Hello. Trying to learn Japanese, obviously, and I'm realizing that I really have to get booking on my vocabulary. So I'm wondering - when I'm trying to learn vocabulary for the first time, should I be focusing only on what the kana reading would be (if that's the right term, not sure), or would it be more beneficial to learn both the kana and kanji? I'm having no issues with learning new kanji, but seems like even just basic vocab uses a lot of different, more difficult kanji.. If I'm not wording this clearly, please let me know as well, thanks!
Learning vocabulary / Kanji
- Thread starter Shiruyumi
- Start date
Kraemder
後輩
- 24 May 2014
- 20
- 0
You can do it anyway you like really. If you're really comfortable with kanji - for example if you've gotten through a kanji course like reading Heisig's Remembering the Kanji, then I say just learn all the kanji as you go while leaving out kanji that are considered rare.
But if you haven't then you might do what my professor did with the vocab lists he gave us. He wrote the words using kana and kanji that we knew or would soon be studying only.
But if you haven't then you might do what my professor did with the vocab lists he gave us. He wrote the words using kana and kanji that we knew or would soon be studying only.
- 27 Apr 2014
- 940
- 243
What you described is indeed probably the most frustrating thing about learning Japanese. The best way to learn vocabulary is of course to start with very common words and from there go to more specialized ones; on the other hand, the best way to learn kanji (imho) is from visually simple to visually complex. This results in mismatching learning orders. For example, take the words "time" (時 - とき) and "temple" (寺 - てら). In the vocabulary order, you should learn "time" first because it's more commonly used. In the kanji order however, it's better to learn "temple" first because its kanji is visually part of "time".
For this reason I'd recommend learning a bunch of vocabulary first (using just kana) and later on start with kanji, each in their optimal order. The first order is the one used by textbooks. The second can be found at, for example, KanjiDamage.
Good luck with your studies
For this reason I'd recommend learning a bunch of vocabulary first (using just kana) and later on start with kanji, each in their optimal order. The first order is the one used by textbooks. The second can be found at, for example, KanjiDamage.
Good luck with your studies
mesolithic
後輩
- 21 May 2014
- 38
- 11
Children's books are amazingly useful. They are usually written in hiragana only and have useful words for day to day life.
Kraemder
後輩
- 24 May 2014
- 20
- 0
Figuring out how to learn kanji and vocabulary is indeed a pain in the butt. I've been studying 3 years now and still think about it. If you're pretty new to the language.. well.. a lot of flashcard programs you might be looking at probably offer a recognition mode where you see the kanji and the furigana and have to remember the English meaning. This is ok but also really easy. You'll probably find it's pretty easy to get the English meaning from the kanji with minimal study. So you might want to also study with English on the question side of the flashcard and remember how to say the Japanese. Anyway. Just my thoughts.
That's probably how I would do it were I starting over. Then again, I think I would dedicate myself to the Heisig's Remembering the Kanji for a couple months to get a good handle on the writing system. But I know a lot of people want to jump into the language.
That's probably how I would do it were I starting over. Then again, I think I would dedicate myself to the Heisig's Remembering the Kanji for a couple months to get a good handle on the writing system. But I know a lot of people want to jump into the language.
