Is it worth writing out and memorizing the kanji and how to write them, for the sake of memorization not as much writing in the future, since I will pretty much always type Japanese.
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Personally, I would say yes. I view it the same as doing math by hand rather than all by calculator. Sure, you can get by, but I donât feel like I understand as well without the reinforcement that writing things out provides.
But you donât necessarily need to prioritize doing it early on.
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If you search, there are frequently discussions about this. Some people, even those who live in Japan, decide that it is not worth the effort to learn. Other people learn to write a little bit to help with memory. Some of us love written kanji, and practice most days.
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Personally, Iâve had little trouble memorizing kanji just from using WK normally. If anything, the vocab gives me much more trouble because of alternate readings, and writing the kanji wonât really help with that. If you think writing will help you, I encourage you to try it, but just keep in mind that everything will start to accelerate and there may come a point where writing is actually holding you back.
Itâs also important to remember that you will actually get better at learning as time goes on (this is just from personal experience so Iâd be curious to see what other people have to say on this point). I know that for me, learning the kanji of the first 5 or so levels seemed more difficult than they do now. I just did a huge batch of level 11/12 lessons this morning and during my midday reviews I remembered most of them, something that would never happen in the earlier levels. Learning using WK is just as much of a skill as the actual kanji are, so you may get to a point where kanji learning is easy enough that you donât need to write to help yourself remember them.
Of course, like I said before, do whatever suits you. If you can go through WK using writing to help you, then congratulations! Now you can also write kanji, which is a hugely difficult thing on its own that most people (myself included) skip over because itâs not needed. I know you said youâd be writing for the sake of memorization and not actually being able to write but if you keep up with it you can use it for both either way. Another benefit to writing (so Iâve been told) is that if you know the proper stroke order for kanji it can help you read written kanji better, because itâs not always as neat as a typed font but you can see the individual strokes.
Thatâs my two cents anyways, someone with more WK experience might have more to say, but no matter what you decide, the most important aspect is that youâre consistent with WK. Writing or no, you wonât learn if you donât do the lessons and reviews.
Best of luck!
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One thing writing kanji might really help with is recognizing different fonts. If you know how it is written, what the stroke order is like, itâs easier to extrapolate how the kanji might change in calligraphy, or in a handwritten font.
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Depends on your objectives for learning the language and how you personally learn.
I havenât done any kanji writing at all and itâs been fine for me.
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It is definitely worth learning to write it.
There are a lot of myths and deceptions going around the internet and in general that the Japanese people cannot write Kanji or do not bother to learn it anymore. This is a flat out myth and total fabrication. Kanji is an essential part of Japanese life and it is impossible to live there, attain work and survive (as a Japanese person) if they do not know Kanji. It is drummed into them in school to learn it.
The myths and misconceptions arise due to the fact that some kanji are considered irrelevant and not worth learning. The Japanese government I believe oversees which Kanji is essential and not. Some Kanji have been made obsolete. That is probably why this myth has arisen. I have seen plenty of YouTube videos with some âwiseguyâ showing an obscure Kanji to a Japanese person and they have no idea what it means and uses it as proof that the Japanese people do not know Kanji anymore. It is a flat out lie. It s the same as asking an English speaking person what the words âpanopticâ, âBarmecideâ, âbruxismâ, âthaumatropeâ, âturbaryâ, âBifurcationâ and âCertiorariâ all mean and when people get them wrong claiming that we no longer use English.
I do not consider I have learnt a Kanji unless I can actually write it with the correct brush stroke, know the stroke count and can write it from memory. This is what the Japanese people do in their schools.
I do not use online media for this. I own a book and it is probably the best book I have ever had for Japanese study. It is called Essential Kanji by P.G. OnâNeil and has 2000 Kanji in it it has written and computer form as well as old form and has the stroke order and example vocabulary it is used in. There is a list at the back that has meaning lookup as well as stroke order lookup to find that illusive Kanji as well as a list of radicals by their correct translated names. If you cannot write the Kanji from memory then you simply do not know it. There is no argument about it. If you cannot write it then how are you supposed to recognise it when you see it in vocabulary you do not know and mix it up with similar looking Kanji.
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I donât specifically go out of my way to learn handwritten kanji by heart, but I take notes by hand when going over grammar. And when I read, I keep a list of vocab words by hand as well, so I end up writing a reasonable amount.
It has helped me with retention (even more mental pathways and memories connected to those kanji), but itâs also very time consuming if youâre checking how to write something before you write it. I do agree that knowing stroke order has helped me a little bit with recognizing kanji in more crazy fonts.
There is nothing wrong with giving hand writing a go - just make sure to evaluate if it works for you over time.
A boost to retention can be nice, but if you end up not doing your kanji work because you donât feel like the lengthy process of doing writing drills; consider changing up your methods again. Depending on what you want to use Japanese for, writing by hand might not be immediately necessary, and itâd be a shame to let that aspect burn you out.
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Is it worth writing out and memorizing the kanji and how to write them, for the sake of memorization not as much writing in the future, since I will pretty much always type Japanese.
If you plan on learning how to read and write Japanese, then yes, you probably need to write them (itâs obviously easier to read characters you have already written). If youâre planning on not learning how to read or write, and are only focusing on learning how to listen and speak at a basic level, then you might want to consider skipping writing.
Try asking yourself the same question about writing English by hand. I think the answer is roughly the same.
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Depends on your goals. If your goal is to work with Japanese long term or achieve a high level of fluency, itâs definitely âworthâ it, to the extent that it helps you remember kanji more thoroughly and is a cornerstone of communication if youâre ever living in Japan. It will also aid your ability to decipher other peoplesâ handwritten notes, and kanji distorted by shorthand writing methods.
But even then, itâs definitely the most optional part, so donât feel bad if youâre making the call to put it on back-burner for reading, grammar, vocab, and listening. (As Iâm doing now, though I know building in a permanent writing-practice routine is something I should do down the road.)
If you know your goals for the language donât extend beyond reading or listening as hobbies, then ⊠your call. Prioritize what feels useful. I will say itâs quite possible to read without extensive writing practice, so I somewhat disagree with the post above that claims itâs impossible to say you know a kanji before you can write it. Youâll have to know the differences between kanji that differ by a stroke a two, and while the best way to drill those in is absolutely writing, those are differences you can commit to memory through careful visual drilling and reading. I absolutely think you can be literate without extensive writing practiceâand there are probably multiple members here who are living proof of thatâwhile also fully agreeing that itâs better to also be able to write the kanji, and undoubtedly leads to even greater reading fluency long-term.
This is true, but English writing doesnât have quite the same time hurdles Japanese writing practice does. (Spellings are often arbitrary, but you can more or less write once you have twenty-six letters down.) Itâs absolutely a useful skill, and helps with other areas of study, but as a Japanese learner, I think itâs absolutely reasonable to assess whether you can give it the time it requires.
Extremely noted, for a purchase once Iâm done with my N1 books.
I feel like some people are forgetting about opportunity cost, aka by the time you learned how to write 5 Kanji you probably could have learned how to read 15.
(No, the exact numbers donât really matter)
And itâs not a black and white thing either.
Maybe youâd decide to learn how to write the 500 most common Kanji but only read the rest.
Point being: My time is finite. For now Iâd rather be able to read more Kanji.
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Knowing how to write them does help you remember what they look like because it really forces you to pay attention to how their constructed, not just to look at the kanjiâs overall appearance. That said, youâre write that you probably will never have to do more than type them outside of a Japanese class. My advice is, practice writing for a while, but eventually you should be able to give it up without any harm.
And maybe my memory for those 5 is more solid than yours for the 15. Whether you want to focus on broad understanding or deep dives is personal preference as well.
I donât really see how this would work though, honestly. If you know how to write 500 kanji, and then you learn æ±, you donât need to make much effort to âlearnâ how to write that.
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That is actually a major misconception about Kanji. You can learn to write them quicker by learning to write them.
The trick is that every Kanji has a pattern of radicals. Once you learn how to write the radicals by stroke order or stroke number then you do not need to learn the stroke pattern of all individual Kanji as you will already know the pattern.
Think of it as ingredients if you like.
It is more like if you learn to write 5 Kanji then you can automatically know how to write 50 or even 500 or more depending on how many radicals you learnt.
In reality you waste more time learning them from memory opposed to learning them by writing. I was told by a Japanese teacher once that you only have to write it 6 times to be able to remember it without looking. Practice writing them 6 times each day of practice and by the end of the week you will be totally proficient at writing the ones you have learnt.
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I agree with the main thrust of your post, that kanji-writing is still essential for Japanese people. However, I can say that you donât need to know how to write a kanji to distinguish it from similar kanji. If you have studied both kanji (burned them on wanikani) you will absolutely be able to tell it from a similar kanji.
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How else would you learn how to write them?
You just busted WaniKani, lets all move over to https://skritter.com/
I didnt mean youâd suddenly stop knowing how to write 501 kanji, but youâd not make an effort to practice writing them by memory.
Also, Iâd probably say knowing how to write a kanji when you see it and being able to write it by memory are still quite different.
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Yeah, I agree with this. And if you see the word è©Šéš and you burned it on WK, youâll be able to read it and know the meaning if you see it in all likelihood, even if you canât remember if itâs éš or æ€ when you need to write it yourself.
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I guess the point is that it takes someone who has learned how to write 500 kanji probably 5 seconds to commit the elements of æ± to memory, if they need to produce it from memory.
Something like 鏱, sure, youâll need to take some time to work out a mnemonic at first probably, or at least write it out a few times. But many kanji are just âyeah, got itâ at a certain point.
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When I was living in Japan I was glad I could write some kanji at least. And honestly, my main motivation for learning how to write new kanji was to avoid embarrassment when writing in front of others.
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