Japanese Kanji 101 (and How I’d Learn Kanji Starting Over)
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- Опубліковано 27 кві 2024
- The ToKini Andy Japanese Kanji series starts HERE with this introduction to kanji! Learn the basics of Japanese kanji, and find out how Andy goes about learning Kanji now, and how he would learn kanji if he was starting over.
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0:00 Intro
0:14 The Basics of Kanji
4:29 How People Learn Kanji
8:00 How Kanji are Broken Down
12:51 How I'd Learn Kanji
16:30 The Future of Kanji Content on ToKini Andy
Something that should always be said on videos like this: This is how I would (and do) learn kanji. It’s not the ONLY way to learn kanji, and it might not even be the best for you! But it works well for me, and is very efficient, so I want to try and make it work for YOU too!
Things I used to recommend:
RTK - I cover in this video why I’ve shifted, despite using it myself 10 years ago.
Kanken Video Games - I enjoyed these for a while, but they’re actually what lead me to THIS approach. The games are lacking in many ways, and ALSO as you get further along they become quite tedious, time consuming, and the little extra steps necessary become annoying. So this is what I’ve broken everything down into.
BUT, those might work for you. So never feel like you have to quit what you’re doing if it’s working. 😊
Hello Andy, Do you have a specific deck to recommend for srs? Should I use anki? most decks for kanji in anki doesn't have audio
@@sankrei3629 I can recommend the jlab deck (Japanese like a breeze). It is going through all the elementary grammar points with sentences + audio.
I customed the cards to use kana+Kanji instead of romaji...
Are you still learning Japanese despite being fluent in it (since like theres 50,000 Kanji I believe)?
You could add a statistical approach and use often, in the wild, used characters earlier (if this is not already represented in the JLPT and Kanken lists).
Why not all language use Latin Alphabet 😢 or another alfabet like Cyrillic or Hangul
"Don't learn kanji, learn words that consist of kanji."
This is the best advice in the whole video - and maybe the only one you even need.
I completely agree with you. What I do is simply reading having fun even if sometimes it can take a lot of time, but also some other time I breeze through pages. No flashcards, no nonsense, just reading of course together with speaking, listening, and writing
@@Andrea-yf3hu, exactly.
Especially it's a fool's errand to apply any sort of purity approach, wanting to learn 'all meanings' , 'all readings', or something like that.
Whenever you learn a kanji as part of a specific word, it's probably a good idea to get some understanding about the nature of this case, like if it's an on-reading, a kun-reading or some exception, and what meaning of the kanji applies.
But apart from that, just let those readings and meanings accumulate over time, as you encounter words in their natural environment.
And that's what i always tell for newbies if anyone asks "where should i start" on a language discord server.
Even if it's just the kanas. After all, even natives does learn these with associating them with actual words, then learners why should not learn vocab while learning the script.
Not really. Since kanji aren't phonetic, there is nothing to hold onto when you see it.
@@spiritsplice If you learn how to write the language and not jsut how to speak it then it's easy to learn which kanji is which.
Having learned about 650 kanji so far, I can't imagine trying to intentionally learn the readings. As far as I can tell, the readings side of things comes intuitively as you grow your vocabulary.
100%!
Yeah, I think doing both a kanji-meaning based approach and a vocab deck at the same time is very efficient.
If you already know a word or 2 that uses a certain kanji, remembering that reading through the word you know can sometimes help reading a word you might know, but not know the kanji for. „Sometimes“ because it might use a different reading, but there are many kanji that have just 1 on-yomi, so that’s where it can help.
Wanikani is perfect
That might work for people…I personally chose to brute force it into my brain…..only up to N1….the reason for that is by the time I was memorizing N2 level Kanji everything just started making sense to the point I realized what part of the kanji is most likely to influence its onyomi and so I could read content much easier. Even if I didn’t know the words, I at least did not have to look up how to pronounce kanji most common and could just focus on vocab building.
As a former gacha game player, I find Wanikani’s gamified level system really motivating. I highly doubt I would put as much time in if I was trying a more self-directed method. And it’s working fine-after around level 10 the process started feeling fairly intuitive.
I started WaniKani about a month ago and decided it was worth my money to sign up for the subscription. Whenever I have a few minutes I can review and learn. It's honestly a great (if not perfect) system. Hopefully they are working on a dedicated app.
Same.
Exactly. I’ve done some other sites and services but WaniKani tends to keep me motivated
wanikani is good for gamification. I strongly encourage an anki deck, prebuilt or otherwise. Moe Way Tango will get you performing like crazy.
@@NanomachineExEWhat's Moe Way Tango, an anki deck?
Honestly this video couldn't have dropped at a better time. Reading is an important part of my journey since there are a few books I want to read that were never translated and I'd just been getting ready to dive into the Kanji-verse.
Glad to hear that it was good timing for you! 😊
I hope that this series can help you get into those books even more! 👍
Wow. So I've been casually learning Japanese for the past 4 months. I have some textbooks (but not Genki) but thanks to you I've gone through the material a few times already. And just today I sat down and said ok let's start writing kanji and I did, then a couple hours later your new video posted and I immediately signed up. I NEEDED this so thank you and I can't wait to get started!
I'm glad ta my timing was so good! haha
You've got this! 😊
I’ve been waiting so long for this!!! Thank you!
I'm glad we've finally been able to start! Thanks for joining us on the journey! 😊
I think instead watching how to learn kanji, if i actually start learning kanji for once only then i can progress 😅
You’re not wrong! Haha
Bhai mera bhi ditto yahi haal hai. Har anime dekh ke lagta he ki Japanese seekh loon. Phir ek video dekhta hoon on how to learn Kanji, aur duniya se vishwas uth jata he.
And the entire reason that I ever bother with this $hit after dropping it once is because I come across some machine translation of some web novel and the atrocious grammar makes it IMPOSSIBLE to read WTF is written there. Raw padh nahi sakta jabtak Japanese seekhta nahi. Perpetually stuck between a rock and a hard place. FML
I’m almost finished going through the entire RtK book 1. I’ve been working on this book for the past 4 months. I knew going into this that it wasn’t going to make me be able to read Japanese Kanji. Before RtK I would see a kanji, move on, and if I saw that exact same kanji again, I would have no memory of seeing it before.
What RtK has done is make each kanji infinitely easier to recognize since I’ve trained my brain to be able to break down each kanji into parts and see patterns, rather than try and memorize the kanji as a whole.
I like to think the RtK method as a way of building the scaffolding into place that would eventually lead to building the actual structure which is being able to read and understand the Japanese language.
"hey, that's that kanji that means X that I still can't read when I see it in a sentence".
@@spiritsplice That is absolutely 100% true and is definitely a case to be made against the RtK method. However I have found it to be a lot easier to pick up on the readings of the kanji when I’m not also trying to memorize the meaning for that kanji at the same time. It’s building up my kanji knowledge piece by piece rather than the entire thing at once. It works for me, but is by no means a valid method of learning for everyone!
Hey, Chris! I think we have similar experiences with RTK book #1.
@@Chris_W. I think if more people take the time to read the introduction to RTK book #1 then most of the cases or complaints would be dropped, because people would actually understand what Heisig was trying to do through the first book or the trilogy. I am not saying RTK book #1 is for everyone, but I think it also a greatly misunderstood book and method. It also seem many forget that RTK book#2 and Book #3 actually teach the pronunciations. However, I think after finishing RTK Book#1 it is fairly easy to pick up books that have furigana above kanji or to start memorizing vocabulary more easily since one already knowns basic kanji.
I can warmly recommend the Outlier Kanji Dictionary for Yomiwa. Being able to look up a kanji and read the actual history of a kanji has really unlocked kanji for me. And for many kanji you can read it’s history with pictures of the ancient forms and their evolution to modern script. Outliers kanji course is also excellent - it’s allowed me to actually understand kanji.
For my currrent studying I downloaded a All in one kanji deck for Anki and simply look up new kanji as they show up in Outlier Dictionary. Lastly I downloaded an Anki deck based on the Kanji in Context book to learn readings and new words.
Having trouble wið 四? Well, just use 亖. Duh...?
So excited for this series! Omgg
Would definitely buy membership once I get the job. But for the meantime, a big thanks for still releasing the kanji series on UA-cam for free even though we'll get it later than those who are already members of your course. Thank you for making kanji learning fun. ❤❤❤
So excited to watch this. Thank you Andy. ❤
Me too! Thank YOU!
Your approach is excellent ; it's the best I've ever seen .
WELL DONE !
I am implementing your program to learn the Kanji .
Can't wait to see it 💪😎
Thank You for doing this, Sensei
Thank you! I've been falling behind with kanji in my classes and I think this will help a lot
This is a very well timed video for me. I was literally sitting down today planning how to approach kanji after failing over and over again for 3 years or so. Essentially your video is what i have been thinking about the kanji pitfalls but articulated better. I'm around the JLPT4/3 level with a kanji level of low 5. This changes today....hopefully. Great video
This is going to be a great series! 🎉
We will do our best to make it so! 😊
Thank you for the very clear, smooth, easy to follow information and recommendation! You are amazing
Yay new video! been waiting for your new upload for a while! Thanks for this!
It's been 115 days since our last video! I can't believe how long it took! haha
Thank you for waiting, and watching! 😊
Your videos are so creative and helpful.
I love how the kanji in the thumbnail means depression
楽しみにしてる！
What a terrific and helpful video. Thankyou.
I personally really like how I learned kanji and it definitely has to do with breaking down kanji in sound and meaning components. I like the Outlier Dictionary for this reason!! It breaks down kanji in a logical manner, describing it's origin, assembly and all its characteristics. If you understand something you automatically know it!! I hate memorizing things by heart, I'm generally bad at it and it burns me out, however understanding the assembly rules behind a kanji and it's pronunciation makes learning kanji almost like a puzzle!! Learning kanji > memorizing kanji!!
The fact that I'm a linguistics major probably attributes to how I'm enjoying learning kanji in a way. It may not be the way for some people, it entails a lot of information that some people might deem "useless". However I've never considered learning kanji as fast as possible as my goal. I want to understand the Japanese language because I'm interested in it, but not because I want to get good as fast as possible. Breaking down kanji in components and understanding its history is straight up my alley because I'm simply linguistically inclined, but not necessarily "language-proficiency"-inclined. Trying to play with kanji and feeling out what your preferred approach is, is in my opinion the best way to learn!
The only thing I regret about learning kanji before is that I was too stuck thinking I have to stick to one specific pre-established method. However as we are all our own individuals it makes a lot more sense to pick small parts from several methods and approaches that you personally enjoy and make your own personalized method.
Creating your own method might take years so I wouldn't feel remorseful not immediately knowing how **I** personally study the best, learning takes time and self-reflection!
Also! Small correction about your radical explanation, this is a commonly made misdefinition that I often hear people make.
Every kanji has just one "radical" (部首) , the other components simply are "components" or "elements"（部品、(構成)要素、パーツ）. Radicals were established by a committee meant for indexation. Radicals aren't necessarily linguistically or etymologically logical or correct either, sometimes a kanji has one component labelled as that kanji's "radical" while another component seems more suitable for it. Sometimes a kanji's radical is actually a simplification or misinterpretation of a totally different character, where the meaning actually has nothing to do with the kanji's meaning anymore. That is why simply going off a kanji's radical can be misleading.
I personally enjoy breaking kanji down in functional components: meaning, form and sound-components, that have developed from history, like written in the Outliers Dictionary. There is a reason why a kanji has a certain meaning or sound, and you can deduce that information by looking into it's etymology and component assembly and development. This way you immediately tackle a lot of on-yomi because of the sound-components (honestly, this is how I passed the language knowledge section of the JLPT N2, simply by recognizing sound-components).
I can only agree! The Outlier Dictionary has been amazing to study with since you can actually understand the function of the components and their history. It's made studying kanji so much fun instead of frustrating and illogical! Great to see someone else sharing that view.
This is how I'd like to learn versus the storytelling approach. Do you have any more recommendations?
I really appreciate this comment as someone who is also very interested in linguistics. After learning Korean for a while I found I was more interested in the linguistic aspects over the “language proficiency” aspects like you said.
Learning kanji seems so daunting so it was really nice to read your comment and get a different perspective! It seems like most videos talk about speed of learning and being efficient (which makes sense), but it’s nice to be reminded that learning a language is a marathon, not a sprint, and taking it slow is okay!
I really appreciate for those new videos thanks Andyさん😊
Yessss, I need that video.
I’m working through the Learning Japanese from Zero book with my wife. We’re preparing for a trip to Japan in around a year.
We’re studying that book, Remembering the Kanji 1 and 2, and the N5 workbook.
These videos are very helpful, thank you!
Learning kanji is arguably my favorite thing about learning japanese at the moment, so I'm very excited about this series!
Yyeeeess!!! Is it finally here?! A kanji lessons made easy by my fave instructor!!
It is indeed! 😊
This dropped at a perfect time indeed! I'm going to take the JLPT N4 this December and I've been struggling to learn kanji ever since. Really excited to check this series out and try your tips for learning kanji as well. 😊
How'd the exam go??
Thank you so much you have helped me so much!❤
I'm glad to hear that! Thank you for watching! 😊
You are so nice your the best
@@ToKiniAndy is there any way to get a job without being an English teacher in Japan
Andy, you are an amazing teacher! Thanks to you, I got through Genki I, and I'm now half way through Genki II. This kanji method sounds awesome, but as I already have a lifetime membership with Wanikani, and things are working out, I'm going to stick with that. Good luck to everyone who tries Andy's method.
This video is a gem! Thank you so much🫶
Stoked on this
I really enjoy WaniKani and how it builds each level of kanji up with new radicals and then immediately follows up with vocabulary words. Thanks to Andy's suggestions, I've also started incorporating Japanese sentences SRS through Anki. Since I'm new to grammar, the sentences on WaniKani have always felt a bit too difficult during early levels.
I remember when I started my journey, there was a whole article/guide about how to learn Japanese written by one of the guys that started WaniKani. In this article it goes over all the Hiragana and Katakana, sites and methods etc. Then moves onto kanji (insert WaniKani here) but it was also stressed HEAVILY that you should be learning a grammar guide or textbook alongside. WaniKani is only there for the Kanji/Vocab, he even pointed out like: First 100 words - 1 chapter of grammar guide, 500 words - 3 chapters of grammar guide etc.
I love you, thank you so much for sharing and teaching this hard lenguage ❤❤❤
I struggle mostly on combined words. I often can guess a rough meaning from it's parts but can't remember the pronunciation of compound words.
But after I thought about it I think that's a good thing rather than a bad thing. Compared to English where when you don't know the meaning of a word you can pronounce without knowing it's meaning it's opposite of the way kanji work and I think being able to get the meaning of an unknown word is more beneficial then being able to pronounce it.
I learned with the old fashioned RTK method between 2005 and 2008, and eventually passed all five JLPT levels, ending with N1 in 2011. The old method worked, but it was insanely time consuming. My wife is thinking of learning Japanese now so I will definitely recommend this alternative approach to her. Seems much more efficient!
I’ve been learning Japanese for almost 8 years now. I am at an intermediate level when it comes to speaking and listening but my reading and writing has always lagged behind. Even though I’ve spent years working on Flashcards that never really stuck in my head. I also spent tons of money on graded readers that were okay but the stories were never that captivating. I would always try to brute force the knowledge into my head but after I stopped studying those Flashcards most of the knowledge would not be immediately available when I needed them. This system of using both the JLPT and Kanken lists while reading is the best way in my opinion. Interacting with topics you care about in the language will always result in more knowledge being kept in long term memory easier. Love the great videos keep ‘em coming.
Thanks a lot for this material! Now I know what is my next step❤
Woo! I’m gonna be studying abroad in Japan soon so this is super helpful. Definitely gonna take a look at the website 👀
I did the Heisig method originally, it took me a year to learn all of them. I did it on weekends, lunch breaks, etc. I always had the book with me the entire time.
I think it really helped. I can understand a lotttt of words just based on the kanji but ultimately I agree that that time would have been better spent on reading and vocabulary.
And yes, I bought and started part 2 "Reading the Kanji" and ultimately realized it was more trouble than it was worth.
Thanks for the interesting video. I just want to say that for me, always writing the kanji in the right stroke order makes it easier for me to remember the kanji. Sometimes, I don’t clearly remember one but if I can remember the first few strokes it generally gets me started and the rest just falls in place.
The Chinese: *laughs maniacally*
Omg my friend is ethnically Chinese and actively participates in learning the characters, she calls herself stupid but I could never 😭😭
Love your video! Very easy to understand. After I finished Hiragana and Katakana, I've been delaying to learn Kanji because it looks scary to remember 2000 words . But I still have to learn it as I'm really interested in Japanese. Thank you for this video. Very helpful! Arigato Guzaimasu
this helped me so much 😃
I'm almost done with my Kanji Journey and I think I took a very similar approach.
There is an free Add-On for Anki called "Kanji God" which makes learning Kanji very natural and keeps you close to the Vocab. The way it teaches you is by automatically making a customized Deck (or two in case of Writing as well as Recognition) in order of your Vocab Deck, be it a Kanken, JLPT, Core2,3K or Sentence Mining Deck and combined with Sentence Mining from Manga or Videos this works so effortlessly well.
This Method combines Immersion, Kanji and Vocab and gave me more time than RTK would ever let me have.
That sounds quite useful! I imagine starting can be a little difficult, as you often learn vocabulary with difficult kanji from the very beginning, BUT if you're able to get over that hump, it would be quite useful.
It sounds a lot like how JPDB does it, too. 😊
ありがとう！めっちゃ便利です
I've gone through high school and university level Japanese and after a long break (10+ years) I picked up wanikani earlier this year as a way to get back into learning, mostly with the aim of improving my reading comprehension. It's worked remerkably well for me so far, but I did have a decent vocab and grammar background going into it. Without already knowing a lot of common words and phrases you would probably be much better off taking Andy's approach. That being said the real key to all of this is SRS. God I wish we had that 20 years ago in school :D
I wish I had SRS in school as well!
And I have no real qualms with WaniKani, so for those of you who find it works for you, no need to change. This just works better for ME! 😊
@@ToKiniAndy what you've developed looks great if I'd come across it 6 months ago I would have signed up for sure 😁
Hi Andy! Started following your videos when I lived in Hawaii dating a Japanese woman. Now that I am living in Japan your vidoes are even more appreciated as I work towards fluency. This video was exceptional! Thank you!😊
Thank you Paul! I'm glad to hear that you found it helpful!
to be honest, i only clicked on this video mainky because i saw '鬱' and i happened to learn about it today. after watching this video, i really liked the information you presented here. i've been more or less learning japanese since 2015-ish but i'm so one and off that i'm still very much a beginner 😅 i want to start again and slowly learn and i've been wondering how i'll approach kanji as it's always been a tough area for me. i'll definitely use this info to plan my own learning and will check out your kanji series. thanks!
Started using Wanikani in March, I'm a third of the way through the program at lvl 22 and I've learned about 700 kanji, I could not give the program a bigger endorsement.
I tried all the books, learning the kanji, did several anki decks and it's been my absolute favorite.
Do Anki if you don't want to spend anything though.
Thank you, this should become the new standard instruction for everyone wanting to learn kanji.
Great video Andy I definitely like this method!! Especially if you have a Japanese 3DS you could play the kanken game as soon as you complete a level!!
Good point! You could definitely combine this with some of the Kanken games for extra practice, and even to learn extra words there. 😊
haven't watched the video yet, but the thumbnail pulled me in. 鬱 is precisely the kanji I use as an example where knowing radicals really helps. it looks super complicated, but it's really not once you break it down.
I personally just learn kanji as i come across them in vocab which i come across in sentences, i dont learn all of the individual readings. So i basically learn the meaning, stroke order, and the reading for certain vocab. I was hoping id eventually pick up a pattern to how theyre read based on future exposure to it in different sentences. Ive been worried that this will hold me back and that i will regret it cause everyone else seems so focused on the readings. I basically learn each kanji as a vocab word. It kinda sounds like how you said youd do it if you started over so this has been a huge relief for me❤ the only thing im not doing is learning based on a list. My textbook teaches situational phrases (like asking directions or ordering food, its meant to teach you japanese needed as a tourist) so ive been focusing on those first lol i think using a list as a guide is a great idea so you can get to reading faster! :) love this advice!
My method similar - I use "Kanji Look and Learn" which is published with the Genki Books and when I learn a new Kanji I always look for radicals and previously learned parts and use that to help me memorise it, The book has pictures and mnemonic devices which help, but sometimes I imagine my own things to memorise it.
I forgot about that book! I don't think I ever read it, but now I'm a little worried that I somehow managed to copy it? haha I'll have to pick up a copy just to be sure.
Would have saved me a lot of time if I could have just used that. haha
@@ToKiniAndy It covers 512 Kanji and has all the Kanji for JLPT level 3 and 4 and many from level 2. One thing that I like is that is has an appendix which shows radicals and often used parts and lists all the Kanji that uses these parts.
the coolest feeling is like hearing a new word, checking its writing & already knowing every kanji there 😎😎
I've studied Japanese 15 years ago. I've forgotten almost all of my kanji, and I have a really hard time digging them up again. It seems harder than the first time (which makes no sense to me, but oh well, my brain decided to get old it seems). I personally never enjoyed the Genki books. But I'm very interested in your Anki Deck. Will you sell it separately at some point? Everything has become a subscription model these days, I'm beginning to develop a phobia.
Thanks a lot Andy. Greetings from Argentina!
I use WaniKani, but I use Tsurukame to filter out the kana vocabulary. I read the common word combinations and example sentences then if I am having trouble remembering them I look that word up through Immersion kit.
I’m not practicing handwriting right now, but I know when Shujinkou comes out they will have handwriting practice on the switch.
I do want to find a kanji practice notebook where I can trace over the kanji 7 times instead of 2-3 times to get some more extra practice. That would be great to have along with practicing the writing on the switch when playing Shujinkou once that game releases. ❤️
ありがとう先生！
こちらこそありがとうございます！
Also I think that paying attentions to the individual kanji readings becomes a worthwhile thing to do when you start encountering multiple words with the same kanji and reading.
Back when I was actively trying to do Anki flashcards for vocab, I found that mnemonics would often collide between different words. Case in point, your built-up example for "four" 四 would then later conflict with learning "older brother" 兄 if all I'm thinking about is mouths and legs... I'd then have to refine one or both mnemonics to be more precise, which makes it harder to remember them...
あ、ありがとうございます♪
とても役に立つ！
helps with learning Chinese too!
I just found your video 1 minite into it you had me laughing what great personality and teacher !
I learned the kanji with an rtk deck on Ankidroid. It is customised such that there is a dedicated area to practice the writing directly on the screen.
Oh nice! That's a cool feature. 😊
12:13 - The kanji for "liberty". From liberty sprout all other great things to do in life. A watering can with two trees represents that fact that liberty has to be nurtured and cultivated by every generation so as not to die off. If it is taken care of properly, then it can sprout new possibilities. Under this is the base of liberty, represented by the American flag. What a great kanji! (Okay, it actually means "depression" in Japanese, but still, it's cool.)
Couldn't agree more. I'm at 600 kanji in Wanikani and almost finished with Genki I.
Right now I'm enjoying Japan as a tourist much more than I would without it.
Speaking in infinitives or messing up grammar is cute...but then I impress people by knowing how to read stuff like 新宿駅 :D
Here's some other power moves (from someone that's been fluent for 15 years and knows 2500+ kanji):
1) Write with correct stroke order so when you encounter similar kanji you've already gone through the muscle memory of writing radicals or parts of the kanji are familiar to you making it much easier to memorize when you get to more advanced kanji later.
example: 首→道→導 (Also 目 you would have learned earlier if you follow his advice about doing common kanji first, important radicals appear at the beginning of your journey, think of the first 80 1st grade kanji as radicals and it'll make the rest you learn easier)
2) Read a lot of manga with furigana to supplement the kanji you're learning (and harder stuff when you want to test your reading ability). Like if the kanji you're learning is common enough you should see them constantly, and you'll see how they are actually used in context. Even Japanese children that only know 100-200 kanji do this a lot, and just naturally remember how to read them through exposure (then they already have dozens of combinations they can read with those 100-200 kanji). I think this is also crucial because too many people study out of context and then have to work on reading years later and realize their vocabulary is really small. Like you know 1-2 readings per the 2000 kanji and maybe can read a few thousand kanji words out of the 20k+ combinations that could appear in manga or novels etc.
And I also totally agree with the kanji kentei order since that's the same order as Japanese children would learn at schools.
It's a good approach. It basically combines what the other systems mentioned do, but expedited and makes up for what's missing in any other singular approach. I think for me, the best way would be to do this process once and go through about 2000 kanji this way right from the get to, in 24 days or so as you said, and then not worry too much about reviewing them while just doing your SRS of choice.
I personally really like wanikani, because it made it very easy to cement a kanji and really deeply understand it more than writing or just straight up immersing alone ever did, but as I got better and higher up in the levels, when there was a kanji I encountered, I basically found that using your process was what I'd do and then just add it to anki and forget about it and naturally learn it as time went on while immersing/doing SRS. Without wanikani though, I wouldn't have gotten used to the radicals of kanji or being able to break them down and infer them and make up story mnemonics for them nearly as easily.
I will mention too, while doing wanikani, I also still did anki and immersed, I just didn't assume I would learn the kanji that well until I saw it in wanikani or they just magically stuck eventually. Which for me, that's how it went.
Now when I see a new (and at this point rare kanji) what I basically do is wanikani's radical decomposition and mnemonic method, and then I write it by hand once just as you mentioned, then I just remember them as I see it more. I had to learn about 1000-1500 kanji or so fairly well through wanikani though to make this feel less frustrating, as by then I could get through most things okay enough to not feel too bogged down. Now I can just kinda remember kanji eventually by doing this without much effort. At the start, it felt too rote and too hard to enjoy native content, and wanikani really helped bridge that gap and make me kanji really well. The way wanikani does SRS feels effortless to me and the intervals are much better and more straightforward than anki for solidifying memory. I would find that once a kanji or word showed up in my wanikani list, within the first few days or week I'd pretty much feel like I knew it any time I saw it in the wild, even when I was starting. When I was starting, it felt like no matter what I did kanji didn't stick. When I was a kid, just writing them 10 or so times was enough to remember, but not as an adult getting back into it. For me, without wanikani it would have taken me a lot longer for my brain to get used to just picking up new kanji. Wanikani is slow to start, but I think it makes the process of learning how to really feel kanji much smoother in the long run and didn't feel like much effort, but it should be done alongside methods like yours I think.
If I had to go back, I would have at least written the kanji one time each just so I'd see and remember some of the joyo kanji at least once, doing like 20-50 a day, and not trying to actively remember them, and then done my SRS as normal. I think that has a bigger impact than it feels like for priming your brain to just "absorb" them easier when you start seeing them as you immerse and review.
Proof that you can eventually start just recognizing and remembering new kanji, after learning how to break kanji down and use mnemonics! 🎉 Thanks for your story! I'm glad to hear WaniKani helped you fill those gaps you needed filled. 😊
@@ToKiniAndy Indeed! I'm nearing its last few levels now, just a little bit over a year of starting serious study, and things have really reached that fun point in terms of immersion and where given time to think I can usually figure out how to communicate stuff enough, even if not perfectly.
It's important to just keep going and trust your subconscious to work everything out I've found, and to start in small doses. Trying too hard to remember just burns you out, and the brain just does things eventually and suddenly it's "magically" easier. Have to trust the process and just enjoy the constant verification while you have fun with Japanese material. Eventually you do just pick up the patterns subconsciously if you're indulging in Japanese content consistently.
I like learning kanji in order of radicals/ complexity, since it gives a natural progression of complexity. I don’t want to take the JLPT, so the levels are at most a difficulty rating for me.
Regarding the problem where I can’t start reading yet because I don’t know some common words due to the kanji being more complex: If you use a site like Satori Reader, that eliminates the problem because you can display Furigana according to your kanji knowledge.
I can confirm after watching several game shows on kanji, learning it by taking it apart is the equivalent of learning latin roots or word origins (spelling bee style) to both spell the word and define the word. Like understanding kanji beyond the common words is the equivalent of just being a linguist. I think some thing like gasoline or octopus doesn't use the kanji symbol in everyday use, but it does exist and most people dont know it
“After watching a few game shows” is… not the most convincing opening. 😅
interesting approach.
i came back to learning japanese about a month ago, and was on a level where I had to start over completely.
I picked an anki core2k deck with audio and example sentences for learning kanji and it worked great. Actually still works fine.
But I just lowered my "new" daily cards, because for some kanji I have some problems differentiating them.
I planned to the spare time to get some reading practice with manga, but maybe I'll try your course instead for at least N5. Maybe it helps me to recognize kanji and differentiate similar ones better.
I think learning to recognize kanji for vocabulary is great, and it will work. But learning to break kanji up in this way even for just a couple hundred is a super powerful skill I think. 😊
Even if you don't try the course, approaching your new kanji in that way might help.
But if you do try, I hope that it helps!
I actually ended up buying it 😅
So far I like the deck, although I'll start it at bit of an higher pace (30 new cards a day), since I know a lot of those Kanji already. But I still think it is exactly what I need, right now. I also think it is a useful skill to learn how to break up kanji. Not only for the dictionary, but also for better recognition.
But I couldn't find a ressource I liked. I tried Wanikani, but somehow it didn't click.
I was thinking of buying the RTK Book, but was a bit hesitant. But then this video came exactly at the right time 😂
I think I can keep this pace up for at least the first half of the deck, probably even until the end. I already found a few kanji I have problems with at the end of the deck (for example 南, 西, 北, 東... for some reasons I mix these up all the time. I recognize them as one of the directions, but I either mess up the direction or the reading 🙃)
I've put my Core2k to maintenance with zero new cards until I am finished with your deck. Probably I'll even look up the stroke order for those I have difficulties with in that deck.
I'll probably even go through the other material, like the genki lessons to increase my input.
I know it's not really the subject of the video but how do you get those tabs showing different sections on Anki? Is that a bit of JavaScript you've built or is there some plugin or something for Anki? Just started using it for Spanish and it caught my eye watching your video
I am currently about ~500 Kanji in.
I find the best way is through SSRS via anki.
I do the Moe Way Tango series for N5 and N4 and it seems to be doing wonders.
This was about 2 months of consistent study. Best of luck everyone.
Your approach to learning Japanese sounds pretty similar to how we were taught in high school🙂
this sounds great and makes a lot of sense. Will start with your new lessons. Question: is there a prerequisite needed? eg some level of spoken Japanese/vocabulary? I can read Hiragana/Katakana and some words but not much
For the first few weeks it will be just learning meanings and writings, so there are 0 prerequisites! I hope that you find it helpful! 😊
What are those clips interspersed of kanji being painted? It's so satisfying to watch.
Those are my wife's calligraphy. We'll be putting a video out of JUST that in the near future. 😊
i usually learn the radicals first, then try to make up a memorizing sentence for each kanji using the meaning of its radicals
The sentences are exactly what I need, I think. I was doing WaniKani but learning the readings without any context is really hard, I hardly remembered anything at all.
So... I might subscribe to your website and use your Anki deck instead! Do you know how long it will be before Level 2?
If you do, I hope it helps solve that problem for you!
We're working on the Level 2 deck right now! We've got all the kanji chosen, and we're working on getting the words and sentences ready. Hopefully it will be out by the end of the year. =)
Wonder if you'll mention kanken training ds since you mentioned that on your vid titled "How I Would Learn Japanese (If I Could Start Over)"
I wish I could, but there are so few copies available out there of the one I like that I wasn’t able to.
Was thinking about trying to buy the rights to the game and making my own app, but I wasn’t sure where to start… haha
I should add that, after using it myself for a while I ended up switching to what I talk about in this video. 😊
hey Andy,
i also started to learn it with james w. heisig but at the half of the book (part 1. The kanji meanings and how to write it) i took a look into the second one and enquontered the same problem you said^^ thats why i went back to genki trying to find my own way of kanji learning..and encountered a "problem". Recording to genki's kanji list a lots of the kanji readings are the combination of the readings for example 天気 = ten + ki, but what about words like 今日 for example the readings of 今 kon, ima or 日 Ni, Nichi, bi, hi and so forth, does not including this reading (kyou) and i wanted to do a research about this and couldnt find something, yes i read about on yomi kun yomi radicals, ideograms etc. but what is this? how to google it, should i just learn that in combination some kanjis have different readings beside from their normal reading, pls help? :s beside - thank you for your effort doing all this videos, i listened to your genki tasks videos and they helped a lot :*
Those are those "special" readings I mentioned at the end of the reading (or in the clip with the flying car). Some words only use kanji for their MEANINGS, and not for the readings. In those cases, the word may have absolutely nothing to do with the kanji.
There aren't LOTS of those words, but there are a few that are very very common (like 今日 昨日 etc). For those, you just have to learn the words. In fact, for ALL kanji, it's best to just learn words and not worry about the "readings". 😊
@@ToKiniAndy thank you :)
Omggg How many hours did you spend editing this video? It looks so good!
While the video for a moment dissuades the way Genki teaches kanji, and I would mostly agree if one were to only use the textbook (and workbook); I will say that the way Genki teaches Kanji is massively improved if one uses the mobile app that accompanies the book's Kanji writings. For 6 dollar or so, this app helps you memorise the most common readings by teaching you common vocabulary words. Personally I put all the assignments of the app into Anki so that I can learn them as part of a SRS - which I find to work better.
What is especially great about the readings you're taught through this app, is that you're kind of "primed" for vocabulary words that will appear in the next few chapters. Having already seen and practiced them, it'll be much easier to memorise them as part of the chapter's vocabulary list; especially since you'll be using the word a lot then.
Supplementary, when the app asks "Do you know the missing kanji?", I always make an effort to write the kanji on my hand or preferably on paper. I added the stroke order to my Anki flashcards too to check if I wrote them correctly.
This way, I find that by the end of the chapter, the kanji are utterly hewed into stone. I easily memorise and can easily recognise them even in words I don't know yet, and often find myself already capable of reading them or guessing the meaning. That's the method that works for me.
tl;dr: I think Genki's teaching method is great IF you use the app; without the app (just using the back of the textbook) it falls apart. But I think Genki falls apart anyway unless you embrace the complete teaching method of the book. Textbook, workbook, and apps all in unison. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
I started wanikani two weeks ago. I think I just hit that point you described in your video where I became overwhelmed by the task at hand once I saw the different types of readings, how there can be multiple types of the same readings, etc. Readings? Vocabs? Meanings? Kanji names? All so confusing. Kanji and pitch accents are definitely the "we'll kill your Japanese learning desire" duo. On wanikani, I'm always getting the error: "oops, we want the vocab reading, not the kanji reading!" I just keep getting them mixed.
I think I need as much curated content as I can get, so I'll definitely check out your website. Doing both your course and wanikani probably wont work well together, though, as the mnemonics won't mesh I'd assume. I just need to get to that step you mentioned in your other video where I get juuuuust enough of a foundation where I can start learning more by consuming content I enjoy. It feels far off 😢
It can be tantalizing to jump around resources to find the "perfect" method, but speaking also as a beginner (just past the 4 month mark), any method is going to feel like pulling teeth haha. I also had that confusion with all the multiple readings starting WaniKani, but I just got used to it and am on level 16 now and am on a steady pace through each level. This is not to dissuade joining TokiniAndy's kanji program at all, just something to think about. I spent the first 3 weeks of learning wasting time comparing all these methods to find the "perfect" way. And frankly, at this beginner stage, anything works lol. Find the one you like and STICK WITH IT. The consistency will outweigh any deficit from either program in my opinion. TokiniAndy's comprehensive approach to the Kanken lvl 10+N5 kanji sounds like a great foundation still. I'm more of a fan of TokiniAndy's Genki series and grammar lessons, I can't thank the guy enough for all these free lectures.
I wish I were in my 20s again so I could have time to learn this. It seems daunting now. Take advantage of the time in your life when you have time.
25:26 I started to be suspicious about the fact that I should write ✍️ down hiragana and katakana in order to learn both of them. I didn't knew why write hiragana and katakana on a traditional paper was helping me. Well thanks 🙏!! Now I know why. It's like a magic. Before I was stuck 2 years trying to learn hiragana and katakana, over and over with my smartphone and never, never keep on my head.
You’re doing god’s work here. Thank you very much
I’ve tried to learn japanese several times over the years and so far only wanikani has ever clicked for me.
so Andy is doing things the same way I've naturally started doing after doing so many kanji from Heisig lol.
Do a little of Heisig while reading stuff on the side: manga if you're starting out, novels if you need those elusive kanji to show up. Easy Peazy
Aware this is an old video but I just wanted to say that "はははは" got an instant subscribe from me. Well done.
庭には二羽鶏がいった this sentence single-handedly proves why we need kanji i think lol
and also i love reading kanji so i wouldnt want it to disappear.
And how about 酢桃も桃も桃の内 笑
We did that one on the stream after this video came out. One of my favorites.
I go to SJSU and am about to do a study abroad next semester. Its almost like you knew.
ありがとう
The main thing I think WaniKani provides is automatic answer checking and automated SRS. I have used Anki decks for other things in the past but found it frustrating to say the answer in my head rather than being able to type it.
In the same way, I think grading yourself on how well you did is a process that I fuss over which is time that could be spent punching more answers in the keyboard.
I’m currently learning the alphabet first and I already know all 46 characters of the Gojūon table.
It’s more my goal to learn that before I go to Kanji. This approach can probably help expedite that.
How do you enter the specific kanji in JLPT N5 into Anki? Does such a deck already exist ?
Love it! Kanji ABSOLUTELY necessary if you want to succeed in Japanese