I’ve been writing down all the radicals, Kanji and vocabulary as I go.
Along with Genki to supplement grammar and further vocabulary, it does slow me down considerably.
However, I am also aiming to learn how to write Kanji, not just remember it, and this seems like a great way to kill two crabigators with one stone.
I feel some Kanji gradual stick to memory so I suppose it’s working.
Anyone else doing that? Do you guys think this is a good idea?
Cheers!
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I’m planning on learning how to write the kanji when I’m done. I feel like it’s gonna be easier then.
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I’ve written all my lessons down since level 13 or so. I also write down most incorrect reviews.
I can write most grade 1 and grade 2 kanji but I’m a bit too lazy to remember more write now.
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I’ve been writing down the kanji+readings+meanings, and the vocab+readings+meanings (although not the radicals). I haven’t been doing it quite as I go, but I try to copy out all the kanji before I start a level, and start copying out the vocab about halfway through the level once the kanji have sunk in.
I find writing by hand really helps my memory (and amusingly between writing out the practice exercises from Genki for class, I’ve probably hand written more in japanese than I have for the decade in english.)
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I do want to be able to write kanji in the future, but for now, I only practice writing the kanji in the Genki books. It’d be really time consuming for me if I started practicing writing down the 250 or so kanji that I’ve learnt so far. I type more than I write and communicate with native speakers online anyway so at this current time, it’s not a priority.
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Yeah I’ve started doing that aswell. Addtionally, I write the ones I’ve gotten wrong onto a big whiteboard in my room so I can look over them when I’m there and it kind of helps to familiarise myself with the radicals, kanji and vocab better.
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The real question would be… What are you aiming for?
You wanna finish WK as soon as possible before your subscription ends / upcoming JLPT exams?
Or do you wanna learn Japanese the Japanese way?
If its the latter then by no means, you should stick to writing whatever radical / kanji / word you come across.
I’m not saying you should write entire lines of the same character / word over and over again.
Just the action of focusing on it, analyzing it, and eventually writing it on a piece of paper.
I have been doing it since level 1.
If you stick to writing Japanese, Japanese will stick to you.
Throughout the day I also use an app called Kanji Tree, where you practice writing Kanji the correct way. I don’t care about knowing how to write or the stroke order. But being able to know 100% which radicals are used in certain kanji’s will really upgrade your reading / writing skills.
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I am definitely in it for the long run, yes. So I am doing it the Japanese way, I suppose, trying to soak up as much as I can. I also try to watch anime and other content and I find that very slowly I am picking up more context and the occasional full sentence from time to time. This wouldn’t be possible with WK alone, I don’t think. But it’s such an invaluable resource nonetheless.
I am glad it’s not just me taking things slowly 
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I was doing that but I think I’m not a guy who memorize anything from writing down. I feel like write things down just slow my learning progress so I stopped writing.
I’m taking things slowly as well but in different way. I hop around the internet to see usages and other site explanation to concrete my memory.
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Yes, rewriting key example sentences, vocab, etc. from Genki + doing all of the exercises. Currently at notebook 4.
It does take a lot of time, but helps even more.
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I write words and or kanji from words that I meet in the wild more than once. For example, in minecraft videos つるはし - pickaxe and 安山岩 - andesite
Idea is that if I met new word/kanji twice, it’s common enough and I will see it again and if I forget it, it’ll be easier to find.
Strongly recommend Kanji Study. 13 bucks, one time payment, and you get to set it up in a way that is in sync with WK levels. Great for practicing writing with the write stroke order.
I have the import files to set up for WK levels and can assist if you’d like a hand with that.
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I’m also using Kanji Study, I completely recommend it !
Before I was using Kanji Tree, which is also quite good as a free app since all kanji are unlocked. I bought the paid version to be able to make my own lists of Kanji, but it turns out, you can only have one custom list. I don’t know if this was a bug or not, I asked for a refund and bought Kanji Study instead.
As a bonus the user interface of Kanji Study is more modern and better to the eye I think. 
I second Kanji Study. I started creating custom sets for each WK level. It also helps with remembering the readings in a different way as they are often written in Katakana in the app. It’s happened more than once that I remembered how to write the Kanji, not from the English prompt, but from the Japanese reading shown.
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Happened to me also, but mostly because my app is in French so for kanjis that are synonyms, I don’t always know which one I’m supposed to write without checking the reading 
I’ve been writing all lessons down since level 1. Now on my fifth notebook. I find that taking the time to write it neatly definitely helps my retention.
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i don’t actually write down kanji, but when doing lessons and reviews, i do often trace the stroke order (just in my mind, or with small movements of my hand). this helps me a lot with recognising kanji in unusual fonts, as they may look quite different visually, but still have the same strokes.
being generally familiar with stroke order also helps with looking up kanji i don’t know yet. just draw it into google translate.
If Skritter had a lifetime option I would recommend that over Kanji Study, because it has an inbuilt SRS. But $100/year is a very high price simply to add SRS to Kanji Study.
I use WK scripts for stroke order, as well as Japanese dictionary / Jisho but it’s great to know Kanji Study can be used in addition too.
I also run the Jitai, rendaku, audio and pitch info as well as Katakana madness, and many other scripts that make things more interesting.
I do often write the Kanji in the air in addition to paper to further practice, and try recalling them in general more often.
I’d say I can probably write around a 100 Kanji from memory at this point which is not too bad Understanding how radicals built up into different Kanji is a God send too, and WK mnemonics are often very helpful.
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If you can write a hundred Kanji, chances are you can write two hundred (or more) Kanji. There’s an intuition that is progressively built up. Also helps to see the Kanji in handwriting fonts as much as possible to guess stroke order more easily over time.
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