Beckteria

Kamikaze Kanji!

Wow! I originally thought that I knew roughly 100-200 kanji, not every reading of course, but just basic readings. Theoretically I knew, at the peak of my studying, 450-500. I have of course forgotten a lot in the 3 years since I’ve graduated. Yesterday, I reviewed 50 kanji (again, I knew them, just not the many readings each can have) and today 25. I feel like my head is going to explode which means I’m actually learning a thing or two. I think I kind of actually know about 300-400 kanji, at least can recognize and say one or two of their readings.

Not to bore you too much, but I’ll see a compound (2+ kanji which makes a noun) and then look up the second one to learn more about it. In this way, I am learning two fold. I am learning how to read better and I’m learning new vocabulary. Kanji is certainly a love hate relationship. I love them because even if I can’t read them properly, often I have an understanding of what the meaning is as they are pictorial. I also love them because then you can picture what they’re trying to convey. For example, “rumor” has the kanji for “wind” and for “to listen,” so rumors are nothing but hot air. Right?

Okay, the rest of you aren’t geeky enough to appreciate this. So, I won’t bore you any further with this right now.

The bottom line is that I’m learning Japanese little by little. YES!

posted by Bex @ 8:05 AM