[Request] Testing: Radicals in Kanji

[OdaRyoichi]

Hello everyone.

Similar to prior complaints by others, for characters which I easily recognize the reading/meaning for a presented kanji character, I sometimes find it difficult to recall the image of the kanji characters when prompted in the opposite order (i.e. meaning/reading).

As such, I have been searching, without success, for a way to test memory of the radicals which compose each kanji character. I cannot seem to configure ({WK self-study quiz}/{Memrise}/{Quizlet}) to properly test this approach without requiring the radicals to be entered in a specific order. Is there an available solution for this?

Thank you in advance,
小田良一

[bladepoint]

To my knowledge, there’s nothing to test your knowledge of the radicals in kanji. If you want to do this yourself without requiring radicals in a specific order then you could do something like this:

let R be a list of radicals in a kanji
let T be an empty list
let c be 0

for each entered radical r:
    if r is in R and r is not in T: // ensures uniqueness
        c += 1
    add r to T
end for
if c == length of R:
    return True
else:
    return False

[Zenguro]

I test myself using kaniwani.com.
If I seem unable to remember, then I’ll check the mnemonic on wanikani and see if I can come up with something better.

[wunderbunny]

Alternately, use the Wanikani to Anki Exporter to download wanikani content into an Anki import file. If you do that, you have to create a flashcard to test meaning → reading. It is not difficult, if you are experienced with Anki. The exporter does not have component kanji though.

[Richard-Degenne]

Kaniwani’s great, but if you want to remember how to write a kanji, write them down. You’ll learn a lot faster by actually drawing the radicals and characters.

[rfindley]

@OdaRyoichi

a way to test memory of the radicals which compose each kanji character

@OdaRyoichi,
That’s a great idea. I’ll consider adding it to Self-Study Quiz during the rewrite for APIv2, since that info is now available in the API.

[Fiasko444]

I agee with this. Do Kaniwani but don’t only type your answers in, write them down on paper as well before checking.

[rmizuno]

you could try using this

Printout for kanji study/writing practice using the Iversen Method

EDIT: For clarity, I use this when I do kanji lessons on WaniKani as a way to absorb the lessons. So, I don’t know about the Iversen Method’s history or anything, but I learned about it from this youtube video. [Level up your vocabulary with the Iversen Method!] Basically, it’s a way of reinforcing something by writing it across the sheet while covering up elements and then repeating that in a cycle. Here’s the printout I created, exclusively for studying individual kanji. [ima…

it’d basically be practice writing them out…

[OdaRyoichi]

Hi everyone, thanks for the responses.

@rfindley That would be amazing. I think that is a perfect solution if possible.

@wunderbunny I will look into an Anki solution for this and respond with any success I have. I am unsure of the ability to sufficiently incorporate radicals.

@Zenguro @Fiasko444 I agree with you and have been utilizing the method you describe (mental recall during Kaniwani reviews prior to hitting enter). However, I believe this amalgamation ([Meaning → Reading] + [Kanji meaning → Radicals]) detracts from the retention/efficiency rate for both relative to a separable testing solution.

@Richard-Degenne @rmizuno I am certain that your solution is the most thorough and effective in the long-term. However, (I may be alone on this) my hierarchy of goals is 1) reading 2) typing 3) listening 4) speaking. Handwriting is an extremely low priority to me, which leads me to believe that recalling radical composition would be far more efficient (both time and effort) than learning stroke orders.