By now, you’ve got a good grasp on hiragana and katakana so it’s time to begin your kanji self study routine. Good work getting this far! There are multiple paths you can take from here, so to make it through kanji you will need to be organised and have a great plan of attack.
The most important things you will need learning Kanji is patience and determination. The amount of sheer memorisation involved is huge so having interesting ways to study and a good routine will help you avoid burning out!
Lots of kanji to learn and no time to waste so let’s get into it!
Before you start the kanji self study routine.
You too could learn all of these kanji and more for the low low price of your soul!
To get to this point I’ll assume you’ve already completed the 7 day hiragana guide and the 7 day katakana guide. You really need to be completely familiar with both kana before jumping into kanji or you will have problems down the line.
If you want to spend some time learning some very basic vocabulary and grammar before you get stuck into kanji that will also give you a great foundation to learn with.
About the guide
This guide is not going to teach you kanji, it’s just a road map on where to focus, how to manage your time and how use your own study apps and books effectively.
This is just a starting point on your kanji learning journey. The majority of your time will just be spent memorising the characters but this guide will point you in the right direction and set you up into a study routine that you can continue going forward.
Remember your end goals.
Kanji isn’t something that needs to be included in every Japanese learners study plan. So if you’re only at the kanji stage because it’s “next” in the order things to learn, then you should consider your goals and decide whether it fits. It’s a shame to sink such a HUGE amount of time into kanji if you aren’t going to have any use for it at the end!
If you’re unsure if kanji works with your goals, have a read of my previous article to decide whether you REALLY need kanji.
Avoiding the slump.
Karen decided it was easier to hulk out rather than having to learn 2000 kanji.
With long terms study like this, it’s almost unavoidable to end up in a slump at some point. Inspiration and motivation come and go so the important thing is to figure out how to push through and keep going. That’s pretty personal as it involves figuring out your own motivations.
As you worked through kana, you have hopefully figured out what kind of study routine works well for you. Take this knowledge and use it to tailor your approach to kanji. Work at a time of day that you feel the most alert, have music to get you in the mood and take regular breaks to refresh your mind.
It’s pretty tempting to think “Ok I’ll devote myself fully to kanji for a year and then move on to vocabulary and grammar once I’m done”. Studying this way is so much harder because you won’t be able to link concepts together to memorise them. Flash cards are good but being able to read kanji in the wild or in a book and link it to an experience is much more effective at sealing it in your memory.
On this note, I highly suggest using a program that includes vocabulary WITH your kanji learning. By learning vocabulary items that contain your kanji, you memorising things that are more useful in every day life and also reenforce the kanji you know.
Personally I think it’s best to alternate concentration between levels of kanji and grammar as it feels like you have a fuller understanding of the language. It also makes you feel like you’re progressing a lot faster!
Budget your resources: time and financial!
Kanji is the hardest part of Japanese. Frankly it’s tedious and very easy to burn out on. As such I think it’s important to use every resource you have at your disposal to get through it. If you’ve been saving your money, now is the time to start using it! Buy which ever apps or resources you think will help you stick with it to the end.
You will also need to start budgeting your time efficiently. When you were just tackling kana, it was easy to revise things in a few minutes a day. Kanji study is cumulative and you will need to adjust your routine to make sure you cover everything. If you are also studying grammar and vocabulary this can really blow your timelines out!
This study plan aims for around 30-35 minutes a day but you should adjust that to your own learning speed and schedule.
Now let’s get to the first day!
Kanji Self Study Routine
Julie was all ready to go in her kanji self study, just as soon as she returned her overdue library books.
Kanji Day 1 – Wtf is kanji.
Kanji are basically characters (originating from China) that represent entire words or ideas. They are incorporated into Japanese either alone or with hiragana attached. While hiragana and katakana are used often, without kanji knowledge you will never be able to read entire sentences.
Key study points:
How does kanji work? Kanji is a bit harder than kana because each character represents a concept, and characters can have multiple meanings and pronunciations based on context. Combining 2 kanji can result in a word with a different meaning. We will cover the idea of readings tomorrow but today you should just get a basic understanding of how kanji works.
Kanji are used alone, together or in conjunction with hiragana to represent words. There are no spaces between words in Japanese so hiragana particles break up the kanji.
For example:
Japanese: 今日は日本語を勉強しています。 Romanji: Kyou wa nihongo wo benkyoushite imasu. English: Today I’m learning Japanese.
In that sentence, the words for “today”, “Japanese” and “study” are all made of kanji which is broken up by hiragana.
The word 今日 means today, the reading is きょう (kyou). It’s made up of 2 kanji which individually represent “now” and “day”. Those two kanji have their own readings/meanings when used individually but when used together they are read as “kyou”.
So to know that part of the sentence, you would need to learn the 今 and 日 kanji characters, their individual readings, then them together as the vocabulary word with pronunciation.
Sound complicated? It’s not as bad as my terrible explanation makes it but there is a lot to remember. Check the suggested reading article in today’s study break down and from there, do your own research online until you have a good grasp on how kanji is used in sentences.
Choosing your study resources. I haven’t written out a full guide on recommended kanji study apps yet but I will update here once it’s complete. In the mean time you should look for an SRS app that has mnemonics, revision and type in answers (not just flash cards). Ideally you want it to have simple levels so you can measure your progress and the ability to pause revisions in case you need a break.
I’m currently using Wanikani which has all of those features. The main downside to Wanikani is the price and that there is no official app currently. The mobile versions of the website are ok but it’s a lot easier to use the desktop version. The benefits far out weight the negatives though so have a look as the first 3 levels are free.
Study time break down:
Research and choose your study apps – 15min
Research and understand how kanji is used in Japanese sentences by reading Tae Kim’s guide or similar guides- 15min
Kanji Day 2 – Readings
Maybe stick to pen and paper, chalk seems a bit counter productive… but you do you.
Today we’ll be learning all about kanji readings and the differences between them so buckle in!
Key study points:
Readings So as you saw in yesterdays’s guide, for each kanji you learn there are quite a few different things to memorise.
Each character usually has 2 kinds of reading: Kun-yomi- Japanese readings, usually used for words that only have 1 character. On-yomi- Chinese original readings, usually used for words with multiple characters.
I’m using the word “usually” a lot here because like all language rules: they are more like guidelines and there are exceptions.
For example:
Character: 日 Meaning: Sun/Day On yomi- にち, じつ Kun yomi- ひ, か, び
To make all of this easier, hopefully your study app has good mnemonics that include the readings and meanings together. That will save you a lot of time and trouble! In terms of studying, it’s most useful to learn matching vocabulary with kanji as you go so you can cement the readings with different words.
Setting long and short term goals At this point you should also begin setting your kanji goals. Figure out what level you are working towards, when your end date is and how many kanji you need to achieve that. Next use that data to decide how many new characters you need to learn every day. I suggest giving yourself some breathing room and trying to finish 1 month before your actual end date so if you need to take time out you aren’t pushing yourself.
Kanji radicals are about as radical as this sweet virtual reality set.
Well done on making it so far, this is the last day before you jump into actual kanji! Today we are learning about kanji radicals which are the building blocks that make up characters.
Key study points:
Radicals So you’ve seen some kanji at this point and they are all looking a bit the same by now… that’s because most kanji are made up from roughly the same set of simpler characters. The simple characters are called radicals and it’s a common teaching technique to learn the radicals before you learn proper kanji.
By learning the radicals you set yourself up to be able to use their meanings in mnemonics when you learn kanji. This can be really useful as it helps you to “read” the characters and guess their meanings more easily.
The downside of this is that you then are adding a few hundred more characters to your learning list. Radicals don’t have pronunciations so at least it’s one less thing to learn. Have a read about them and think about whether this is something that you would find helpful or just tedious.
Read through a list of most common radicals to familiarise yourself – 15min
Kanji Day 4 – Learning your first Kanji
After about 500 kanji learned, Justine was even dreaming in Japanese. Bad dreams, but it’s still a step forward…
Well done on making it into the actual kanji phase! By now you should have a grip of what kanji is, how it’s used and how long it’s going to take you to achieve your goals.
Key study points:
Start learning! So now it’s time to use whatever learning app you chose to start burning through the kanji! Ideally to make good speed, I suggest aiming to learn 10 kanji or radicals per day but it’s totally up to you and your schedule.
Mixing in grammar and other learning. Remember when I said not to learn kanji in a vacuum? Now is the time to put it into practice. Break up your study by doing something OTHER than straight up kanji. Learn some grammar, read a book, watch tv, do literally anything else you like to keep things interesting.
Study time break down:
Learn 10 new kanji – 15min
Learn some new grammar or other non-kanji Japanese – 15min
Kanji Day 5 – Your average day – Learn and revise
“How do I say you have terrible breath in Japanese?” Kylie asked.
Today is the the last day in the guide and it’s the day which you will repeat for most of the rest of your study. Up until now you’ve been learning about kanji, from this point on it’s really just about getting it all into your brain.
Key study points:
Learning. Every day try to aim to hit your goal of characters learned!
Revisions and mini revisions. Revision can mean a lot of things. For the most part to progress in your app you will probably need to do a certain amount of standard multiple choice questions or type in answers. Don’t limit yourself to that though. Write characters down, use them to talk to friends, recognise characters in subtitles etc.
It’s also great if you can do mini reviews like you were doing with kana. If you can, do the revisions your app requires in bites of 5-10min throughout the day and then using your study revision time to do something fun.
Study time break down:
Learn 10 new kanji – 15min
Revise the kanji – 10min
Grammar/reading/tv/anything else – 10min
Where do we go from here?
You too will be this appropriately happy once you finish your 2000 Kanji. Everyone will also have coffee for some reason. I don’t know.
Well done on making it through the kanji self study routine basics! Now it’s up to you to repeat Day 5 and keep learning!
You should have your goal plan set out and rewards along the way as you hit your targets so there’s not much left to tell you other than to keep going!
What about grammar and vocabulary?
Grammar and vocab are just as important as kanji so we will tackle them next and I’ll put together a full timeline of my guides to learning Japanese.
For now, stick to learning your kanji so you have a good base, I suggest at least finishing up to N5 level before you get into too much grammar. By learning some kanji before you get stuck into grammar you will find it a lot easier eventually read and understand.
The main take away here is to keep pushing through. While it does seem insurmountable, keep chipping away at kanji until you reach the end and you’ll be fluent in no time.
A lot of beginners are scared off by the idea of kanji, but do you need to learn kanji to know Japanese? 2 x 46 kana alphabets are hard enough but kanji has more than 2000 characters! So is it necessary and really worth the effort?
Whether you really need to learn kanji or not depends on your goals in Japanese. If your aim is to be able to take holidays, chat with people or watch anime then the time sink is probably not worth it. If you are looking to read manga or live in Japan then you will definitely need to tackle it. Of course there are some grey areas so let’s have a look in more detail!
First let’s take a look at some scenarios that might apply to you and rank them in terms of real world kanji usage.
You are planning a short one off trip to Japan and plan to stick to large cities.
Japan’s large cities are very tourist friendly and most major signs have English language versions. Before I started learning kanji I visited Tokyo several times and hand no problems navigating at all. Many places offer English menus or information. If you can access basic translation software to cover any extra information you need, you’ll be good to go!
Verdict: Maybe learn a few useful ones (train signs, exit/entry, menu items) if you like but focus on spoken language and vocabulary.
You want to listen to Japanese podcasts.
Listening skills don’t require kanji. You might find it easier to acquire all of the vocabulary you need for this if you cross learn them with kanji but that’s a personal choice. To be able to listen to a podcast successfully you will need a wide variety of vocabulary and grammar knowledge as there aren’t the visual cues that usually come in a tv show.
Of course it might be difficult to find or read the descriptions of many great podcasts if you can’t search using kanji!
Verdict: Not required for listening but good for reading descriptions or finding podcasts.
You want to chat to friends.
It was then Katie realised that the amount of kanji she needed was zero.
Making friends is a great way to practice your Japanese. Whether they are native speakers or fellow students, it’s an easy way to get in the habit of using Japanese naturally in real life situations. If you don’t have the kanji skill yet then irl meet ups and Skype calls are your friend!
On the other hand, if you are more interested in texting then things get iffy. Texting using only kana is possible but can take up a lot of space and isn’t really how people talk in Japanese. It’s certainly doable and it’s better than nothing but your friends might have a harder time reading and understanding your messages. Kanji helps to convey context and intent to words that might sound similar in kana. I would suggest trying to incorporate kanji if you’re planning on long term texting!
Verdict: Voice chat and in person meetings need no kanji! Text chat will depend on your friends and their preferences.
You want to read Japanese children’s picture books.
Children’s books are generally written using Hiragana and Katakana. I’m talking about picture books aimed at the under 6 year old market. These are useful for learning low level vocabulary and practicing your kana recognition. Obviously you aren’t going to find any page turners here but they are useful for beginners.
Verdict: No kanji required, only hiragana and katakana!
You want watch anime.
This is a tricky one. You don’t really need to know any kanji to watch anime but it can really help. Anime has a lot of visual cues so you can get away with having less vocabulary skills to fill in the blanks.
Kanji can be helpful watching anime as there are often signs or subtitles on screen. Of course if you are learning kanji you can also watch the shows with Japanese subtitles on to get a deeper view. Having subtitles can help you to re-enforce word connections and understand context better so I definitely recommend it while you’re learning. Similar to podcasts, you also aren’t going to be able to read descriptions in Netflix or anything without some kanji!
Verdict: Not really required but very helpful!
You want to play video games in Japanese
This one will depend on the kind of video game and the intended audience. For example many games with a younger target audience will have options for kana/kanji in the settings. Pokemon gameboy games are an example of that and are very easy to come by. If you’re after games aimed at adults like the Persona series then you will need to know kanji to understand the text options.
The genre will also effect how text heavy the game is so my advice is to check the kana settings before you start anything.
Verdict: Depends on the game. If you want to avoid kanji, pick something aimed at younger people or that isn’t text heavy.
You won’t need much kanji for that trip to Greenland…
You want to travel around Japan in less populated areas.
Traveling to tourist areas is great but it’s always fun to get off the beaten track. Outside of the major cities in Japan the English signs and menus become more sparse. Of course if you know kana then you will have a leg up but kanji is everywhere.
Verdict: It’s not strictly needed but it’s a good idea to try to pick up some basics.
You want to watch Japanese TV shows or Youtubers.
If you’ve seen a Japanese variety tv show then you’ve seen that half the time the screen is often covered in text. The text gives context clues and other information for viewers. Sometimes the text is just silly sound effects or instructions for the games. While most of the time you can get the general idea of things without it, the text really adds another layer to things that is helpful for understanding what’s going on. Game and variety shows are often so fast paced that you need the extra hints!
News and morning shows are similar in that the screens will always be covered in text. It can be subtitles, information about the current story or what’s coming up next. News shows often use formal speech so the kanji is helpful for context if you’re used to informal speech.
Youtubers on the other hand, don’t tend to use as much text at all. So if you can understand spoken Japanese you will be fairly good to go. The caveat to this is that you probably won’t be able to read the video descriptions or comments. Youtube comments are usually a dumpster fire so you’re probably not missing much there.
Verdict: Not totally required but really helpful for understanding context in tv shows!
While Carol couldn’t actually read any of the books, she did find it oddly comforting to hide behind them
You want to read manga or books.
Reading anything aimed at ages 6 or over will be difficult if you don’t have any kanji knowledge. Even manga for younger viewers include a lot of kanji. Some have furigana on text they think might be too difficult but they all expect that you have a basic knowledge of kanji at the appropriate age level. While manga does have the artwork to clue you in on what’s going on, you won’t get a full understanding unless you know some kanji.
Verdict: You will need to know kanji at the age level that your manga or book is aimed at.
You want to fully understand Japanese
Well this is a no-brainer. If you want to fully understand every facet of Japanese of course you will need kanji! By cutting out kanji you miss out on a big chunk of what’s going on around you. Speaking and listening skills are great but you won’t get very far with kana only in every day Japanese.
Verdict: You definitely need a good grasp on kanji!
You want to move to Japan.
Absolutely. If you want to move to Japan then you should definitely learn kanji. While it’s possible to survive, you will give yourself a big head start if you can read well. Signing a lease, getting a bank account, filling out forms, doctors appointments, transport, all of these day to day things require reading kanji. Navigating life in Japan is possible without kanji but it makes things very hard!
The caveat to this is if you are moving within an English teaching organisation. Often the English teaching companies don’t require you to have any knowledge of Japanese before you start with them. They don’t generally care about your Japanese level because everything you do with them will be in English. These companies have experience with working with foreigners and accomodate various language skills. Of course this varies wildly based on the program and it’s still always a better idea to have more knowledge to make things smoother for yourself.
Verdict: Definitely better to know kanji when moving to Japan!
So do you really need to learn kanji?
Really, there are very few situations where some of the more common kanji aren’t useful to know. If your interest in Japanese is casual and you don’t see yourself doing long term study then skipping the kanji and focusing on kana and spoken skills is fine. Kana is still important as it can bridge the gap in situations where something written is required for context and it helps with understanding pronunciation.
If your interest in Japanese goes beyond a single trip then kanji is something you will need to tackle sooner or later. In my experience, the sooner you start the sooner you can make cross connections to vocabulary in your brain and the easier it is to make lasting memories!
As a native English speaker, Kanji can seem crazy intimidating. With thousands of characters it looks like it never ends! It’s a big reason that students drag their feet because learning can be tedious and repetitive. If you focus, does it really take that long though?
Most people who want to learn the 2000 Jouyou Kanji take around 1-1.5 years if they are going at a steady pace. The timing is similar for N1 kanji lists. This of course depends on a lot of factors so let’s take a look at how fast you could learn the kanji and get it out of the way!
The first thing that will effect how fast your kanji speed is which kanji you’re actually learning! The common lists like Jouyou and JLPT all have different numbers so it’s important to base your plans off the right one.
How long does it take to learn the JTLP kanji lists?
The JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency test) is an exam run by the Japanese government for foreigners to test language skills. It is held around the world at various locations in December and July. There are 5 levels of the test ranging in difficult with N1 being the hardest and the level required for fluency.
It’s a popular measure because passing the N1 effectively means you are considered fluent enough to conduct business in Japan. It’s what employers look for when hiring overseas staff and it looks great on a resume or transcript.
While there are guide books for the JLPT here is no official list of kanji required for each level. Most study guides and apps use lists which have been compiled through previous tests and from lists of the most used kanji.
Here is a table showing on average how many kanji is required for each level and how long it would take to learn.
JLPT Level
Difficulty
Approximate
Number of Kanji
Study days
(if learning 10 per day)
Study days
(if learning 5 per day)
JLPT 5
Easiest
~100
10
20
JLPT 4
~300
30
60
JLPT 3
Medium
~650
65
130
JLPT 2
~1000
100
200
JLPT 1
Hardest
~2000
200
400
How long does it take to learn the Jouyou kanji list?
The Jouyou kanji is a list of 2136 characters set out by the Japanese government. In simple terms, it is a list of kanji that students are expected to know by the time they finish high school for basic literacy. It also includes some additional kanji for use in government documents and names etc that you might come across in every day Japanese life. This is not a complete list of kanji and it’s not even a list of every kanji you would need to read but it’s an easy entry point.
If you were to learn 10 kanji a day, completing the Jouyou character list would take you around 214 days. So less than a year!
If you were only learning 5 kanji a day it would take you 428 days.
You can find a nice easy list of the Jouyou kanji and their levels here on the Monash University website.
How long does it take to complete Wanikani for kanji?
Wanikani is a kanji and vocabulary website that uses an SRS system for memorisation. Wanikani is a great system because it mixes learning straight up kanji with vocabulary at the same time. This means you can make connections to words a lot quicker and retain things.
Wanikani contains around 2000 Kanji and 6000 vocabulary words.
According to their website, the quickest you can complete their system is 368 days. This assumes that you are doing reviews the moment they come up though which is often not realistic.
Their website suggests that average person completing Wanikani takes around 1.5-2 years.
How much kanji do you need to read manga?
The amount of kanji you need to read a manga will depend a lot on the age level the manga is aimed at and whether it has a lot of content specific words. For example, you might be reading at the level of a 13yr old but if the manga you want to read is about wizards and contains a lot of complex lore you may struggle.
The best way to estimate is to check the recommended age group for the manga and judge it against the level you are currently at. To easily compare you level to the age range, use the Jouyou guide or practice tests.
To cement your kanji knowledge you should start reading outside of your learning system as soon as you possibly can. Pick content that is appropriate to your level and work your way up. If you find yourself looking up more than a few kanji per page then downgrade until you can comfortably read it.
How much kanji do you need to learn to be fluent in Japanese?
The short answer is that it really depends on how you judge fluency. You don’t need any kanji to speak or listen well in Japanese and many people would describe that as being fluent!
Around 2000 kanji is the requirement for the JLPT 1 test which is how the Japanese government judges fluency.
The Jouyou kanji list contains 2136 characters (slightly different from the JLPT 1 list) which represent basic high school level fluency.
An average Japanese person would know the Jouyou kanji list and then some depending on their person interests and life experiences. That said, on Japanese morning tv shows there are sometimes segments where they ask people on the street if they can recognise obscure kanji and the answer is often no! I think that would give you the feeling that while kanji is important to learn, so long as you have the basic ~2000 down you will be fine.
How much time should I spend studying kanji every day?
If you want to learn 10 new kanji per day then you would probably need to study around 15 minutes. The problem with this math is that it doesn’t take into account the fact that you need to revise the kanji you have previously learnt too. If you spend a few minutes revising each kanji every day this quickly adds up.
This is why most people use Spaced Repetition Systems (SRS) to learn kanji. These systems calculate when the most effective time for each revision is and only show you the character then. There is a lot of science behind it and they are proven to work well so I recommend them.
By spacing the reviews out you can safely learn your 10 new words a day and then leave 20-30 minutes for reviews. Keep in mind that reviews snowball quickly and after a few months of new words things can pile up. The key is to review items as soon as they come up so you aren’t left with a massive queue.
Leave room to learn vocabulary and grammar too!
It’s easy to see these numbers and think “Great! I’ll be fluent in a year!” when that’s just not the case. Kanji doesn’t give you fluency. I would go so far as to say that kanji alone is pretty useless as it doesn’t even give you much vocabulary. You need to learn the kanji, also the context and where it fits into actual words to be fluent. That takes more time. You need to study grammar and vocabulary separately to achieve real fluency and have success on test like the JLPT.
Some tips for speeding learning kanji up.
So the real answer to how long kanji takes to learn is: however long you want it to… but if you are determined then probably 1-2 years. You can speed things up by being methodical and consistent with your study. A few years for a whole new writing system isn’t that bad in the long run!
Learning kanji is pretty boring. It’s a huge task that involves lot of self study and memorisation. Even if you’re in a classroom setting you are often just given lists of kanji to study between classes. Unfortunately, kanji is something most Japanese learners have to tackle eventually so how can you get through it the least horrible way possible?
To make kanji less boring you need to understand the way you learn and how to mix your own interests into the content. Allowing yourself to take breaks and setting small manageable goals is key. It’s also important to understand that this is a long term project and manage your expectations so don’t burn out early. The best way to do that is to celebrate your achievements along the way!
I failed at studying kanji in several attempts over the years, it wasn’t until I started tailoring my study habits that I managed to find a routine that I could stick to long term. Here are the tips that helped me the most!
1. Start learning kanji as soon as possible, don’t avoid it!
It’s easy to want to just stick kana once you’ve got that down. Don’t do it. The longer you rely on your kana knowledge the harder it will be to switch to kanji. The moment you’re comfortable in kana get started in kanji. To begin with, work on small things which you will use often in your every day life like days of the week, entrance/exit or items you would find on a menu.
Most of the methods mentioned in this post are SRS systems. By design they take quite a while to complete when you have thousands of kanji to get through. As an example, Wanikani suggests that if you were to go as fast as humanly possible through the levels it would still take 368 days to get through their content!
So… the sooner you start the sooner you finish!!
2. Decide what you want to learn.
Before you start you need to figure out which parts of the kanji you want to learn. This will depend on your goals but if you don’t think you will do much physical writing then there’s no point wasting time being bored to tears on stroke order. Similarly, if you don’t find that learning radicals actually helps you in remembering full kanji then don’t waste the time on it.
If you are studying for a specific test like the JLPT then it’s a lot easier to decide what to learn. There are several helpful lists around the web which rank kanji based on JLPT level. Most apps also teach you in the order of most popular. If you’re not studying with a specific test in mind then you can tailor your approach to be more interesting. Pick topics and vocabulary that you like by theme from the Jouyou Kanji list or let your app decide for you.
3. Tailor the kanji around your other hobbies and interests.
Kaitlin knew that her hobby was having over priced coffee in tall buildings so she combined that with learning kanji for easy success!
Learning kanji is less boring if you can study things that you already have an interest in. It’s also much more likely to stick in your brain if you already have knowledge relating to it. I always recommend trying to learn based around things you enjoy talking about in real life. Learning this way is more fun and you will find it easier to find words in other contexts. For example, if you like mountain biking, start with any bike or riding related kanji. If your hobby is sewing, then look for crafting related terms.
To find interesting and relevant kanji to learn, look for Japanese social media accounts in your interests. I’ll be posting my top 10 social media accounts for self study soon.
4. Trial kanji memorisation techniques before you commit.
Everyone learns differently. Some people learn visually and do well with graphics based programs that show kanji with photos or drawings, others prefer thought story mnemonics, others still can memorise straight from the text books with little issue. Personally, I find flash cards to be mind numbingly boring so I try to use the weirdest possible thought mnemonics to liven things up. The crazier the stories that go with the kanji, the easier they are to remember.
The key to happy learning is finding which of those techniques works for you without making it more tedious.
My biggest tip is to spend a week trialing different systems. Most SRS kanji apps like Wanikani, Scribe Japanese and Anki have free trial options. I suggest finding your top 3 systems then learning a few kanji with each over the space of a week. At the end of the week see which ones you remember (and which you didn’t find boring) and commit to that system.
Rob and Tracey had only 3 weeks left to finish learning kanji or this huge clock would explode and kill them all!
What to look for in a kanji memorisation system:
Clear levels and small goals so you can see yourself progressing
The ability to pause so revisions don’t pile up while you take a break
A layout and design that you won’t hate staring at for the next few years
Ideally a mixture of kanji and related vocabulary items so you can understand context
The weirdest mnemonics possible. The weirder they are the better they stick!
Customisation of content. Ideally you want to be able to add your own words
Versatile testing, you want to be able to test yourself based on the kanji, the meaning, words using it and listening
Also keep in mind that the lists included in most of these apps are not exhaustive. Just because you have finished an N5 list doesn’t mean that there won’t be other kanji included in an actual N5 practice test.
If you’re stuck for some systems to test, here are some popular ones:
Most of the above systems are variations of SRS learning which is very effective, stay tuned for the the mega post comparing kanji systems soon.
5. Find a learning system and stick to it.
I learn casually and get bored easily. After a few months I want to quit whatever method I’ve chosen and try a new one to keep it interesting. The problem with doing this is that you lose your progress and start from scratch. Most kanji memorisation apps and SRS system use roughly the same lists of words and order of learning. So if you quit one app after completing the N5 kanji and start another, you will generally be starting the same kanji over again. That’s great for a refresher but you are wasting time that you could be using for acquiring new kanji.
Instead of quitting so easily, try making your study into a positive habit. I like having afternoon snacks at a certain time every day. During that time I now do my kanji revisions daily. Having the snack I like helps make it a positive thing and doing it daily reenforces the good habit. I only do revisions for as long as my break lasts, so there’s a clear time frame and it doesn’t drag on to boredom.
6. Have easy goals and celebrate your progress
Morgan’s goal was the carry as many kanji related books as possible and she was succeeding!
There are a LOT of kanji. Even if you’re only aiming for the ~2000 on the Jouyou list each still has several readings and is used differently in various vocabulary. That’s a lot of learning. If you only celebrate your progress as the entire list being complete you will burn out early. If your app doesn’t do it for you, break your list down into several smaller levels and milestones so you can see your progress. I like the way that Wanikani does this because with 60 levels it’s easy to see how far I’ve come and how many items I’ve learned in each category.
If you feel like you’re making headway you are a lot more likely to continue happily!
7. Don’t learn kanji in a vacuum.
SRS systems and flash cards are great but using them exclusively makes learning kanji repetitive. If you only ever see the kanji within the app you will have a hard time recognising it being used in every day life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve learned a character and can recognise it easily on the flash cards but when it comes up in a manga, my mind is completely blank. Once I look it up my brain makes the connection with the manga story and next time I can remember it easily.
The point is that you need to put your new found knowledge to use outside of your system. This will strengthen the connections in your brain and help you recall it in all kinds of situations.
Some great ways to do that are reading manga, watching tv or movies with Japanese subtitles on or reading social media.
8. If you are getting bored, don’t force it
I have run out of funny captions now.
Every few months I put my apps on “holiday mode” so the reviews don’t pile up and do something else to clear my mind. The quickest way for you to hate kanji is to force yourself to do it when you don’t want to. For my break week, instead of doing kanji revisions I read manga, watch tv, write to my friends or practice grammar. Anything that still refreshes your Japanese without looking at flash cards!
Set a time limit for the break and then go back to your kanji as normal refreshed!
Conclusion
So the main take away from this is that while kanji is hard and there’s no way to get around the sheer number of them, there are ways to make it more interesting. By being selective about the systems you use, tailoring the content and giving yourself breaks, you stand a much higher chance of not burning out.
It’s true that learning kanji the traditional way can be boring but if you are smart about how to tackle it, it doesn’t have to be anymore!
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