There are some Japanese learners who avoid Kanji like a virus. I’m here to help you NOT be like those people. So let’s get into Kanji!
History
Kanji originally came from China. Japanese already had its own spoken language.
So… How Many Japanese Kanji Are There?
The answer is… I’m not going to tell you.
Why??
Because it doesn’t matter! Yes, there are only 26 letters in English, but how many words are there in all? When a teenager or an adult starts learning English, they don’t focus on how many words do they have to learn. Instead they focus on getting to a point where they understand close to 100% of the words they come across.
For us, the most important thing is to find a method of studying, learning, and actively using Kanji that works for us. Focusing on effectively studying between 15 – 25 Kanji a week will get you much further than trying to “learn all the Kanji”.
2,136
If you are the type that desperately needs a number, well then here is one for you: 2,136.
This is the number of Kanji that Japanese students are expected to learn. 1,026 are taught in elementary school and the remaining 1,110 are taught in junior high school and high school. Together these are called the Jōyō Kanji (常用漢字). If you become familiar with most of these Kanji, you won’t have problems understanding* your everyday reading materials. Of course, there are other Kanji that you may need to know if you want to pass a JLPT or Kanji Kentei test, but
Kanji Cards
I want you to think of each individual Kanji as a card. On the front of the card is the actual look of the character. On the back side, are three things that you should store in your head for each Kanji: a keyword, the nuance, and the readings.
1) Keywords
The keyword(s) of a Kanji is the general concept of what it represents. Sometimes it is just one concept. Other times it is one concept but with different words. Other times it may be two or more different concepts altogether. The general idea is that as you begin learning Kanji, when you see a character you should think of its keyword in your head.
2) Nuance
3) Readings
Because Kanji were imported into Japan, they came with their own readings. However, the Kanji were then overlayed onto Japanese words and sounds. This has led to quite the interesting (and some may say confusing) situation where a single Kanji can be read in different ways depending on the situation, and even the word. Generally speaking, the readings that came from China are called on’yomi while the native Japanese readings are called kun’yomi.
If English is your native language, you are already used to this with the way we pronounce many of our words. (How would you teach the pronunciation of “ough”?? It depends, and while there may be rules, we just use them through trial and error until we master it.) If you keep this similarity in mind, it should make Kanji slightly less intimidating as you begin learning them.
Conclusion
*I say “understanding” instead of “reading” because there will be times when you see a Kanji and know its keyword, but not know how to read it.
Rice & Peace! 👋🏾
-AL
