanji in words now,rather than just learn them without any context. Probably one kun and one on reading will do the job just as good, so that I can free more time to learn new kanji/grammar etc.

I will also use furiganizer to learn new words from Japanese lyrics , and other sources.

 

FinancialWar

Sempai

19 May 2006

1,065

44

• 9 Jul 2012

• #7

kanji is fun..not