Kanji AND Understanding It

[Green44]

Hey all. I've been studying Japanese for about half a year now and after visiting Japan I realized I do not have a great understanding of Kanji.
I have recently made it my goal to learn 2 Kanji a day. I am a bit confused on what to study.
So ok here is what I am confused about. The Kanji 中 for example. In english it means inside, middle, and in. In Japanese it means なか。 Then I see that the On-Yomi is チュウ。
Do I memorize both of those: naka and chuu? Or is naka the literal meaning and the actual sound that the kanji makes is chuu?
OR do I need to know all Kun-Yomi and On-Yomi that I see in my dictionary: なか、うち、あたる、チュウ.
I'm sorry if this is a little elementary, I have taken a semester of Japanese at my college and I have just learned what each kanji means in English. So I am trying to correct myself by relearning kanji the correct way.

 

[Glenn]

You can try looking up the words you come across to see how they're read. You could also try The Furiganizer or maybe something similar. Or you could get some manga (they usually have furigana) or try to find some other books with furigana. Then you'll see how to read the characters. Otherwise, read an overview: Kanji -- Wikipedia (readings).

Also, there are this post and this one on the topic.

 

[Angel Valis]

As intimidating as it may seem, every reading has its place. 中 is a wonderful example of a kanji that has a myriad of readings depending on the word it appears in.
中(なか) itself means inside.
授業中に(じゅぎょうちゅうに) means during class.
一日中に(いちにちじゅうに) means all day long.
私は一日中に授業中にかばんの中にあったねこを見まし た。
わたしはいちにちじゅうにじゅぎゅうちゅうにかばんの なかにあったねこをみました。
All day long during class, I watched the cat that was in the bag.
Sure, that sentence is silly, but I'm pretty sure it's grammatically correct and shows some of the uses of 中.
Two others that have large entries in kanji dictionaries are 下(below/under) and 上(above/on).
Just keep at it and you'll do fine. Kanji are pretty fun, and as long as you learn more and more vocabulary (and how they're written in kanji), it's not too hard to pick up the readings.

 

[Toritoribe]

に is not needed for 一日中.
私は一日中かばんの中にいた猫を見ていました。

Also, 中 could have different meanings depending on how it's read, i.e. ちゅう or じゅう.

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