Kanji accession methods

I need to learn the kanji listed below: (all 3 lists)
imabijapaneselearningcenter. com/kanjilists.

I know I need to learn them in context but I also must learn how to write them as well. My thoughts are that I should try to aim for "learning" 90-100 single characters a day. By "learning", I mean input each character into Jim Breen's dictionary and generate a real life contextual example for each character. Then write the sentence on paper five times. Rinse and repeat with the next character in line. Example below:

In learning the character 怨, I put that into the word search area on the dictionary page and it gave me a number of results. I decided to go with two entries:
1. 恨み(P); 憾み; 怨み
2. 呪怨 【じゅおん】 Ju-on; The Grudge (Japanese horror movie)

I chose these two entries to learn because:
- For the first one, that entry is the only one that lists has [Ex] in it's definition. That means that usage of the character is very common unlike the others although I'm not sure what that (P) means.
- For the second entry, why I should learn that term is obvious. Super popular movie in Japan and fortunately that is the second pronunciation for that character listed in an easy-to-memorize form.

Potential problems that I have already run into are:
For 1. 恨み(P); 憾み; 怨み above, when I click the example sentences ( [Ex] on Jim Breen's dictionary page ), it reads "Usage examples for: 恨み" but for some sentences it uses 恨み and for other sentences it uses 怨み. So, my question is how do I know, as I student, when to use 恨み or 怨み in my attempts to make sentences when trying to become more comfortable with the character 怨 ??

Besides my question above, what do you think about my method of learning all the Kanji in those three lists? Suggestions to make it better or alternate better ideas? Thanks!

ganbat2 said:

although I'm not sure what that (P) means.

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"Priority" entry, i.e. among approx. 20,000 words deemed to be common in Japanese
WWWJDIC - INFORMATION

ganbat2 said:

So, my question is how do I know, as I student, when to use 恨み or 怨み in my attempts to make sentences when trying to become more comfortable with the character 怨 ??

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According to a kanji dictionary 新字源, 怨 originally meant "grudge against others"(e.g. 怨念, 怨霊), whereas 恨 was used only for feelings/emotions against the speaker/writer themselves like regret(e.g. 悔恨, 痛恨). However, since 怨 was not in the old Joyo kanji list, 恨 seems to be more commonly used for both meanings nowadays.


By the way, why do you choose うらみ instead of the basic verb form うらむ that also has "Ex"? うらみ is just a noun use of the -masu stem of the verb うらむ.

Toritoribe said:

According to a kanji dictionary 新字源, 怨 originally meant "grudge against others"(e.g. 怨念, 怨霊), whereas 恨 was used only for feelings/emotions against the speaker/writer themselves like regret(e.g. 悔恨, 痛恨). However, since 怨 was not in the old Joyo kanji list, 恨 seems to be more commonly used for both meanings nowadays.

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But I'm wondering when to use one character vice the other. I have to learn 怨...

Toritoribe said:

By the way, why do you choose うらみ instead of the basic verb form うらむ that also has "Ex"? うらみ is just a noun use of the -masu stem of the verb うらむ.

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Hmm, yeah I must have missed that entry.

They seem to be used interchangeably except for in the sense to feel regret that something didn't go the way you wanted it (def. #3), which uses 憾: うらむ.

It may be that Japanese pick the character to use based on the connotations they have from the 漢語 they're in when there isn't any guideline. If that's the case, you'll need to be familiar with all the words containing 怨 and all the words containing 恨 and choose accordingly, although I'm sure you could just use 恨 every time you write うらむ and nobody would really care. Or you could follow the guidelines that Toritoribe laid out:
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/20883/m0u/うらむ/

Toritoribe said:

怨 originally meant "grudge against others"(e.g. 怨念, 怨霊), whereas 恨 was used only for feelings/emotions against the speaker/writer themselves like regret(e.g. 悔恨, 痛恨).

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Yeah, you can use 恨 for almost all うらむ, just like 取る is acceptable instead of 捕る, 採る, 獲る, 穫る, 摂る, 盗る. I think it's far useful to learn more compound words and thier readings than to wonder about the difference between 怨む and 恨む. 怨 in the words below can't be replaced with 恨, and 怨恨 can't be read as おんこん, for instance.

怨念[おんねん]
怨霊[おんりょう]
怨恨[えんこん]
私怨[しえん]

And even 録る, although that one seems to be one that people just started using because they felt that character best expressed the sense of とる that they wanted. It doesn't seem to be an official reading of 録.

ganbat2 said:

My thoughts are that I should try to aim for "learning" 90-100 single characters a day.

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Unless you have a phenomenal memory, 90-100 per day seems enormously ambitious to me, in any feasible sense of "learning". I mean, you can go through the procedure you explained, and that may be worthwhile for you, but I doubt in a week you'll remember a fraction of the kanji you "learned" on day 1. I saturated at 50 per week, and that was simply learning the core meanings. The problem is not so much learning initially as retaining. Retaining and practising the kanji you already ought to know gets more and more onerous as the numbers increase. I think my memory is only average, and of course you might be a lot younger than me (which I'm sure helps!), and you may be able to spend more time. Even so, I think 90-100 per day is practically impossible.

Edit: Completely off topic, but I'm absolutly amazed to see that the Hawaiian flag (displayed next to your ID) still has the Union Jack (British flag) in the top left quadrant! I never knew that. I wonder how on earth it has survived!