Learning Kanji

For me, Japanese has been excruciatingly difficult to learn. One of the most challenging aspects to the language, as anybody who has studied it would probably agree, is Kanji, which are pictographs that are used to write words.

As I write this post it is the rainy season in Japan. The rainy season in Japanese is known as tsuyu – which is written as 梅雨 using kanji.

The first character is ume (梅), which means “plum”. The second character is ame (雨), which means “rain”. Plums bloom in the spring, which is when the rainy season in Japan occurs. But look again at the kanji. 梅 can be read as either “tsu” or “ume”. 雨 can be read as either “ame” or “yu”.

Here is an interesting article that discusses the reason for this.

But the point is that each kanji has multiple readings. What makes it super challenging for foreigners to learn is that native Japanese speakers already know the meanings of words like ame, ume, and tsuyu. So when Japanese speakers learn the kanji, they have words that they can associate it with. It’s still a lot of memorization and children in Japanese schools spend years learning how to read and write. Non-native Japanese speakers who try to learn both the kanji and the words together have a more challenging task in front of them.

So all of that being said, is it worth it to learn kanji if you are going to visit Japan? The answer is yes… you don’t have to be a kanji master, but knowing some kanji will make your visit a lot easier. Signs and menus use kanji, most Japanese use kanji to write their names, and knowing a little bit will make your visit much more enjoyable.

There are apps you can download that teach kanji, will let you start at a beginner level, and provide features like flash cards to help you study. If you are looking to try and learn some kanji, I recommend either “Shirabe Jisho” or “Kanjistar” – both are available on the Apple Store.

Learning kanji is not for the faint of heart… but it’s not impossible either. It will only take a few hours and a little practice to learn some basics, although it could take years to master.