![]() ![]() I’ve seen people argue for just learning kanji by their general shape, and then turn around and say that they thought 待つ and 持つ were the same word with two different readings, or that 少し and 小さい shared a character.īreaking down kanji into components so you can know exactly where to look to distinguish between two visually-similar characters is extremely helpful. Some people don’t like this, but I would never recommend any other way. Wanikani teaches kanji by breaking them down into radicals 3 Technically they should be called components, but this is really a very minor distinction in an age of digital dictionaries where identifying the literal “radical” of a kanji is a useless skill. You do not need to know everything there is to know in order to say that you know something. You might know where he works and a couple of his hobbies, but you might still be learning surprising new information years into your relationship. You can identify him by his face, but maybe if he changes his hairstyle or takes off his glasses, you might not recognize him at first. Personally when I say I “know” a kanji, I think of it like how you can “know” a person. If you want to approach native-level literacy (or even just enjoy shounen manga without skipping over all the names), you will have to “learn kanji” at some point. Not all kanji can be used to write standalone words. If you can’t recognize a kanji when it’s isolated from the words you learned it in, you won’t be able to read these words. In the majority of cases, these words are made up of on’yomi readings. While I do agree with learning kanji readings via vocabulary (more on that below), it is undeniable that native Japanese speakers “know kanji” individually because they are capable of understanding the meanings and pronunciation of completely made-up words formed entirely of kanji, like 魔哭鳴斬剣 1 from 幽遊白書 or 絶刀空閃 2 from 鍵人. ![]() Other people will try to get you to admit that “learning kanji” is actually “learning words written with kanji” or that “a kanji’s meaning is its kunyomi”. ![]() It’s almost as if they were going out of their way to give it the most unachievable definition possible. They tend to define “learning kanji” in some absurd way like “knowing all the readings, the stroke order, the key meanings, and the exceptional meanings in irregular words”. People who hold this view are insufferable. ![]() I’ll also be laying out the strategy and schedule I used to get through the second half of the course quickly and efficiently while also working full time. I don’t think it’s a bad platform by any means, and there’s a lot to like - I finished the whole course and I’m quite certain it helped me avoid some common pain points - I just feel like if I’m going to say “wanikani worked for me, it’s pretty good”, it’s only right that I be able to point to a list of criticisms to temper that recommendation. Over the years my opinion of it has gradually changed, and at this point I feel like I can’t recommend it in good conscience without some heavy disclaimers. Wanikani has been with me since the very first month of my Japanese-learning journey, and I was a big fan for a long time. ![]()
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