How far do I come without kanji?

Learning hiragana and katakana isn't a big problem, but the kanjis are, so I'm curious about how much i can read without knowing kanji. Or is there a list with the monst important kanji? This would also be really useful because learning them all is a little too much for me :?

Hi there, we will teach you important kanji in the members grammar newsletter series. In total we will teach 52 kanji that are very useful. I'm sure you will see that it will get easier the more time you spend on it. Good luck!

well, the Japanese school system enforces 1945 kanji for every day use, or "jouyou kanji". however, not all of these are popular nowdays (but don't shun all of them, I guess only about 20-100 are unpopular, and you will hardly ever see, but don't take my word for it), so the Japanese government takes a record of the 2501 most common kanji used in today's age. Finally, there's the JTLP Kanji, these are the kanji you will be tested on, for your knowledge of Japanese vocabulary. Note, I would memorize all three systems, for they will prove useful. I will post good sites for you, and all who wish to use of this. Sites: Jouyou Kanji site- http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ik2r-myr/kanji/kanji1a.htm these notecards are an excellent way to set up your kanji cards, but I would set it up like the white rabbit press cards (http://www.whiterabbitpress.com/catalog/index.html just use the free download to set it up like it. Replace the number you see with the 2051 most commonly used kanji, this site is useful to find it http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C note the hand-written kanji link on the bottom, it will prove very useful.) 2051 most commonly used kanji- http://www.hellodamage.com/tdr/archive/7diary/byfreq.html and finally, the JLTP kanji- http://yosida.com/en/kanji.html notice, it's divided into 4 levels, level 4 is the easiest and simpler, while level 1 is the hard and complicated kanji (I think they teach that in high-school) so, I hope this guide was useful, and informative (apologies for it's length) (hopefully, you will notice that the three overlap alot, so don't go making about 6000 notecards, while 3000 of the notecards have the same kanji to eachother (you will need about 3000 notecards)).

Ok so far I can read and memorized both hiragana and katakana ok. now im learning kanji. i learned hiragana and katakana by writing 5 characters everyday each over 50 times and using computer memorization practice software right after writing it. it took me less than four weeks to learn both hiragana and katakana. but for kanji there is about 2000 essential everyday kanji for japanese use. i just wanna learn the essential kanji used in everyday japanese writing: newspaper, articles, mangas, etc. I dont plan on writing each kanji over 50 times (no way). is there another really effective way of learning kanji? i want to learn at least the 2000 essential kanji by 3 months. does anyone have any really good suggestion?

[quo]*Quote from * vyre22607 well, the Japanese school system enforces 1945 kanji for every day use, or "jouyou kanji". however, not all of these are popular nowdays (but don't shun all of them, I guess only about 20-100 are unpopular, and you will hardly ever see, but don't take my word for it), so the Japanese government takes a record of the 2501 most common kanji used in today's age. Finally, there's the JTLP Kanji, these are the kanji you will be tested on, for your knowledge of Japanese vocabulary. Note, I would memorize all three systems, for they will prove useful. I will post good sites for you, and all who wish to use of this. Sites: Jouyou Kanji site- http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ik2r-myr/kanji/kanji1a.htm these notecards are an excellent way to set up your kanji cards, but I would set it up like the white rabbit press cards (http://www.whiterabbitpress.com/catalog/index.html just use the free download to set it up like it. Replace the number you see with the 2051 most commonly used kanji, this site is useful to find it http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C note the hand-written kanji link on the bottom, it will prove very useful.) 2051 most commonly used kanji- http://www.hellodamage.com/tdr/archive/7diary/byfreq.html and finally, the JLTP kanji- http://yosida.com/en/kanji.html notice, it's divided into 4 levels, level 4 is the easiest and simpler, while level 1 is the hard and complicated kanji (I think they teach that in high-school) so, I hope this guide was useful, and informative (apologies for it's length) (hopefully, you will notice that the three overlap alot, so don't go making about 6000 notecards, while 3000 of the notecards have the same kanji to eachother (you will need about 3000 notecards)).[/quo] I can't believe I haven't checked out this thread before xD... But I just want to thank you as those links are godly! I wish I had known of those sites before it'll make my kanji studies much easier with them. どもありがとうございました！

Dear Joe-san, That's excellent that you have memorized both Hiragana and Katakana. おめでとうございます。 Remember Kanji is, I must say, even as a native Japanese, an on-going learning process. With all the strokes, multiple readings... it can be quite a challenge. However, if you're already comfortable with Hiragana and Katakana, you're in a great place. There are many ways one could learn Kanji - yes, one way is writing it over and over again (as the Japanese kids do) - but there is also a different approach to it which is to focus on the meaning of each Kanji, before the pronunciation. Some call this the "mnemonic" approach. You have an image in your mind of a particular kanji - a memorable mind-picture - such as a man with his arms and legs stretched sideways - 大 - illustrating something "BIG." Do you see it? And when combined with an image of a standing person - 人 - you get "BIG PERSON" = 大人 (reading: _otona_) がんばってください。 :P

the only downside to that method is that it isn't too great at teaching you stroke order ;).

Yes Derek-san, You are right! and that is exactly why after much research and thought, the Rocket Japanese concluded that the best way to learn Kanji characters is.. 1. knowing the stroke order ( :idea: you can learn new Kanji faster and better when you know how to write it!) 2. the reading (both 'borrowed Chinese' reading and 'Japanese' reading) 3. common Kanji compounds associated with that particular Kanji character It's easier to memorize Kanji if you know certain words that are written with that Kanji. :P ALSO, when learning stroke order, you'll begin to see common rules - so it stops becoming a "memorization through repetition" but rather -seeing what are the rules - and applying them for each Kanji. :roll: *Let me give you a few!* 1. Kanji strokes go from top to bottom 2. Generally, from left to right 3. When you have a cross (a horizontal line and a vertical line crossing each other) - HORIZONTAL goes first - though there are some exceptions... 4. If there is a left, center and right component in a Kanji, start from the center. 5. If there is a box around with a center component, the box comes first. (EXCEPT when the box is shaped like a C) Have fun! :P

[quo]*Quote from * Sayaka Yes Derek-san, You are right! and that is exactly why after much research and thought, the Rocket Japanese concluded that the best way to learn Kanji characters is.. 1. knowing the stroke order ( :idea: you can learn new Kanji faster and better when you know how to write it!) 2. the reading (both 'borrowed Chinese' reading and 'Japanese' reading) 3. common Kanji compounds associated with that particular Kanji character It's easier to memorize Kanji if you know certain words that are written with that Kanji. :P ALSO, when learning stroke order, you'll begin to see common rules - so it stops becoming a "memorization through repetition" but rather -seeing what are the rules - and applying them for each Kanji. :roll: *Let me give you a few!* 1. Kanji strokes go from top to bottom 2. Generally, from left to right 3. When you have a cross (a horizontal line and a vertical line crossing each other) - HORIZONTAL goes first - though there are some exceptions... 4. If there is a left, center and right component in a Kanji, start from the center. 5. If there is a box around with a center component, the box comes first. (EXCEPT when the box is shaped like a C) Have fun! :P[/quo] Ah so once again the RJ team takes the best of everything and creates the best and most effective method of them all! This is why I like you guys so much xD. Always looking out for us learners, quick and responsive to forum posts... I really sound like a cheesy advertisement bot now don't I... Well regardless as I said when I first met the kanji teaching system you use "よくできました！" If I didn't directly say it via feedback when I went through the Platinum grammar lessons, I should have. Oh and I will have fun! はい、ぜひ！ デレック

ありがとう　デレックさん。 Your continued support and excellent feedback encourages the Rocket Japanese team to make the best product, for the best learners! - Sayaka :P

[quo]*Quote from * Sayaka ありがとう　デレックさん。 Your continued support and excellent feedback encourages the Rocket Japanese team to make the best product, for the best learners! - Sayaka :P[/quo] Ah, but it is your company's willingness to listen to their customer's feedback that encourages me to give feedback. So if anything I should be thanking you, in which case どもうありがとうございました！

Oops Derek-san, switch the も and う! どもうありがとうございました！should be --- どうもありがとうございました！ :P

I had a feeling something wasn't quite right... xD. So I added the u and well yeah put it in the wrong spot :(. Thanks though! じゃね デレック