Hello, everyone! I’m excited to announce that I’ve opened up more slots for my exclusive private Japanese lessons. Whether you’re aiming to master daily conversation, ace the JLPT, or deepen your understanding of Japanese culture, my personalized lessons are tailored to get you there faster. Each 40-minute session is just ¥5,000 ($34.31, €31.6, £26.2 at time of post), designed to maximize your learning in a focused, engaging way. And to kick things off, I’m offering a FREE 40-minute consultation where we can discuss your goals, assess your current level, and see how my lessons can be your game-changer in Japanese! Spaces are filling up quickly, so don’t miss out on this chance to take your Japanese to the next level. Click the link below to schedule your free consultation and start your journey to fluency today! Sign up for your free consultation here: calendly.com/john-in-japan/japanese-lesson-consultation. Let’s achieve your Japanese goals together!
@ I don’t really do a course. I do private lessons based on each individual student’s needs. So, yes, I can certainly teach the meanings of the kanji. If you wanna know more, go ahead and sign up for a free consultation. There’s no commitment necessary.
Hey John, I just wanted to say thank you for your efforts and sharing your insights! I also wanted to thank you for sharing the website. It is for real a gold mine. The stories of other users truly help me advance much faster. I am quite unimaginative (if that's a word) and it is difficult to make up stuff. Therefore I am really thankful!
Thank you! I usually don't really comment on videos, but I must say that judging from what I've watched from you so far, it seems you put a lot of thought before making your videos. Keep up the good work!
Love your method of creating a little story to learn kanji. Fits with what we know about teaching with use of a story. People remember stories!! Great video that I will now share on Twitter.
Truly, I’ve watched 2 of your videos and they’re not only very encouraging, but they’re really helpful, inspiring and I really believe after this that I can learn Japanese! Thank you so much!
Hi from Taiwan. Have been studied Japanese through on line tutor for 2 years and am taking N1 this year. I found this video helpful even I’ve been using traditional Chinese all my life.
I discovered you through Instagram, and i love this video! First of all, i thought "yeah the first 1000 are rather doable in 2 weeks", but then you disclosed that it was actually the second 1000 characters you learned in that amount of time which I really appreciate. I currently know the first 1000 rather well through immersion, and some flashcard study, but I got stuck studying the second 1000. This video gives me hope. Second of all, thank you for not calling components radicals 🙏 the linguistics major in me always cries a bit when Japanese study UA-camrs call all components radicals, when that completely misses the mark. Greatly enjoyed the video and I'll try to employ the techniques you discussed!
I'm thankful for all comments, but once in a while I get one that I think is phenomenal. Yours is definitely on the list! You've clearly got what it takes not only to knock out the second 1000, but to do a whole lot more with Japanese. Glad to have you onboard!
I think there is a difference between "studying" and "acquiring". It's possible to study 1000 kanji in 2 weeks, but it will take a bit longer to truly acquire them through use in real material. Without review we forget about 80% of the stuff we learned just the day before, so a good review schedule is vital to actually remembering everything. I would say adding an extra hour of immersion through reading will be extra useful for cementing the learned Kanji into long term memory through acquisition.
Excellent point. Yeah, it took me much, much longer to actually learn their readings and cement them in my memory. Thanks for your feedback! How far along are you wth kanji?
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I've studied all the common use kanji and come across some rarer ones here and there. My current reading level is maybe like an 8th-9th grade Japanese student. These days grammar is what trips me up more than kanji.
@@coolbrotherf127That’s quite an impressive reading level! Are there certain specific grammar structures that are difficult for you to understand, or is grammar just a weak point for you in general?
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I've never really officially studied much grammar out of a textbook or had lessons. I've mostly just learned grammar just here and there from UA-cam videos like yours and what I've picked up intuitively from lots of practice.
@@coolbrotherf127 You've picked it up the fun way! 😉 Have you ever considered a more systematic approach? At your level, you're probably well aware of what's out there, but I could recommend a book or two if you're interested.
I just bought the book, since you mentioned it in a previous video. Im really looking forward to start studing it, though I’m postponing it until after im done with my exams
When I first heard about RTK somewhere on the internet, I didn't understand how it worked, but I found the link to the kanji koohii website, and I just reviewed the flashcards which focus on the character and meaning. I didn't use the story method, instead I look at an unknown kanji and identify the radicals using the RTK keywords. I used to review 500 kanji at a time, then read native material for retention as well as learning the readings. No matter how long it takes to learn kanji, it's mind-blowing to finally understand Japanese along with other Chinese-based writing from different countries. I'm glad koohii is a free resource. The only downside to my misunderstanding is that didn't learn the writing/stroke order until later. I wish I used RTK the right way, but I still reached my written Japanese literacy goal
Absolutely, it's surprisingly underrated for a free resource! I gave a donation to the site owner anyway, it's the least I could do for helping me reach a major language learning milestone
I spend an over 3 hours of my day scrolling or watching a show so I can definitely make time to learn Kanji! Thank you for the motivation and tips ❤ ありがとうございます
2:00 oh yeah I did this speed method with Shashingo. I first used this method for my multivariable and differential equation calculus class. Yes they crammed two unrelated forms of calculus together
After learning the kanji with RTK, and while you were learning readings/meanings with Manga, were you aware of which readings were Kanji readings and which were vocab readings (to use Wanikani's terms), or did you just learn the various readings based on context without worrying about which reading was which?
The hiragana or katakana characters written over an individual kanji character can basically always be considered a "reading" of that kanji. However, unless you're reading a manga that's specifically written to teach kanji readings independently of a literary context, all kanji are used in manga as parts of actual words, and in some cases a single kanji character represents a single word. If you have a word like 勉強 (べんきょう), the reading of the first character is べん and the second is きょう, but the combination べんきょう is a vocabulary item that means "study." 畑 (はたけ) is a single-kanji word example that has the reading はたけ, but you could just as well say that はたけ is the Japanese word for "field." Does that make sense? Let me know if you need any further clarification.
My way of learning Kanji is just reading manga and then noting down every Kanji I come across that I didn't know. At first it was pretty slow since I had to stop and mark down so many but eventually once you get past a certain amount the new ones feel like they're just remixes of ones you already know cuz of the radicals/components. I might give RTK a shot at some point to see how it compares
I have a queston about the kanji: maybe you can easyly lern the seperate kanji in 2month but there are so many kombinations and they are mostly unlogical and it took 7years for me to learn so how could i have learn them quicker?
Might get one like that up at some point. In brief, I followed two rules when encountering new words. 1. Look up words that I still don’t understand in spite of multiple encounters. 2. Look up words that are necessary to understand sentences that seem pivotal to the text’s overall meaning. Other than that, I just picked up words and readings through repeated exposure.
Hey man! You’ve got awesome videos for which I’m really grateful for. I learned some Japanese a few years ago and forgot some stuff. Now I want to pick it up again. I’ve spent *a lot* of time figuring out “what the most effective way is to learn Japanese”, I was having a hard time choosing between wani kani, rtk and kodansha. Although I own both books and even the wani kani lifetime subscription, I’m still uncertain what to follow. Right now I’m just following wani kani but compared to you, I spent a lot more than just two minutes with a simple kanji even. I’d love to hear your opinion on what to choose from and what you specifically think of wani kani.
It sounds like you have a lot of great resources at your fingertips! I think WaniKani is great for people who want to learn vocabulary and kanji readings simultaneously to kanji meanings. For me personally, knocking the meanings out first helped me keep things simple and systematic, and it gave a great boost to my confidence as a language learner. Ultimately, I think you need to figure out what best suits your learning style and goals. It's okay to experiment! Does that help at all?
I dabbled in Remembering the Kanji 2 which covers the readings of the common-use characters, but reading immersion was definitely where I picked up most of the readings I know. Manga is great for this because it almost always includes furigana (kanji readings written in hiragana and katakana). If manga isn't your cup of tea, novels and stories written for elementary and middle school students are good as well, but they present a couple issues. 1. Stories written for elementary school students usually contain less kanji in general. Authors often opt to write certain words in hiragana rather than writing them in kanji and providing furigana. 2. Stories written for middle school students often DON'T include furigana for characters taught in elementary school. This is why I think manga is one of the best options for learning readings. WaniKani is a good program for learning the readings systematically, so if you stick to it, you might end up with a more "perfect" knowledge of the common-use character readings than someone who learned through immersion. (You could always do both, of course.)
Hi John, thanks for your videos! I moved to Tokyo 2 months ago in order to full-time study japanese (1 year working holiday visa and savings). Considering I start from N4 level now, do you think I can manage to get N2 in December? Also, one of the most difficult things I find about learning kanji is the readings and vocabulary. I haven't try yet this book/method, but I definitely will. Aside from learning the writing, how do you study the vocabulary? At the same time? Or prioritizing only the writing? Keep it up! Your videos are great and really helpful!
I would estimate going from N4 to N2 to take about 1,000-1,400 hours of active study (including active immersion). If you accept this estimate, assuming that the test is on the 1st of December, that's 5-7 hours of study per day, including weekends. If you're particularly talented, you could probably get by with a bit less, but either way it's gonna be quite the grind. You have the privilege of being able to study full time, though, so it's definitely doable. I learned the kanji readings from immersion using mostly manga, but Remembering the Kanji 2 (also James Heisig) is another decent option. You could try WaniKani, but it doesn't really let you go at your own pace, and might actually inhibit you from learning the kanji you need for N2 by December. I think you'll find that even if you don't know readings, having a knowledge of the meanings will help you out a lot on the JLPT. Thanks for your positive and encouraging feedback! Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL thank you so much for your detailed answer!! I'm enrolled in an intensive course in a Japanese Language School, taking 4h of class every week-day. Then in the afternoon I usually study a couple of hours the content of the class. But the method of your video feels as challenging as effective, so I'm definitely adding it to my routine! Me and my wife both share this life-changing project and did save money as maniacs while getting the basics of japanese, so we are lucky to have time to study hard. Besides, considering we are from Spain, pronunciation is decently natural for us, so we hope we get ready to work here before our 1 year visa ends. Thanks again for your help, look forward for more videos!! 頑張りましょう！(ﾉ*0*)ﾉ
hi bro im from india . i am student of japanese language delhi university. i devote around 2 hr a day and learn almost 20 kanji . but due to less attention / focus period i am not able to do it daily. thats why i forget the kanjis after 2-3 days. please help
I find the definition of "learning" quite interesting here. For me "learning" means that you can actually use and remember them over a period of time. Of course I can punch in a Kanji (or any other character really) in two minutes and probably remember it in the short-term memory for the next 20 minutes, but if you "learn" 50 Kanji a day that way there's no way you can remember them the next day. I am saying this not as someone who has learned Japanese (yet!) but as someone who studied Chinese for a while, which is where all the Kanji come from.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL Yes, I did :). I know you talk about the spaced repetition, but for me learning something within 2 minutes and then repeat it even a day later is very difficult to do when you learn so much at once. It might work with like 5-10 Kanji a day (given that you repeat them a lot as you learn them right away), but 2k in two weeks seems like crazy information overload for me :). I will also watch your new Genki series, am very curious about it. I have been thinking about learning Japanese for a while now and am currently taking in all the options that seem viable for me.
@@MrReese I think it’s probably true that it’s too much to learn 1000 kanji in a week for most people, but you’d be surprised how engrained in your memory the kanji become through the process of making stories. Nonetheless, if you ever try RTK, it’s best to not worry so much about time and just enjoy the process. Thanks for taking the time to watch through the whole video, and let me know what you think of the Genki series!
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL This might be a bit different from your normal person who wants to learn Japanese, but do you think it would be better/easier for me to learn Kanji first as I am coming from Chinese (as a foreign language)?
@@MrReese In general, I strongly advocate learning the meanings of kanji as early as possible. If you're genuinely interested in learning the kanji and don't think you'd burnout, I think it's a good place to start. Just for reference, how many Chinese characters have you learned so far? Also, did you study the traditional or simplified characters?
獺！覚えたでぇー。発破をかけてもらえた！Thanks for that. I should emulate your dedication to Japanese study. 頑張るでぇー。 そうそう、 I’m so glad that you mentioned the stroke order of kanji.😊 BTW, I have used “下村式 漢字練習ノート”to teach Kanji to foreign kids. I thought some might find it useful.
You're a teacher?! Everything makes sense now! I was wondering why you were so good with language. I checked out "下村式 漢字練習ノート." The picture mnemonics are great, and learning the readings in the context of sentences looks effective. BTW, can I ask why you're glad that I mentioned stroke order? Is that often neglected in your experience?
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL >is that often neglected? I believe so. I know I should not over-generalize, but through my experience with children, I have started thinking that writing kanji in the correct stroke order could aid in better memory retention. AND…って永遠に話してしまいそうなので、やめときまーす😅オタクっぷりがバレてしまう。えっ？もうバレてる？
Immersion, immersion, immersion. Not only is it fun, I sincerely think it’s the most efficient method, all things considered. Manga is good for learning kanji readings because it usually includes furigana.
Hey John! I'm currently an incoming Senior and I'll be taking AP Japanese this upcoming year but I'm really behind compared to my classmate. I do however want to do well on the AP exam and just generally become fluent in Japanese. I'm planning on working on the genki books for about 90 minutes a day along with 2.5 hours of learning the component parts of kanji adn then an hour for review. I also do realize that i'll be studying for about 5 hours a day so hopefully i dont burn out 😅. Would you suggest breaking up the 2.5 hours + 1 hour review into two 1.25 hour + 30 minute sessions or keep it one continous session. Oh I was also planning on also implementing the pomodoro technique of studying for 25 minutes and then taking a 5 minute break. Thanks in advance
I personally liked focusing on learning new kanji first and then reviewing. However, if I was behind on reviews, I would start with them, and would sometimes devote all my time for that day to reviews if necessary. Good luck!
Hey, so I saw that James Heisig has published RTK 1, RTK 2 and RTK 3. Have you tried all three of these books or do you only have RTK 1 ? Thanks again for your videos, they are very helpful :)
Thanks for the question! I worked through the first one - which only covers meanings and writings - entirely and dabbled in the second. The second covers the kanji readings in a systematic way, which can be very helpful for some learners, but I ended up preferring immersion. The third book covers an additional thousand kanji, but in my opinion, it’s unnecessary because you’ll hardly ever encounter them, and when you do you can just look them up. Hope that helps!
This is my experience while learning kanji. I use to read 10 each kanji every day and to practice my each 10 kanji i used ANKi flashcard so That was cool experience and thanks to this dude. Your most viwed video help me lot and motivated me, looking for more content ( ultimate suggestion how can i learn japanese) thanks ♨️♨️
Thanks for sharing your experience! It sounds like you had an effective system in place. And thanks for watching my other stuff as well. Stay tuned for more!
Serious question tho, I see there’s three RTK books, did u do all three. Or are the 2000 common use covered in the first book? Did u do a chapter a day or how is the book organized ? Is there a RTK set of cards on wanni kanni?
Excellent questions. The RTK books are as follows. 1. The 2,136 Common use kanji meanings and writings. 2. The common use kanji readings. 3. An extra set of about 1000 kanji needed for specialized reading. I completed the first one, dabbled in the second, and never got around to the third. The second one isn't necessary if you're doing lots of reading, but some people might respond well to its more systematic approach. The third one isn't necessary, in my opinion, because you can just pick up specialized kanji in their natural context over time. Wani Kani is very similar to RTK, but it's not directly associated. It uses different radical names in many cases, and might even use a slightly different order. You can try the first 3 lessons for free at www.wanikani.com if you want to see exactly how it works.
@@DewplexDew RTK2 has the readings (sounds) of the kanji. The introduction is great IMHO and has some speedy tricks (Heisig published that intro in PDF form on the internet but it seems to have disappeared). Regardless, I found that memorizing words was better for me.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I can't remember any of them. But the easy groupings in the first few chapters were easy to memorize so I thought they were worthwhile. One correction. I found the RTK2 intro and that is not especially helpful; it is the first few chapters that were powerful IMHO. Once again, I will advocate for learning readings alongside vocabulary as a natural process.
Hi John! Thanks to your video and the RTK method, I am doing very well. I do have a question though. How should I best go about memorizing the actual Japanese for the kanji(such as the Onyomi and Kunyomi)? Thank you for your help!
I also have about 4 hours to devote to kanji. I am currently in Japan at a language school. I arrived this past April(just in case you needed some context :)
For me, it was all about immersion. I read manga like crazy and picked up most of the readings I know now there. If you want a more systematic approach, RTK2 is a decent option as well.
Back when I was made, they ran out of memory, so I received bad dad humor instead…. I really struggle with memory and I thing you, John, have a brilliant memory, which is key to this. What about me, who doesn’t remember what I walked the 10 feet to my co-worker to discuss?
I'm surprised your maker had bad dad humor on hand, as it seems to be in excess down here! lol Memory ability certainly differs from person to person, but the key to this process is the level of vividness you invest into your story images. I won't claim that doing so will solve all your problems, but it'll certainly help! See if you can make a story or two while incorporating your bad dad humor. And let me know how it goes!
Hi John, i have a question, the Heisig book has 2200 kanji while officially there are less than that. And you said that you learnt the first 1000 and then another 1000 ( i.e. 2000) , i am unsure how many i should learn now tbh and wanted to ask if i should still learn the full book or not ?
The Heisig book contains what are called the "common use kanji," so if you're serious about becoming a fluent reader, you're gonna need to learn them at some point or another. If you're struggling with the book, let me know and I'll see how I can help you.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I understand, so right now I am at the low levels of N3, but i started the heisig book method thanks to you and now im like 514 kanji in, it does really help with the vocab studies with anki, since just by looking at the words i kinda understand the general meaning without reading them at all. i assume to get more understanding, it just helps doing all the book.
@@vicious9734 It sounds like you're making great progress! Yeah, finishing RTK will definitely increase your overall comprehension ability. Keep up the good work!
I'm using Anki now to learn Korean and Chinese. I think it's a great tool if one uses it correctly. For the kanji, though, I still prefer kanji.koohii.com. It's really easy to add new kanji, and you get the added benefit of being able to see other people's stories. Have you used Anki before?
Excuse me sir, I want to ask. 1 kanji can have many pronunciations ranging from kunyomi and onyomi, do they have to be memorized? and can so many kunyomi & unyomi be memorized in just 2 minutes, for beginners? I also want to ask, if it was said earlier that we only learn the meaning and writing of kanji, not the readings. Then, when should we learn to read? If we use the method of not learning to read kanji, isn't it the same as later we also have to learn to readings the kanji? Do we have to learn the meaning and writing of kanji first, then we can read kanji? By The Way, sorry if the writing of the sentences is a bit unclear, because I use Google Translate😊❤
RTK sounds amazing! However, I must admit that the fact that the readings are not taught is a big negative point for me 😣 I always struggled with kanjis even though I can speak japanese... Also to pass JLPT, knowing how to read the kanjis are a necessity. Or even to just read in general. I am not sure if buying the textbook in my case would be great or not
You definitely need to know the readings in order to sound out words, but even just knowing the meanings is surprisingly helpful when you take the JLPT. Nonetheless, if you're intent on learning the meanings and readings simultaneously, WaniKani might be your best bet.
This is a great video, as I am studying rtk right. I am about half way in, but there is one thing I don’t understand. I do around 15 Kanji per day, but have around 110 reviews per day and that takes me around an hour. I wanted to go much faster but I am afraid that the reviews will take much longer. You mentioned in the video that reviews will take around one hour, how many kanji did you have to review? Oh, and is it possible that I am doing something wrong?
Make sure you’re writing each kanji just once or twice per review. Also, it’s totally okay to take a “review day” where you don’t learn any new kanji and just knock out as many reviews as possible. I think it’s best to prioritize taking care of your reviews over learning new kanji for that day.
Thank you for the tip! I also realised, when I write it down with a pen it is much better , but most of the time I just write the kanji with my finger on my palm or thigh because I am not at home.
@@becky210 I definitely agree that it's better to write with a pen or pencil. You'll realize your mistakes better that way and the kanji seem to stick better in your memory. I admit, though, I often "air-write" myself 😅
I've never taken the kanken so I can't say for sure, but I think you need to know the readings. To pick up the readings, I recommend reading immersion. There are lots of different opinions on this, though, so it might be worth doing a little research.
Making a memorable story is tough; the koohii site has a lot of stories so that helps a bit. Also, some of Heisig's keywords are not great (ambiguous, very similar to other keywords, unrelated to actual use...). Still, a well-thought out and motivating video.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I tried but it was a monster task. I have a huge spreadsheet but I never finished, unfortunately. I know some people use Japanese keywords.
@@dosgos Yeah, using Japanese keywords can be pretty effective as well, especially once you're more advanced. I've also found that you don't have to be too strict about keywords in some cases. You might have noticed that I used "king" instead of "crown" in my story for 鬱. This can be a slippery slope, but it generally works for me.
I think it's best to pick them up in context. Immersion is key. I talk about that a bit in this one: ua-cam.com/video/xU6nWB1g7mw/v-deo.htmlsi=g0Wf_FiGZDndikLt.
Given that I have worked through the entire RTK and made physical flash cards for all of them, and also worked through all of them again on Anki, I can say this video feels… disingenuous? It may just be that your mind works at a higher level than most, but generally, for most people, coming up with a story is not so natural, and you didn’t even write the story down as you were studying, which is probably going to take that extra thirty seconds or longer. Plus, I know from experience that the stories quickly start getting confused in my mind because there are so many of them, with similar moving parts. Even going at a slower pace, I would get them mixed up in my mind quickly-I can’t imagine how much more confusing it would be to do nearly eighty every day for two weeks, and I think for most people, at the end of that time, they aren’t going to have them learned in any meaningful fashion. Now I am sure there were various flaws in my methodology, such as not always writing the kanji physically enough, or not grounding the stories with enough meaningful hooks so that they connected to my real memories, or not using enough outrageousness in the stories to make them really stick out in my memory. But these things also take time, which again makes a method like this explained in this manner seem oversimplified and unrealistic for most people. Again, there are people with astonishing memories. Some people have largely photographic memories. I don’t know, maybe you were able to sort things out in your mind without much difficulty. I don’t think most people will fare so fluidly using this method. I’m still learning, though, and I hope people will remain encouraged to keep trying and learning and attempting good things through this video and other methods available.
I appreciate the respectful tone of your feedback, and I think you’ve made a good point. A combination of nature and nurture results in drastically different levels of talent from learner to learner. I tried to make this clear in the latter half of this video, but perhaps I made the section too short and not impactful enough. I’m aware that because each learner is different, there is no universal “best method” for learning the kanji, but speaking from personal experience, I highly discourage writing down stories and making flash cards by hand. Regarding stories, an impactful image is key to memorizing the kanji, and it’s better to invest energy in generating that image rather than making things overly verbal by writing everything down. Regarding making flash cards by hand, doing so makes effective spaced repetition nigh impossible. It’s much easier and more effective to use an app like the one on kanji.koohii.com. All that said, the fact that you made it through the book shows that your method was effective enough to accomplish your (quite impressive) goal.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I did notice that you talked about the differences in learner abilities. Of course it is true that learner abilities will vary considerably--I think my biggest issue has been inconsistency in learning over the years, as I have not consistently worked at improving. Another issue is that I have leaned too heavily on flash cards without immersion, which hurt my progression a lot. Are you saying you didn't write down your mnemonics at all? You just remember all the stories that you make, and each time you revisit the kanji to review, the story you made is ready in your mind to help you remember the meaning of the character? I may be misunderstanding you. When I made the flashcards, let's see... that must have been back in 2008 or so? I think the spaced repetition software had not become quite so popular yet. The stacks of cards looked cool, but yeah, it made review very difficult.
@@nickdriscoll6131 You seem very mindful and insightful about your own learning journey. "Another issue is that I have leaned too heavily on flash cards without immersion, which hurt my progression a lot. " I think you're spot on with this. One reason I was able to learn the kanji so quickly is because I was reading large amounts every day. Living in Japan certainly helped with this, of course, as I couldn't help but try to identify the kanji in just about every sign I encountered around town. That's right. I didn't write down my mnemonics at all. I focused entirely on finding the perfect image to capture both the meaning and component parts of each character. Then, I'd write the character once or twice and move on. Having the spaced repetition software from kanji.koohii.com at hand was extremely helpful. Yeah, I'd forget a story from time to time, but if you can make a story once you can make it again.
I don't, so it was lots of work for me. Fortunately, with Heisig's method, photographic memory isn't necessary. You just need to be able to memorize stories and associate them with relatively simple component parts. If you can do that, focused effort will get you through the meanings of the kanji faster than you'd think.
but don't you need to know the pronunciation and meaning of the kanji? In a typical conversation (text messages) I'm not going to need to know Japanese stroke order or components lol
I never said you didn't need to learn the pronunciation! I've already talked about how I did that in this one: ua-cam.com/video/xU6nWB1g7mw/v-deo.htmlsi=htTo_zSDVZC3PD6b.
Unfortunately there aren't many kanji with such a direct meaning. For example, construction means delaying writing. Also, it looks like you have a visual memory type. I have a logical type of memory and am used to remembering things that can be explained logically. So I can easily remember the kanji from your video, but I waste a lot of time and cannot understand the logic of so many kanji.
I know what you mean about the kanji not having "such a direct meaning." I still think it's okay to start with a keyword, though, and let your understanding deepen and broaden over time.
![3 Steps to [Think in Japanese] ! No more Translating in your head!❌](/img/n.gif)
Hello, everyone! I’m excited to announce that I’ve opened up more slots for my exclusive private Japanese lessons. Whether you’re aiming to master daily conversation, ace the JLPT, or deepen your understanding of Japanese culture, my personalized lessons are tailored to get you there faster.
Each 40-minute session is just ¥5,000 ($34.31, €31.6, £26.2 at time of post), designed to maximize your learning in a focused, engaging way. And to kick things off, I’m offering a FREE 40-minute consultation where we can discuss your goals, assess your current level, and see how my lessons can be your game-changer in Japanese!
Spaces are filling up quickly, so don’t miss out on this chance to take your Japanese to the next level. Click the link below to schedule your free consultation and start your journey to fluency today!
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hi, just saw how you put meanings in each kanji,,,,, just a question, in your course, wiil you teach how you did each kanji?
@ I don’t really do a course. I do private lessons based on each individual student’s needs. So, yes, I can certainly teach the meanings of the kanji. If you wanna know more, go ahead and sign up for a free consultation. There’s no commitment necessary.
Your technique is genius, thank you so much ❤
This dude is amazing. Dude don't stop uploading. You're an inspiration for kanji learning peeps out there.
It’s people like you that make it worth it! I’ll keep ‘em coming.
ジョンちゃん、素晴らしい👍
応援してまーす❤❤
@@柴犬モモ-l6d 心強いです！見てくれてありがとうございます！
Hey John, I just wanted to say thank you for your efforts and sharing your insights! I also wanted to thank you for sharing the website. It is for real a gold mine. The stories of other users truly help me advance much faster. I am quite unimaginative (if that's a word) and it is difficult to make up stuff. Therefore I am really thankful!
Really glad to get your feedback! Keep up the hard work!
Thank you! I usually don't really comment on videos, but I must say that judging from what I've watched from you so far, it seems you put a lot of thought before making your videos. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the incredibly motivating comment! I'm glad you broke your rule.
Love your method of creating a little story to learn kanji. Fits with what we know about teaching with use of a story. People remember stories!! Great video that I will now share on Twitter.
The method is from the book I introduced in the video. Thanks for sharing it!
Truly, I’ve watched 2 of your videos and they’re not only very encouraging, but they’re really helpful, inspiring and I really believe after this that I can learn Japanese! Thank you so much!
I'm incredibly glad to hear it! You can definitely learn the language if you put your mind to it. Best of luck!
Your videos are really helpful! Thank you for uploading these videos and sharing your knowledge with us 🫡
My pleasure! Thanks for watching and commenting.
Hi from Taiwan. Have been studied Japanese through on line tutor for 2 years and am taking N1 this year. I found this video helpful even I’ve been using traditional Chinese all my life.
Wow, that's quite the compliment! Thanks for watching and commenting.
You. Sir, are amazing !!! I’ve been living in Japan for 4 years, 本当に頑張ってる！！ありがとうございます！！
Just your friendly, everyday nerd.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
あっという間の2000人越え！すごいねー。Congrats!🎉
本当にありがたいです。引き続き頑張ります！サポートありがとうございます！
I discovered you through Instagram, and i love this video! First of all, i thought "yeah the first 1000 are rather doable in 2 weeks", but then you disclosed that it was actually the second 1000 characters you learned in that amount of time which I really appreciate. I currently know the first 1000 rather well through immersion, and some flashcard study, but I got stuck studying the second 1000. This video gives me hope.
Second of all, thank you for not calling components radicals 🙏 the linguistics major in me always cries a bit when Japanese study UA-camrs call all components radicals, when that completely misses the mark.
Greatly enjoyed the video and I'll try to employ the techniques you discussed!
I'm thankful for all comments, but once in a while I get one that I think is phenomenal. Yours is definitely on the list! You've clearly got what it takes not only to knock out the second 1000, but to do a whole lot more with Japanese. Glad to have you onboard!
I think there is a difference between "studying" and "acquiring". It's possible to study 1000 kanji in 2 weeks, but it will take a bit longer to truly acquire them through use in real material. Without review we forget about 80% of the stuff we learned just the day before, so a good review schedule is vital to actually remembering everything. I would say adding an extra hour of immersion through reading will be extra useful for cementing the learned Kanji into long term memory through acquisition.
Excellent point. Yeah, it took me much, much longer to actually learn their readings and cement them in my memory. Thanks for your feedback!
How far along are you wth kanji?
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I've studied all the common use kanji and come across some rarer ones here and there. My current reading level is maybe like an 8th-9th grade Japanese student. These days grammar is what trips me up more than kanji.
@@coolbrotherf127That’s quite an impressive reading level! Are there certain specific grammar structures that are difficult for you to understand, or is grammar just a weak point for you in general?
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I've never really officially studied much grammar out of a textbook or had lessons. I've mostly just learned grammar just here and there from UA-cam videos like yours and what I've picked up intuitively from lots of practice.
@@coolbrotherf127 You've picked it up the fun way! 😉
Have you ever considered a more systematic approach? At your level, you're probably well aware of what's out there, but I could recommend a book or two if you're interested.
Well done and very cool how a little story goes along with the words.
Thanks for watching and commenting! Your teen years were the inspiration for the lizard face 🦎
Heheheeee , cool JohnG
I just bought the book, since you mentioned it in a previous video. Im really looking forward to start studing it, though I’m postponing it until after im done with my exams
That's probably a wise choice. I think it's best if you can focus on it.
Are you in university now?
When I first heard about RTK somewhere on the internet, I didn't understand how it worked, but I found the link to the kanji koohii website, and I just reviewed the flashcards which focus on the character and meaning. I didn't use the story method, instead I look at an unknown kanji and identify the radicals using the RTK keywords. I used to review 500 kanji at a time, then read native material for retention as well as learning the readings. No matter how long it takes to learn kanji, it's mind-blowing to finally understand Japanese along with other Chinese-based writing from different countries. I'm glad koohii is a free resource. The only downside to my misunderstanding is that didn't learn the writing/stroke order until later. I wish I used RTK the right way, but I still reached my written Japanese literacy goal
Thanks for sharing a piece of your kanji learning journey! Kanji Koohii is a great tool, isn’t it?
Absolutely, it's surprisingly underrated for a free resource! I gave a donation to the site owner anyway, it's the least I could do for helping me reach a major language learning milestone
I spend an over 3 hours of my day scrolling or watching a show so I can definitely make time to learn Kanji! Thank you for the motivation and tips ❤ ありがとうございます
Sounds like you’ve got plenty of time to learn Japanese! Best of luck.
2:00 oh yeah I did this speed method with Shashingo. I first used this method for my multivariable and differential equation calculus class. Yes they crammed two unrelated forms of calculus together
Nice!
After learning the kanji with RTK, and while you were learning readings/meanings with Manga, were you aware of which readings were Kanji readings and which were vocab readings (to use Wanikani's terms), or did you just learn the various readings based on context without worrying about which reading was which?
The hiragana or katakana characters written over an individual kanji character can basically always be considered a "reading" of that kanji. However, unless you're reading a manga that's specifically written to teach kanji readings independently of a literary context, all kanji are used in manga as parts of actual words, and in some cases a single kanji character represents a single word. If you have a word like 勉強 (べんきょう), the reading of the first character is べん and the second is きょう, but the combination べんきょう is a vocabulary item that means "study." 畑 (はたけ) is a single-kanji word example that has the reading はたけ, but you could just as well say that はたけ is the Japanese word for "field."
Does that make sense? Let me know if you need any further clarification.
John ❤
I'm relieved to see you in good health. I'm looking forward to seeing you.
Fan Club Member T.
T, nice to hear from you! Hopefully I’ll be back soon.
My way of learning Kanji is just reading manga and then noting down every Kanji I come across that I didn't know. At first it was pretty slow since I had to stop and mark down so many but eventually once you get past a certain amount the new ones feel like they're just remixes of ones you already know cuz of the radicals/components. I might give RTK a shot at some point to see how it compares
That sounds like a fun and effective method! Thanks for sharing.
I have a queston about the kanji: maybe you can easyly lern the seperate kanji in 2month but there are so many kombinations and they are mostly unlogical and it took 7years for me to learn so how could i have learn them quicker?
Thank you for the question! By “combinations” do you mean words that are combinations of kanji or kanji that are combinations of other kanji?
This was great, thank you! Possible to get a video on your study approach when learning new characters through manga?
Might get one like that up at some point. In brief, I followed two rules when encountering new words.
1. Look up words that I still don’t understand in spite of multiple encounters.
2. Look up words that are necessary to understand sentences that seem pivotal to the text’s overall meaning.
Other than that, I just picked up words and readings through repeated exposure.
Hey man! You’ve got awesome videos for which I’m really grateful for. I learned some Japanese a few years ago and forgot some stuff. Now I want to pick it up again. I’ve spent *a lot* of time figuring out “what the most effective way is to learn Japanese”, I was having a hard time choosing between wani kani, rtk and kodansha. Although I own both books and even the wani kani lifetime subscription, I’m still uncertain what to follow. Right now I’m just following wani kani but compared to you, I spent a lot more than just two minutes with a simple kanji even. I’d love to hear your opinion on what to choose from and what you specifically think of wani kani.
It sounds like you have a lot of great resources at your fingertips! I think WaniKani is great for people who want to learn vocabulary and kanji readings simultaneously to kanji meanings. For me personally, knocking the meanings out first helped me keep things simple and systematic, and it gave a great boost to my confidence as a language learner. Ultimately, I think you need to figure out what best suits your learning style and goals. It's okay to experiment! Does that help at all?
This is encouraging and helpful, but I wonder how you proceeded to learn the vocabulary and readings. Did you use a similar system? Thanks!
I dabbled in Remembering the Kanji 2 which covers the readings of the common-use characters, but reading immersion was definitely where I picked up most of the readings I know. Manga is great for this because it almost always includes furigana (kanji readings written in hiragana and katakana).
If manga isn't your cup of tea, novels and stories written for elementary and middle school students are good as well, but they present a couple issues.
1. Stories written for elementary school students usually contain less kanji in general. Authors often opt to write certain words in hiragana rather than writing them in kanji and providing furigana.
2. Stories written for middle school students often DON'T include furigana for characters taught in elementary school.
This is why I think manga is one of the best options for learning readings.
WaniKani is a good program for learning the readings systematically, so if you stick to it, you might end up with a more "perfect" knowledge of the common-use character readings than someone who learned through immersion. (You could always do both, of course.)
Hi John, thanks for your videos! I moved to Tokyo 2 months ago in order to full-time study japanese (1 year working holiday visa and savings). Considering I start from N4 level now, do you think I can manage to get N2 in December?
Also, one of the most difficult things I find about learning kanji is the readings and vocabulary. I haven't try yet this book/method, but I definitely will. Aside from learning the writing, how do you study the vocabulary? At the same time? Or prioritizing only the writing?
Keep it up! Your videos are great and really helpful!
I would estimate going from N4 to N2 to take about 1,000-1,400 hours of active study (including active immersion). If you accept this estimate, assuming that the test is on the 1st of December, that's 5-7 hours of study per day, including weekends. If you're particularly talented, you could probably get by with a bit less, but either way it's gonna be quite the grind. You have the privilege of being able to study full time, though, so it's definitely doable.
I learned the kanji readings from immersion using mostly manga, but Remembering the Kanji 2 (also James Heisig) is another decent option. You could try WaniKani, but it doesn't really let you go at your own pace, and might actually inhibit you from learning the kanji you need for N2 by December. I think you'll find that even if you don't know readings, having a knowledge of the meanings will help you out a lot on the JLPT.
Thanks for your positive and encouraging feedback! Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL thank you so much for your detailed answer!! I'm enrolled in an intensive course in a Japanese Language School, taking 4h of class every week-day. Then in the afternoon I usually study a couple of hours the content of the class. But the method of your video feels as challenging as effective, so I'm definitely adding it to my routine!
Me and my wife both share this life-changing project and did save money as maniacs while getting the basics of japanese, so we are lucky to have time to study hard. Besides, considering we are from Spain, pronunciation is decently natural for us, so we hope we get ready to work here before our 1 year visa ends.
Thanks again for your help, look forward for more videos!! 頑張りましょう！(ﾉ*0*)ﾉ
@@molinaa18 It's so cool that you have a teammate to help you through this! I wish you both the best of luck. 頑張りましょう！
hi bro im from india . i am student of japanese language delhi university. i devote around 2 hr a day and learn almost 20 kanji . but due to less attention / focus period i am not able to do it daily. thats why i forget the kanjis after 2-3 days. please help
I find the definition of "learning" quite interesting here. For me "learning" means that you can actually use and remember them over a period of time. Of course I can punch in a Kanji (or any other character really) in two minutes and probably remember it in the short-term memory for the next 20 minutes, but if you "learn" 50 Kanji a day that way there's no way you can remember them the next day. I am saying this not as someone who has learned Japanese (yet!) but as someone who studied Chinese for a while, which is where all the Kanji come from.
Thanks for your feedback. Did you watch the whole video?
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL Yes, I did :). I know you talk about the spaced repetition, but for me learning something within 2 minutes and then repeat it even a day later is very difficult to do when you learn so much at once. It might work with like 5-10 Kanji a day (given that you repeat them a lot as you learn them right away), but 2k in two weeks seems like crazy information overload for me :).
I will also watch your new Genki series, am very curious about it. I have been thinking about learning Japanese for a while now and am currently taking in all the options that seem viable for me.
@@MrReese I think it’s probably true that it’s too much to learn 1000 kanji in a week for most people, but you’d be surprised how engrained in your memory the kanji become through the process of making stories. Nonetheless, if you ever try RTK, it’s best to not worry so much about time and just enjoy the process. Thanks for taking the time to watch through the whole video, and let me know what you think of the Genki series!
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL This might be a bit different from your normal person who wants to learn Japanese, but do you think it would be better/easier for me to learn Kanji first as I am coming from Chinese (as a foreign language)?
@@MrReese In general, I strongly advocate learning the meanings of kanji as early as possible. If you're genuinely interested in learning the kanji and don't think you'd burnout, I think it's a good place to start.
Just for reference, how many Chinese characters have you learned so far? Also, did you study the traditional or simplified characters?
Is the component for utsu sheep or shape?
It’s shape!
獺！覚えたでぇー。発破をかけてもらえた！Thanks for that. I should emulate your dedication to Japanese study. 頑張るでぇー。
そうそう、 I’m so glad that you mentioned the stroke order of kanji.😊
BTW, I have used “下村式 漢字練習ノート”to teach Kanji to foreign kids. I thought some might find it useful.
You're a teacher?! Everything makes sense now! I was wondering why you were so good with language.
I checked out "下村式 漢字練習ノート." The picture mnemonics are great, and learning the readings in the context of sentences looks effective.
BTW, can I ask why you're glad that I mentioned stroke order? Is that often neglected in your experience?
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL >is that often neglected?
I believe so.
I know I should not over-generalize, but through my experience with children, I have started thinking that writing kanji in the correct stroke order could aid in better memory retention. AND…って永遠に話してしまいそうなので、やめときまーす😅オタクっぷりがバレてしまう。えっ？もうバレてる？
@@itsumoookini めっちゃめっちゃバレてます！同類の存在には敏感なんで笑
ANDの次聞ーきーたーいー😡
It's incredible!
But how do you memories onyomi and kunyomi?
Immersion, immersion, immersion. Not only is it fun, I sincerely think it’s the most efficient method, all things considered. Manga is good for learning kanji readings because it usually includes furigana.
Hey John! I'm currently an incoming Senior and I'll be taking AP Japanese this upcoming year but I'm really behind compared to my classmate. I do however want to do well on the AP exam and just generally become fluent in Japanese. I'm planning on working on the genki books for about 90 minutes a day along with 2.5 hours of learning the component parts of kanji adn then an hour for review. I also do realize that i'll be studying for about 5 hours a day so hopefully i dont burn out 😅. Would you suggest breaking up the 2.5 hours + 1 hour review into two 1.25 hour + 30 minute sessions or keep it one continous session. Oh I was also planning on also implementing the pomodoro technique of studying for 25 minutes and then taking a 5 minute break. Thanks in advance
I personally liked focusing on learning new kanji first and then reviewing. However, if I was behind on reviews, I would start with them, and would sometimes devote all my time for that day to reviews if necessary.
Good luck!
Hey, so I saw that James Heisig has published RTK 1, RTK 2 and RTK 3. Have you tried all three of these books or do you only have RTK 1 ? Thanks again for your videos, they are very helpful :)
Thanks for the question! I worked through the first one - which only covers meanings and writings - entirely and dabbled in the second. The second covers the kanji readings in a systematic way, which can be very helpful for some learners, but I ended up preferring immersion. The third book covers an additional thousand kanji, but in my opinion, it’s unnecessary because you’ll hardly ever encounter them, and when you do you can just look them up. Hope that helps!
This is my experience while learning kanji. I use to read 10 each kanji every day and to practice my each 10 kanji i used ANKi flashcard so That was cool experience and thanks to this dude. Your most viwed video help me lot and motivated me, looking for more content ( ultimate suggestion how can i learn japanese) thanks ♨️♨️
Thanks for sharing your experience! It sounds like you had an effective system in place. And thanks for watching my other stuff as well. Stay tuned for more!
Bro this is legit. I remember the story already. King drinking smelly alcohol ( might forgot the rest xoxo), Depressed. Pronounced as Utsu.
You got it! That's all it takes.
Serious question tho, I see there’s three RTK books, did u do all three. Or are the 2000 common use covered in the first book? Did u do a chapter a day or how is the book organized ?
Is there a RTK set of cards on wanni kanni?
Excellent questions. The RTK books are as follows.
1. The 2,136 Common use kanji meanings and writings.
2. The common use kanji readings.
3. An extra set of about 1000 kanji needed for specialized reading.
I completed the first one, dabbled in the second, and never got around to the third. The second one isn't necessary if you're doing lots of reading, but some people might respond well to its more systematic approach. The third one isn't necessary, in my opinion, because you can just pick up specialized kanji in their natural context over time.
Wani Kani is very similar to RTK, but it's not directly associated. It uses different radical names in many cases, and might even use a slightly different order. You can try the first 3 lessons for free at www.wanikani.com if you want to see exactly how it works.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL thank you 🫡🦎
@@DewplexDew RTK2 has the readings (sounds) of the kanji. The introduction is great IMHO and has some speedy tricks (Heisig published that intro in PDF form on the internet but it seems to have disappeared). Regardless, I found that memorizing words was better for me.
@@dosgos Can you recall any of the speedy tricks he uses? It's been like 9 years since I dabbled in RTK2 and I'm having trouble remembering 😅
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I can't remember any of them. But the easy groupings in the first few chapters were easy to memorize so I thought they were worthwhile.
One correction. I found the RTK2 intro and that is not especially helpful; it is the first few chapters that were powerful IMHO.
Once again, I will advocate for learning readings alongside vocabulary as a natural process.
Hi John! Thanks to your video and the RTK method, I am doing very well. I do have a question though. How should I best go about memorizing the actual Japanese for the kanji(such as the Onyomi and Kunyomi)? Thank you for your help!
I also have about 4 hours to devote to kanji. I am currently in Japan at a language school. I arrived this past April(just in case you needed some context :)
For me, it was all about immersion. I read manga like crazy and picked up most of the readings I know now there. If you want a more systematic approach, RTK2 is a decent option as well.
where can i approach to you any emai?? i m going to give n3 in july in india and will sit in a interview . please help
You can contact me at johninjapan.official@gmail.com.
hello. Do you recommend any website for grammar practice?
The best I can offer for the time being is bunpro.jp. I personally haven’t done a lot of online learning.
Does this include learning the stroke order too?
Absolutely! I talk about that a bit in the latter half of the video.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL sure thanks
Back when I was made, they ran out of memory, so I received bad dad humor instead…. I really struggle with memory and I thing you, John, have a brilliant memory, which is key to this. What about me, who doesn’t remember what I walked the 10 feet to my co-worker to discuss?
I'm surprised your maker had bad dad humor on hand, as it seems to be in excess down here! lol
Memory ability certainly differs from person to person, but the key to this process is the level of vividness you invest into your story images. I won't claim that doing so will solve all your problems, but it'll certainly help! See if you can make a story or two while incorporating your bad dad humor. And let me know how it goes!
Hi John, i have a question, the Heisig book has 2200 kanji while officially there are less than that. And you said that you learnt the first 1000 and then another 1000 ( i.e. 2000) , i am unsure how many i should learn now tbh and wanted to ask if i should still learn the full book or not ?
The Heisig book contains what are called the "common use kanji," so if you're serious about becoming a fluent reader, you're gonna need to learn them at some point or another. If you're struggling with the book, let me know and I'll see how I can help you.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I understand, so right now I am at the low levels of N3, but i started the heisig book method thanks to you and now im like 514 kanji in, it does really help with the vocab studies with anki, since just by looking at the words i kinda understand the general meaning without reading them at all. i assume to get more understanding, it just helps doing all the book.
@@vicious9734 It sounds like you're making great progress! Yeah, finishing RTK will definitely increase your overall comprehension ability. Keep up the good work!
Have you used anki? Would you recommend it also?
I'm using Anki now to learn Korean and Chinese. I think it's a great tool if one uses it correctly.
For the kanji, though, I still prefer kanji.koohii.com. It's really easy to add new kanji, and you get the added benefit of being able to see other people's stories.
Have you used Anki before?
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL Yes I have but not recently. I will check out your suggestion thanks mate!
@@SeriousMot1 My pleasure. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Excuse me sir, I want to ask. 1 kanji can have many pronunciations ranging from kunyomi and onyomi, do they have to be memorized? and can so many kunyomi & unyomi be memorized in just 2 minutes, for beginners?
I also want to ask, if it was said earlier that we only learn the meaning and writing of kanji, not the readings. Then, when should we learn to read? If we use the method of not learning to read kanji, isn't it the same as later we also have to learn to readings the kanji? Do we have to learn the meaning and writing of kanji first, then we can read kanji?
By The Way, sorry if the writing of the sentences is a bit unclear, because I use Google Translate😊❤
I talk about readings here: ua-cam.com/video/xU6nWB1g7mw/v-deo.html.
Thanks for the question!
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL ありがとう Mr John 🙇
RTK sounds amazing! However, I must admit that the fact that the readings are not taught is a big negative point for me 😣 I always struggled with kanjis even though I can speak japanese... Also to pass JLPT, knowing how to read the kanjis are a necessity. Or even to just read in general. I am not sure if buying the textbook in my case would be great or not
You definitely need to know the readings in order to sound out words, but even just knowing the meanings is surprisingly helpful when you take the JLPT. Nonetheless, if you're intent on learning the meanings and readings simultaneously, WaniKani might be your best bet.
This is a great video, as I am studying rtk right. I am about half way in, but there is one thing I don’t understand. I do around 15 Kanji per day, but have around 110 reviews per day and that takes me around an hour. I wanted to go much faster but I am afraid that the reviews will take much longer. You mentioned in the video that reviews will take around one hour, how many kanji did you have to review? Oh, and is it possible that I am doing something wrong?
Make sure you’re writing each kanji just once or twice per review. Also, it’s totally okay to take a “review day” where you don’t learn any new kanji and just knock out as many reviews as possible. I think it’s best to prioritize taking care of your reviews over learning new kanji for that day.
Thank you for the tip! I also realised, when I write it down with a pen it is much better , but most of the time I just write the kanji with my finger on my palm or thigh because I am not at home.
@@becky210 I definitely agree that it's better to write with a pen or pencil. You'll realize your mistakes better that way and the kanji seem to stick better in your memory. I admit, though, I often "air-write" myself 😅
Would this strategy work for the kanken exams?
I've never taken the kanken so I can't say for sure, but I think you need to know the readings. To pick up the readings, I recommend reading immersion. There are lots of different opinions on this, though, so it might be worth doing a little research.
@JohninJapanOFFICIAL thanks for the answer.
@@harrypadwal2623 Thanks for the question!
ジョン！英語上手だね〜😂byKody.S
いやいやまだまだだよ！笑
Making a memorable story is tough; the koohii site has a lot of stories so that helps a bit.
Also, some of Heisig's keywords are not great (ambiguous, very similar to other keywords, unrelated to actual use...).
Still, a well-thought out and motivating video.
Thanks for watching and commenting!
I know what you mean about Heisig's keywords. Have you ever tried making your own?
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I tried but it was a monster task. I have a huge spreadsheet but I never finished, unfortunately. I know some people use Japanese keywords.
@@dosgos Yeah, using Japanese keywords can be pretty effective as well, especially once you're more advanced. I've also found that you don't have to be too strict about keywords in some cases. You might have noticed that I used "king" instead of "crown" in my story for 鬱. This can be a slippery slope, but it generally works for me.
We don't need to learn readings?
I think it's best to pick them up in context. Immersion is key. I talk about that a bit in this one: ua-cam.com/video/xU6nWB1g7mw/v-deo.htmlsi=g0Wf_FiGZDndikLt.
Given that I have worked through the entire RTK and made physical flash cards for all of them, and also worked through all of them again on Anki, I can say this video feels… disingenuous? It may just be that your mind works at a higher level than most, but generally, for most people, coming up with a story is not so natural, and you didn’t even write the story down as you were studying, which is probably going to take that extra thirty seconds or longer.
Plus, I know from experience that the stories quickly start getting confused in my mind because there are so many of them, with similar moving parts. Even going at a slower pace, I would get them mixed up in my mind quickly-I can’t imagine how much more confusing it would be to do nearly eighty every day for two weeks, and I think for most people, at the end of that time, they aren’t going to have them learned in any meaningful fashion.
Now I am sure there were various flaws in my methodology, such as not always writing the kanji physically enough, or not grounding the stories with enough meaningful hooks so that they connected to my real memories, or not using enough outrageousness in the stories to make them really stick out in my memory. But these things also take time, which again makes a method like this explained in this manner seem oversimplified and unrealistic for most people.
Again, there are people with astonishing memories. Some people have largely photographic memories. I don’t know, maybe you were able to sort things out in your mind without much difficulty. I don’t think most people will fare so fluidly using this method.
I’m still learning, though, and I hope people will remain encouraged to keep trying and learning and attempting good things through this video and other methods available.
I appreciate the respectful tone of your feedback, and I think you’ve made a good point. A combination of nature and nurture results in drastically different levels of talent from learner to learner. I tried to make this clear in the latter half of this video, but perhaps I made the section too short and not impactful enough.
I’m aware that because each learner is different, there is no universal “best method” for learning the kanji, but speaking from personal experience, I highly discourage writing down stories and making flash cards by hand.
Regarding stories, an impactful image is key to memorizing the kanji, and it’s better to invest energy in generating that image rather than making things overly verbal by writing everything down. Regarding making flash cards by hand, doing so makes effective spaced repetition nigh impossible. It’s much easier and more effective to use an app like the one on kanji.koohii.com.
All that said, the fact that you made it through the book shows that your method was effective enough to accomplish your (quite impressive) goal.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL I did notice that you talked about the differences in learner abilities. Of course it is true that learner abilities will vary considerably--I think my biggest issue has been inconsistency in learning over the years, as I have not consistently worked at improving. Another issue is that I have leaned too heavily on flash cards without immersion, which hurt my progression a lot.
Are you saying you didn't write down your mnemonics at all? You just remember all the stories that you make, and each time you revisit the kanji to review, the story you made is ready in your mind to help you remember the meaning of the character? I may be misunderstanding you.
When I made the flashcards, let's see... that must have been back in 2008 or so? I think the spaced repetition software had not become quite so popular yet. The stacks of cards looked cool, but yeah, it made review very difficult.
@@nickdriscoll6131 You seem very mindful and insightful about your own learning journey. "Another issue is that I have leaned too heavily on flash cards without immersion, which hurt my progression a lot. " I think you're spot on with this. One reason I was able to learn the kanji so quickly is because I was reading large amounts every day. Living in Japan certainly helped with this, of course, as I couldn't help but try to identify the kanji in just about every sign I encountered around town.
That's right. I didn't write down my mnemonics at all. I focused entirely on finding the perfect image to capture both the meaning and component parts of each character. Then, I'd write the character once or twice and move on. Having the spaced repetition software from kanji.koohii.com at hand was extremely helpful. Yeah, I'd forget a story from time to time, but if you can make a story once you can make it again.
Ye Its easy if Have photo memory
I don't, so it was lots of work for me. Fortunately, with Heisig's method, photographic memory isn't necessary. You just need to be able to memorize stories and associate them with relatively simple component parts. If you can do that, focused effort will get you through the meanings of the kanji faster than you'd think.
but don't you need to know the pronunciation and meaning of the kanji? In a typical conversation (text messages) I'm not going to need to know Japanese stroke order or components lol
I never said you didn't need to learn the pronunciation! I've already talked about how I did that in this one: ua-cam.com/video/xU6nWB1g7mw/v-deo.htmlsi=htTo_zSDVZC3PD6b.
@@JohninJapanOFFICIAL okay thank you!
Unfortunately there aren't many kanji with such a direct meaning. For example, construction means delaying writing. Also, it looks like you have a visual memory type. I have a logical type of memory and am used to remembering things that can be explained logically. So I can easily remember the kanji from your video, but I waste a lot of time and cannot understand the logic of so many kanji.
I know what you mean about the kanji not having "such a direct meaning." I still think it's okay to start with a keyword, though, and let your understanding deepen and broaden over time.