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Reddit mentions of Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters

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We found 55 Reddit mentions of Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters. Here are the top ones.

Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters
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Found 55 comments on Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters:

u/SuikaCider · 446 pointsr/languagelearning

Edit: Apparently I had nothing better to do than this evening, so here's a wall of text. Hope it's useful for you.

EditII: Didn't expect so many people to look at this, either.. so I'll say: this isn't an in depth zero-to-hero guide for Japanese, this is just a tidy gathering of the path I took to learn Japanese to my current level (minus a few textbooks), which is definitely still very far from fluent. I'm personally learning Japanese for its literature, and the vast majority of what I did was aimed at getting into books as fast as possible (cough Heisig cough) -- if you don't care about reading, I'll be the first to say that a lot of what's here might not be interesting to you. Google around and see if my suggestions fit your learning style or not. Japanese is weird in that there are literally resources for everything, so I'm sure there's something that fits you.

EditIII: Just wanted to link the DJTguide, a library of tons of resources organized into different skills and stuff. If you don't like my suggestions, I'd personally start here to find something else.

intro -- textbook stuff -- post-textbook stuff -- tutoring -- loose timeline

I have lived in Japan (for school) for two years, speaking nothing before I arrived (fully intended on going to Spain instead lol)...and am now somewhere between N2/N1, which is the level of fluency required to work with Japanese businesses/join a Japanese-conducted program. At this point no conversation is a problem, I can read modern literature for enjoyment (older stuff literally employed a partially different language and requires its own study), and follow movies/comedy shows/anime without subtitles if I'm pay attention.

I didn't try nearly as hard as I could have, so I honestly think you could reach my level of "fluency" if you make a religion of it -- a research student at my university came speaking nothing one year ago and now speaks notably better than I do across the board (on behalf of being forced to communicate with people for like 12 hours a day). Granted, you don't have the luxury of multiple Japanese people needing to communicate with you in order to do their job, and thus adjusting their language to your level to communicate with you all day every day... but I still think you can learn enough in a year to thoroughly enjoy yourself, at the very least.

Here's how I'd do that.

Textbook Stuff

  1. Read The Kanji -- don't use this for kanji. Make a free account, use it to learn the Hiragana and Katakana (two of Japanese's three alphabet systems; 48 characters each and phonetic. One is for Japanese-origin words, the other is for loan words and other random things). It just throws flash cards at you with each of the symbols; you can probably commit them to memory in a few hours. It's okay if you forget a few or several or even most of them at first; you're going to see these things so often that they'll be impossible to forget before long. We're just shooting to prime your passive memory so that you'll see a word written, have your curiosity irked, and be able to work it out, connecting that forgotten information to more and more recent memories to help remember them. Plus, this is a model for your year as a whole -- contextually acquiring passive understanding that stretches your boundaries, then diving back inwards and working to solidify passive knowledge that has become useful for your current situation or will allow you to express something you want to express currently, into knowledge that gradually becomes active.

  2. Buy Genki I, its workbook, Genki II, and its workbook. This will walk you from knowing absolutely no Japanese at the beginning of Genki I, and while mileage varies, I was personally able to make sense of ShiroKuma Cafe (see the link in the next section) upon completing Genki II. I'm currently taking the first "advanced" level Japanese course at my uni, meaning that I have had the opportunity to talk with other "advanced" (apostraphes meaning take with a grain of salt, looking at myself) learners about how they learned Japanese, and the Genki series is by and large the crowd favorite.

  3. Buy Heisig, or you can probably find a version somewhere on the interwebs....... make an account at Kanji Koohii (a site where people work together progressing through Heisig, mainly by sharing the mneumonics they make for the kanji), and otherwise follow the instructions on Nihongo Shark's Blog. He suggests to completely put learning Japanese on hold till you finish the 2200 Kanji in this deck in 97 days, but I think that's ambitious as is, and eats too much of your year up. So I personally would say learn 15 a day, every day, until you finish -- that will have you finishing in around 5 months, you'll be on target with the 6 months I'm plotting out for Genki I + II even if you miss a few days. (see below).

  4. Others might disagree and you can make up your own mind, but I personally think learning the Kanji is essential. They take time to learn at first, but repay you dividends later on when you accumulate vocabulary basically without thinking, passively, by reading or watching subtitled shows. Plus, any resource you'll use past the beginner stage will require kanji.. meaning if you don't learn them, you can't use these resources, and gimp yourself down the road. They're incredibly logical and like legos; the resources in #3 basically talk about the most efficient way to build things out of those legos (to help remember what each lego is). Also look into Moonwalks with Einstein if you'reinterested in memory in general. The thing about Kanji is that they unlock Japanese, as every single Kanji has a unique meaning, and Japanese words are basically simple definitions of themselves. Take fire extinguisher, for example: 消火器。It literally means extinguish-fire-utensil/tool. Good luck understanding a random word like that in any other language at first sight, but it's easy in Japanese, and the vast majority of Japanese words are exactly like this. Learning the Kanji allows you to take a word you've never seen before, instantly have a reliable guess as to what it means... and depending on your familiarity with the Kanji, maybe even how to read it. This happens to a lesser extent in conversation, also. Kanji are a new system of logic, but once you adjust to it, it's pure magic -- eventually, you sort of stop needing to study vocabulary, because you can just read and passive understand most any word (which you'll eventually work into your active vocabulary). I talk about "The First 2000 Words" in #5, and basically, words give you diminishing returns -- they're a lot of bang for your buck at first.. but past 6,000, 10,000, 20,000 ... learning 10 or 100 or even 1,000 new words might not give you noticeable improvement.

  5. This anki deck is Genki in Example Sentences; pace your daily reviews so that you'll be going in time with your progression through chapters in the book. I really, really wanted to link you The Core 2k(the first 2000 most frequent words of Japanese) because I really liked it and the first 2000 words make up a significant majority of daily conversations (we repeat a lot of the same things over and over, the same bread and butter structures, laced and spiced with more rare nouns, then descriptive words, and the occasional verb)......... but I also think that context is the biggest key when it comes to language learning, and the 2k doesn't have that for you right now. It's eventually going to outpace your Kanji studies (if I'm recalling how I studied accurately), and more importantly, the word order does not follow Genki. You're going to be spending a lot of time with Genki for 6 months, the pace that I want you to complete these words in. You're already going to be stretched thin, so I guess I'm going to recommend you take that Genki deck and use it as a supplement to help you get more out of Genki -- it looks like it's going to take, on average, ~25 cards per day. I don't know if that's ideal, but then again, I stuck with Genki until I finished Genki (no other resources, began Hesig - also below - about 2/3 of the way through), and I began watching Shirokuma Cafe (below) immediately after Genki II, able to (at first, painfully) understand it... and I think I'm just a normal dude, if you're also a normal dude -- or, better, a better than average dude -- I guess Shirokuma should be good for you, too, after Genki II and this Genki Deck.
u/pewpewk · 20 pointsr/LearnJapanese

Writing and reading kind of come in the same package if you need to learn the Kanji. As Kiruwa said, spoken or written first doesn't have an answer because everybody is different. But here are some general suggestions...

  1. Learn the Kana first and foremost. I can't stress how important this is, because the sooner you start learning Japanese in Japanese the better off you'll be later down the road. Learning the Kana is easy and can be done in anywhere between a day or 2 to a week. But really get Hiragana down with utmost haste.

  2. Once you have a basis in reading the Kana, start up an Anki deck (or any Spaced Repetition System). If you search a bit, you should be able to find the Core2k and Core6k which are some great decks to work towards. I'm not too familiar with working with the Core decks, but I'm sure there's a lot of people here that are so ask around.

  3. If you want to go the free route, Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide is an excellent free e-book on Japanese grammar. Their iPhone and iPad apps are excellent and work extremely well, too. This would be a good place to possibly start learning your way around Japanese grammar. If you want to go down the textbook route, I'd suggest the sort of tried-and-true Genki method. I use these textbooks in my Japanese University class and, while I'm not the biggest fan of them, they're pretty good textbooks for learning the material. Pick up Genki I, the Genki I Workbook, and the Genki Answer Key at your favorite online bookstore.

  4. Once you've got a good foundation with the above three (in the case of my University class my professor started after the first semester, or 6 lessons into Genki) I'd say it's time to start learning some Kanji. If you're going down the self-studying route, I, like many others, highly recommend Heisig's Remembering the Kanji. Start with Vol. 1 and don't use any other method of learning the Kanji. Use it in conjunction with Reviewing the Kanji site and you'll have a great foundation after a while of work.

  5. Practice, practice, practice. That's all I can really say. Immerse yourself in the material, don't give up, and go for it. It's really hard work and incredibly daunting. I'm only a little more than a year into my studies and the further I get the more I realize I don't understand. That said, I keep pushing myself to see if I can't get a little further and when I look back to what I knew a year ago and what I know today, I couldn't possibly imagine even knowing this much. This isn't going to be a quick process, but years upon years of studying.

    But enough of the prep talk. Good luck and if you ever need help, /r/LearnJapanese is a great place to ask! :)

    *Of course, all opinions expressed here are my own and may or may not be conclusive for your learning.
u/ccoltrain · 15 pointsr/anime

I dont know if this will help but here are some resources I use

Tae kim grammar guide is good for learning grammar http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/writing
anki is really good for making flash cards or you can find pre made decks to study https://apps.ankiweb.net/
If you like reading you could try these https://bilingualmanga.com/
http://syosetu.com/
If you like anime use this, you can watch anime with japanese subs
https://animelon.com/
Also kanji is important to learn because you cant read japanese without them
I recommend remembering the kanji 1 https://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Characters/dp/0824835921/ref=mp_s_a_1_1/135-4585020-0846068?ie=UTF8&qid=1542029781&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=remembering+the+kanji+1&dpPl=1&dpID=51QhUaQJRmL&ref=plSrch

u/Dempf · 12 pointsr/Games

I would definitely recommend Remembering the Kanji along with Anki for spaced repetition flashcards. It helped me with Chinese.

Edit: changed link to latest version of RTK.

u/Jaggid1x · 10 pointsr/Animemes

Might I recommend Remembering the Kanji by Heisig? Couple it with an Anki deck from here (I recommend this one or any that includes the stories), and it becomes almost trivial.

Ridiculously effective for long-term memory as well.

u/ErikaGuardianOfPrinc · 9 pointsr/Shadowverse

I think it's a kinda poor way to learn kanji on it's own, but for kana and general vocabulary it's fine. It's a good supplement to use in conjunction with other resources.

For kanji a friend of mine recommended Remembering the Kanji by Heisig. His method is working the best for me.

u/Lankei · 8 pointsr/LearnJapanese

Check out Remembering the Kanji by James Heisig.

Learning kanji by radicals is a good way of doing things, but for most everyone, an additional layer of abstraction is required to memorize things well. That is to say, creating stories or mnemonics using these radicals is an effective way to learn kanji.

There's been a lot of discussion on Remembering the Kanji and similar programs such as the Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course, so I'd check that out.

u/ashwin911 · 8 pointsr/Games

This is the latest edition of Remembering the Kanji
http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Characters/dp/0824835921

And here you can find the RTK deck for Anki https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/japanese

u/NucleoPyro · 8 pointsr/LearnJapanese

There are many different approaches to learning Kanji that people will advocate. Some of the most popular include

  • Learning common Kanji and vocab words that use them (The back chapters of Genki)

  • Brute force kanji without using radicals (Various kanji books)

  • Learning radicals and then Kanji comprised of those via mnemonics (Heisig)

    • Subset: Learn vocab words for each kanji in addition to mnemonics and radicals (Kodansha)

      Or you can take the independent approach: As you come across words you don't know, learn the kanji and that word at the same time. Look up the stroke order for kanji as you come across them and don't worry about systematically learning every 常用 kanji.

      What works best will depend on your learning style. I've briefly tried each of these methods. What I recommend to people now is Kodansha. Here's the basic process for how I learn 8 kanji every day:

  1. First review the last 8 kanji I learned by seeing if I can remember the mnemonics. Try to draw them by hand. If I remember the vocab words I might write them down too, but I usually just review vocab using anki.

  2. Go through 4 kanji and their mnemonics. Write each one at least once to get a feel for the stroke order. Go through the next 4 in the same way.

  3. Add all the vocab that Kodansha recommends memorizing to my custom anki deck. (There is a community anki deck but I prefer to do it in my own style.)

  4. Briefly look over the 8 kanji I learned today and the 8 I learned yesterday again.

    You can choose any number of kanji to do each day, just don't overload yourself with something ridiculous like 100 per day. Basically the way this method works is you learn each kanji via its radical components and you learn the multiple pronunciations or meanings by memorizing applicable vocabulary.

    I review the kanji from days farther back than yesterday using a kanji application on my phone that allows me to make custom kanji lists and practice drawing them. Again a different method might work better for you, this is just how I choose to do it. I could go through my specific problems with each of the other methods if you'd like but I think this post is long enough as it is.

    Resources referenced:

    Kodansha

    Android Kanji Study app

    Anki

    Community Kodansha Deck

    And the other kanji book I used a long time ago:

    Heisig
u/silverforest · 6 pointsr/languagelearning

Hey! Good to see someone interested in East Asian languages! The CJKV writing system normally throws a lot of people off.

CJK Writing System

I wrote a short little rant a while back on how the characters are constructed that you might want to read.

There are methods of learning the characters that make use of their structure. Heisig's RtK and RtH books (Amazon link) are the most well known books I think. Fansites such as Reviewing the Kanji and Reviewing the Hanzi also exist which you might want to take a look at.

Not sure if you like RtK? Here's the sampler. See if you like it after learning 276 characters~

Chinese-Specific

The only thing headache inducing about any Chinese dialect is the writing system and tones.

Note that though we call them "dialects", it is a matter of politics as most of them are mutually unintelligible. A Cantonese or Mandarin speaker is unlikely to understand a Hokkien speaker at all, for example.

Written chinese, on the other hand, is in Mandarin and only in Mandarin -- the other dialects do not have writing systems. Well... the notable exception is Written Cantonese, but that's can be seen as a variant of standard written chinese.

Oh! There are have two variants of the standard writing system: Simplified and Traditional. I had learnt the former in school, and I can read the latter after learning about the simplification process, so just pick one and stick with it.

I personally find Mandarin grammar to quite simple. This might be because it's an isolating language.

u/SuperFreddy · 6 pointsr/japan

Listen to me right now. Listen to me good.

Remembering the Kanji is probably one of the best ways to achieve what you're talking about. However, according to the introduction of the book, it will hurt you to read it alongside a Japanese course or in conjunction with other Kanji-memorizing methods. So just dedicate a few weeks to learning the 2,200 Kanji this books teaches. It claims that you can do it in 4-6 weeks if you're dedicated enough. Highly recommended.

Edit: Oh, and then there is a second and third volume which help with pronunciation of Kanji and introduce you to advanced Kanji, respectively. But even mastering the first volume puts you at a great advantage to learning Japanese.

u/RamenvsSushi · 6 pointsr/LearnJapanese

YES TOTALLY WORTH!
Khatzumoto : AllJapaneseAllTheTime.com
Khatzumoto learned to be fluent in Japanese in 18 months. He did this through complete immersion. He would listen to Japanese every single day even if he didn't understand most of it at first. Learning is all about TIME. He learned how to read and write fluently by going over many sentences through SRS(Spaced Repitition System). As for Kanji, he recommends the Heisig method which I myself found extremely helpful and have a much easier time learning Kanji. If you don't want to purchase you can find a torrent very easily.

Explanation in video bits:

Watching Japanese videos without subtitles

4 stages of listening

You'll suck at it less as time goes on

I do highly recommend watching all 3 parts of the videos as there is a lot more information in them.


READ THESE:

10,000 Hours of Listening Comprehension

10,000 Sentences


Additional Sources I use for Learning 日本語:

Anki Deck for Sentences

Grammar: imabi.net

Dictionary: tangorin.com

Learning at first is overwhelming but definitely will get easier over time. But that's the thing, you have to give it a chance.

u/rainer511 · 5 pointsr/LearnJapanese

> What should I do?

You should use a kanji learning method that has you learn radicals (smaller parts of kanji) first, and then teaches you kanji that you can make out of them. One of the oldest popular versions of this method is Heisig's Remembering the Kanji. It teaches you a story and English word to associate with each kanji, which makes learning vocabulary easier in the future.

KanjiDamage takes a similar approach, but uses mnemonics that are a bit more crass. Unlike Remembering the Kanji, KanjiDamage also gives you vocabulary to associate with kanji.

Either of these methods should be paired with regular use of an SRS system. Anki is free, highly customizable, and popular, but is has a steep learning curve. Most people find it worth the effort to learn how to use it. If you search around there are other alternatives, but none of them as widely used as Anki. You could also just make traditional flash cards.

Or, if you're like me and you're too busy (read:lazy) to get books, make flashcards, manage anki decks, etc, you can just buy WaniKani. WaniKani is free to try for the first two "levels". It is pretty much the approach I explained before, except that it's done all the hard work for you. Also, unlike Remembering the Kanji, WaniKani teaches you vocabulary as you learn kanji.

u/-AngraMainyu · 4 pointsr/LearnJapanese

It's actually a system described in the book Remembering the Kanji. But of course you can use software to help with it (e.g. Anki).

u/dokool · 3 pointsr/japan

There's a couple decent reference books you could get him (Remembering the Kanji comes to mind) but don't worry about things that might be 'handy' because half the time they're not worth it. Tickets too - you don't want to give him anything time/date-specific, after all.

I say just take him out for dinner somewhere nice that he almost certainly won't get to enjoy while he's in Japan. Decent BBQ, for example.

u/pikagrue · 3 pointsr/AskReddit

There's actually a book series that made memorizing characters really easy. I'm learning Japanese, and with it I was able to commit 2000 kanji to memory in a bit over a month. It doesn't go over readings at all, but you can at least write everything without issue.

And Chinese grammar is great, it takes all those things like conjugation and irregular verbs and noun genders and just laughs at them

EDIT:

Books I used was this for Japanese

Chinese equivalent

u/[deleted] · 3 pointsr/transgendercirclejerk

> Thank you for giving me the free feels of what it is going to be like when I visit you there! Immersion ftw!

You're so very welcome!!! Have I told you about this yet? and this?

That was a delicious giggle! Thank you! Thank you!

u/urbanabydos · 3 pointsr/japanese

The best method for learning Kanji is a system by James Heisig in Remembering The Kanji.

It's a little atypical—book 1 is meaning only and book 2 is pronunciation—but if you stick with the method it's quite incredible. At my peak I was learning ~100/day with excellent retention.

And then it's just drill drill drill like everyone says. But when drilling focus on writing. Production is harder than recognition as a rule so that's what you should focus on.

I use an excellent flash card app called Anki which has desktop and mobile versions. It's pricey on mobile if I recall correctly but worthwhile. It's got a bit of a learning curve but definitely worth the investment. And you'll find lots of shared decks, including if memory serves, one based on the Heisig books. (Although there is definitely value in building your own yourself.)

I'm on iOS and you can add the Chinese Traditional Handwriting IME in "Keyboards" which allows you to practice your writing. It's not great for general Japanese input, but for Kanji practice it gets the job done. I'm sure there's something similar for Android.

Good luck!

Edit:fixed my mangled link

u/_sutego_ · 3 pointsr/transgendercirclejerk

> I'm gonna make you insta-wet, despite you got those ugly bits! Watch! /wand_wiggles!

...

I might have noticed that too. I may or may not have made very sexual stories, too. :D

EDIT:

You need this book boo.

Now excuse me while I faint =)

u/Ark42 · 3 pointsr/japanlife

RTK + Anki are amazing. My Kanji recognition is significantly better than my speaking or listening now.

u/Tehmora · 3 pointsr/AceAttorney

It all depends on how you study Japanese. If you're having trouble remembering the kanji, then read Heisig's RTK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Characters/dp/0824835921/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0/262-8139763-4834749?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=6VVZW2W0DBRRN4KG8RS2

This is a book I always recommend for people learning Kanji. It breaks down the primitives and from there, it teaches you how to write the Kanji as well as giving little stories to remember them.

If you have trouble remembering his stories, make up your own! Or take a page from other people's stories from this website: https://hochanh.github.io/rtk/rtk1-v6/index.html

Although I can't read Kanji properly (the On and Kun readings), I can still identify Kanji pretty easily. I've been able to remember roughly 400 kanji. By which I mean, I can actually write the kanji with ease, like a japanese person, if you give me the word.

My goal is to remember the Kanji and then learn how to read and speak japanese properly. (So I can finally play DGS! =D)

Edit & PS: But please remember, that RTK doesn't have the readings. It only has the meaning of the Kanji. So don't rely on it to learn Japanese, but rather use it as a supplement to your studying.

u/vgambit · 2 pointsr/Gunpla

You're young. You'll have a much easier time learning Japanese if you start now.

http://ankisrs.net/

http://smile.amazon.com/dp/0824831640

http://smile.amazon.com/dp/0824835921

u/firstgunman · 2 pointsr/anime

Please don't do it. Serious.

Anime characters have a very distinct speech pattern, and you do not want to speak a language like their cartoon character. Trying to learn Japanese from anime is flawed from first principle; you will get endless shit from native speakers if this is the route you choose to learn the language.

It's kinda like how some Japanese learn English by listening to Elvis Presly songs. Just don't.

It sounds like you're new to the process, so I suggest you pay /r/LearnJapanese a visit. They are a great community, and you'll learn about what you have to learn in order to master the language.

Other resources:

Heisig's Remembering the Kana. A fantastic way to learn the basic alphabet. You want to start reading Kana and stop reading romanization as soon as possible, and this can help you do it literally over a weekend.

Remembering the Kanji by the same author is the next obvious step. Much more tedious, but that's the thing with Kanji. You sit down, shut up, and learn it. This book makes it as painless as possible.

With that said, trying to memorize a lot of information is a solved problem in human psychology; this means there are softwares implementing proven techniques that will help you do it. I highly recommend Anki.

Finally, if you want a glimpse at the grammar, there's a fantastic guide over at Amaterasu translation.

Good luck, have fun!

(Full disclosure: I'm essentially a n00bie at the process myself. I tried to learn the language too, but it's on shelf right now due to other stuffs in my life. I do not know Japanese.)

u/Kitsune_Gakuin · 2 pointsr/LearnJapanese

It's listed as companion here. The Amazon page for the most up to date RTK even mentions "Updated to include the 196 new kanji approved by the Japanese government in 2010 as "general-use" kanji".

All of the 2010 additions are listed here, and you can see companion is 侶. 朋 doesn't even appear anywhere on this list.

u/kaoskastle · 2 pointsr/japanese

Hey!

For learning the Jouyou kanji, I used James Heisig's Remembering the Kanji volume 1 (and volume 3 for an extra ~1000 kanji). It requires a bit of re-thinking how one should go about learning these things:

Usually when learning kanji, people go in grade order, learning the English meaning of the kanji and memorizing all of the possible readings (for some kanji, you'll have two pronunciations -- for others, you can surpass 10 different pronunciations). I feel that this method is ridiculously inefficient, and Heisig agrees. With RtK1+3, you completely ignore the readings, learning only to write and recognize the kanji, as well as their English meanings. On top of that, you don't learn them in grade order, but rather in the order of the elements that make up those kanji (for example, these are taught to you in order: 口→日→刀→召→昭 ...and so on). Instead of being given a bunch of unrelated complex characters, you're given the building blocks, and then shown how to create the more complex kanji by being able to see them as just their individual parts (for example, 鬱, despite its 29-stroke-count, is super easy when you break it down).

As for actually remembering the kanji you learn, check out Reviewing the Kanji, a free web-based SRS specifically for use with Heisig's books.

A common argument against RtK is the fact that readings are totally disregarded; after all, you can't read Japanese if you can't read the kanji, right?? Of course. But the way we've usually gone about learning them isn't all that great. That's not to say it hasn't worked -- people have used it to success before -- but it's slow, inefficient, and prone to failure. Instead, once I'm able to write and recognize a good 2000+ kanji and can read ひらがな/カタカナ, I've got the ability to use everything I need to learn readings: a dictionary. When you're reading and you come across a word you don't know (say, 竜巻), simply look it up in the dictionary. The dictionary will have the reading right there for you (たつまき!).

Traditionally, people would look at 何 and memorize that it can be read なに, なん, て, が... and probably some more that I don't know. Then do this for every kanji they learn -- memorizing these lists of sounds. My thought is, though, even when you know all of the pronunciations for something... you still don't know which of those readings to use in a new word (the 何 in 如何体... the answer may surprise you!). So you're gonna have to look up the word; heck, you'll probably be looking it up anyway because you don't know the word! If that's the case, why not forget about memorizing these contextless sets of sounds and just look up words as they come? In that way, you naturally begin to pick up how kanji are read, in context.

Sorry for the novel of a comment, but I hope it makes sense. Getting through the kanji can seem like a huge, daunting task, and it takes longer than one might want, but if definitely doesn't take as long as one might fear! Find a pace that works for you -- I went through the first ~300 or so kanji of RtK1 at about 30 a day, but then bumped it down to 10 a day for the remainder of it and RtK3, and it was a glorious pace. Slow? Maybe. But I was making real, consistent progress, and it feels huge to reach the finish line. :) Hope this helps! Have fun!

u/chibicody · 2 pointsr/shogi

It's like asking how long it will take to reach 1-dan, it varies so much depending on time commitment, motivation, personal ability and method. I'd expect it would take at least a couple years, though there are examples of people becoming somewhat fluent in 6 months, so anything is possible.

As for the best approach, you'll find lots of opinions. I think people are generally bad at remembering what it was like when they started learning and knew nothing, so all those "here's how I'd do it if I started all over again" are not always the best advice but I'll try to give you my version of it anyway:

  • Start with a generic "learn Japanese" method, those won't take you very far but you have to start somewhere. Your first goals should be to get a feeling for how Japanese works, basic grammar, a few basic words and most importantly learn to read and write hiragana and katakana (the phonetic system used in Japanese writing). I recommend the Japanese in Mangaland series of books, but any other decent beginner method will do.

  • In parallel get the JapanesePod101 podcasts. Those really helped me a lot, as I would listen to them every day and build listening ability. They start from the very beginning too. Continue listening to them, especially during the next step for motivation.

  • Now this is going to be controversial but after doing introductory material for some time, if you're really committed to learning Japanese and be efficient at it, you have to bite the bullet and learn the Kanji (Chinese characters): all 2000+ of them that are in common use. Fortunately that isn't that hard if you use the Heisig method, you can use the Kanji Koohii website to manage the flashcards you'll use for memorization. It's a bit controversial because with this method you're learning the Kanji in isolation without learning how they are actually used in Japanese. It's still 100% worth it. This turbo-charged my Japanese learning like nothing else before. It took me 3 months to go through the book and learn all the characters. Once you're familiar with the characters, it's 10 times easier to learn vocabulary, even if your goal is to listen to shogi commentary, it's still the best way of doing that in my opinion (plus you'll be able to read shogi books eventually)

  • Once you're done with the kanji you need to start building vocabulary, using your new kanji knowledge, it will be much more efficient, as you learn vocabulary, you learn how to write them using kanji you already know and as a consequence learn how those kanji are pronounced and used. This is why this method works so well. For vocabulary I recommend using the Anki flashcard software, you can download pre-made decks of vocabulary. Look for Core 2k, 6k and 10k which are a set of most common words complete with example sentences and audio, there are alternative but I think those are the best lists. A few thousands words plus shogi specific vocabulary should be enough to get a decent understanding of shogi programs.

    Anyway this isn't everything, you need to continue with more grammar, practice, and so on while doing that, but this is the gist of what I wish I knew when I got started. I guess it can seem a bit overwhelming but just get started and go one step at a time...

    Also you'll need this: Dictionary :)
u/Maarifrah · 2 pointsr/japanese

The best way to learn a language is to interact with it as much as you can in every way you can. Yes, you can and probably should spend some time seriously studying from a good resource like tae kim's complete japanese guide(the whole thing is free), but you won't want to do that all the time for all of your free time. Get some Japanese books, manga, tv shows(this is one way to watch the region-locked Japanese Netflix) video games, listen to Japanese music, listen to podcasts in japanese. (You will want to find things with both japanese speaking & japanese text - subtitles are not good for learning!).

Kanji is a difficult hurdle, and there are a few popular ways to tackle it (this is by no means a comprehensive list):

  • Heisig's Remember the Kanji book

  • Anki is a flashcard program with spaced repetition, and it is useful both by itself or with a RTK deck. There's also good vocab decks. Anki is completely free.
  • Wanikani is kind of like Heisig's RTK and Anki glued together and glossed over with a fresh shade of paint. I've never used it but it looks good.

    Well hopefully that helps. My personal take on learning kanji is to just learn it as you go from new vocab you acquire. Finding things like games or manga with furigana is very helpful as you can just search for that character in Jisho and all of a sudden you have its basic meaning, on/kun readings and most importantly, its stroke order.
u/PandaHatDude · 2 pointsr/LearnJapanese

If Kanji is an issue try the Remembering the Kanji by James Heisig and get the Anki deck to go with it.

​

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Characters/dp/0824835921/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542637329&sr=8-1&keywords=remember+the+kanji

u/BlackRiot · 2 pointsr/Calgary

If you're a beginner, those are some good resources to start with for reading, including Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese. For Kanji, I'm using "Remembering the Kanji" by Heisig. Japanese Skype partners or using HelloTalk is great if you're looking to have a conversational partner with. Your Chinese background will definitely help with your Kanji, so that's great.

Keep in mind about payout, though. It doesn't make practical sense to study intermediate or advanced levels of a foreign language if you're not going to be working or living there for an extended amount of time (e.g., spending three years to study advanced Spanish for a month long vacation in Mexico makes zero sense sans personal enjoyment).

Best of luck on your never-ending adventure of learning.

u/Qichin · 2 pointsr/languagelearning

Not a website, but I will always recommend Heisig's Remembering the Kanji. There's a sample (Pdf) if you want to try before you buy.

u/dxrebirth · 2 pointsr/LearnJapanese

Remembering the Kanji is very popular: amazon


As well as Genki: amazon

Then there is the Human Japanese app: http://www.humanjapanese.com/home.html

Or the Anki app: http://ankisrs.net/

And then sites like:
http://www.memrise.com/ time based flash cards
http://lang-8.com/ correspondence with people that are also trying to learn your language.

I don't know. I am a beginner myself, but these are a good start as far as I am concerned.

u/shadyendless · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

http://www.wanikani.com is pretty popular. I personally am learning kanji from context (not just hammering a bunch of characters, though I may begin to do that now).

Some books that might interest you:

Remembering the Kanji

The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Course (probably the one I would use)
The Key to Kanji: A Visual History of 1100 Characters <- I think most of the pictographs in this one are made up but they don't seem half bad.

As for apps, I don't really know of any/use any.

u/thestarheart · 1 pointr/gaming

That wiki is wonderful because it offers the ability to group by radicals. This is an approach that Heisig would approve of, who has written the incredibly popular Remembering the Kanji.

If you're really committed to learning Japanese, find every way you can to engage yourself. You are in control of how much you learn! Make sure you know whatever lessons you're assigned strongly. go over them enough times to never forget them. Talk to native Japanese speakers, read books, make flashcards, watch TV and movies, do everything you can to use the language.

Recommended movie

u/Justanotherbiomajor · 1 pointr/lifehacks

For the Kanji, read Remembering the Kanji by James W. Heisig.

If you're are serious about it, you will learn all the kanji you need to know in less than 6 months.

u/emilsgnik · 1 pointr/dragonquest

Remembering the Kanji by James Heisig is a really good place to start. Best of luck!

u/Forgetwhatitoldyou · 1 pointr/AskWomen

Try the book Remembering the Kanji to, well, learn the kanji. If you already know vocabulary and grammar, it'll be a cinch to learn the kanji too. There's a ton of decks on Anki (app) that have SRS flashcards based on this book.

u/Gekusu · 1 pointr/Team_Japanese
    1. The First 100 Japanese Kanji: A great first step into the world of kanji. Basic, but at first you just need something to help you dip your feet in the water.
    1. Berlitz Essential Japanese: Better than I expected, by why bother with non-academic textbook if you're a serious learner?
    1. Genki I: This was my real first foray into Japanese. Great series, especially for self-study. Holds your hand but covers a lot of territory. It helps to read it, then go back and read it again. I used the workbook on a few occasions, but not much. NOTE: The link is to the old version.
    1. Genki II: The follow-up to Genki I. Goes into more complicated grammar. Again, a great book. I used JGram and Tae Kim's a lot to reinforce my learning with the Genki series. NOTE: The link is to the old version.
    1. N3 Speed Master Series: I really liked these, however I didn't use them for long before moving on to N2 materials. It wasn't well edited, though, and some placeholder text was repeated a lot in the grammar book.
    1. 合格できるN3: This is just practice problems. Really useful for the N3, though.
  • 7. 絵で見てわかる 日本語表現文型 初中級: This was recommended by a friend. I love it because it was my transition into using primarily Japanese to study. It's a list of grammar points from high N4 to low N2 level, with related phrases lumped together. There are example dialogues and pictures along with a few sparse English notes. It's not perfect, though (some sentences don't give you a very good understanding of the grammar points).
    1. Remembering the Kanji: I dropped WaniKani to study faster, and used RtK as my new curriculum. I used Reviewing the Kanji more than this book, though.
    1. Shadowing: Let's Speak Japanese: Okay, so I only ever used the CD (not the book). Still it's great. I realized my listening was weak and conversation skills were even weaker so I found this. Starts slow, builds up. Funny and interesting. Transcribing the sentences helped my ear a lot.
    1. 新完全マスターN2 Series: These are amazing for intermediate Japanese and preparing for the N2. The Kanji and vocab books are probably the weakest and least necessary. The others are essential for N2 study.

      I know there's been a few others but I can't think of them right now.
u/lonniganseaweed · 1 pointr/IWantToLearn

Scroll through to Japanese for a resource list. And also this video. You didn't really mention what you will be using Japanese for (speaking, reading, etc.) so this is only a general overview. Also, keep in mind this is coming from a highschool student self-studying Japanese, so some of my recommendations may not be the best. Here are the basics of the writing system:

  • Hiragana: a 46 symbol "alphabet" used for particles and sentence structure. Each symbol represents a specific syllable. Chart and Wikipedia Article

  • Katakana: Also a 46 symbol "alphabet", this is used for constructing foreign words and sometimes for emphasis on a word or phrase. chart and Wikipedia Article

  • Kanji: a logographic system, that is, it uses unique symbols for each object or word. There are about 2200 Kanji used in everyday situations.
    Each Kanji can be read different ways depending on how it functions in a sentence. Wikipedia Article

    Here are the resources I use for learning Japanese:

  • Learn Hiragana. Hiragana will get you started on reading and pronouncing Japanese. Go at our own pace, but try to memorize some everyday. After memorizing Hiragana, do the same with Katakana. Use the same picture-word association with Katakana, it really solidifies the symbols in your mind. Use RealKana to practice or refresh.

  • For Kanji, Dr. Heisig's Remembering the Kanji I think is hands-down one of the best resources for learning Kanji. It uses mnemonics to memorize Kanji. One strange thing about the book is that it doesn't provide pronunciation guides for the Kanji. For instance, it would have a Kanji 雨. It would tell you, this is "rain" and how to write and remember it, but no pronunciation for how it is said in Japanese ("ame"). For this reason, it is necessary to use Jisho to find the pronunciation.

  • For vocabulary, I use japaneseclass.jp . It has both vocabulary and Kanji memorization.

  • Tae Kim's guide is a great beginner-intermediate guide for grammar.

  • For a all-in-one beginner's course, I recommend using Memrise and specifically, jlptbootcamp's course.

  • To practice all you have learned, use Lang-8. You post in Japanese and native Japanese speakers will correct you. On the flip side, you will correct their English. You can also live chat or video call on howdoyoudo.do. Use Anki to make flashcards for practice.

    Everybody has a different way of learning, but the absolute first thing to memorize is Hiragana and Katakana. After that, you can juggle learning Kanji and grammar or learn common phrases, or whatever. Use what works for you.
u/Vladz0r · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

I feel like you might have done kanji->keyword, in which case that might explain why you didn't get anything out of learning the kanji individually. You're supposed to learn how to write the Kanji, so that you can recognize each individually, because kanji meaning reinforces.

Remember the Kanji: https://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Characters/dp/0824835921/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492022765&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=remember+the+kanji+6th

There are also Anki decks and free pdfs for the book floating around.

There's also http://kanji.koohii.com where you can learn and look up mnemonic stories for writing kanji.


>Wether I read a sentence with furigana or without furigana doesn't really matter, what matters is that I can consume and produce the language so that the structures and vocabulary I've learnt are put into practice and stabilize in my memory.

Uh, go to Japan and you'll notice that people don't speech with kanji and furigana appearing underneath them as speech bubbles.

I feel like what you're trying to say in that big vague paragraph is that you understand that 学校 is school rather than "learning school building." An example of when knowing kanji helped me out recently - I knew the word 赤道 (equator) 富士山[ふいじさん] aka Mt. Fuji. Learning the word 山道[さんどう] was aided by learning those kanji, since I wasn't too familiar with the readings for 山. The word also literally means "mountain path" but it's not やまみち. It's its own word that you just know.

I don't get how you struggle to learn kanji and learn words when they literally reinforce the meanings of each other.

Knowing the meaning of each kanji helps dramatically with reading words - I don't get how anyone could think otherwise. The "occasional word that sounds like nonsense and is unrelated to the word's kanji" and giving examples like "大丈夫 meaning large length husband" or something doesn't discount the 10,000s of common words that are logically constructed by kanji and follow a lot of common rules and pronunciation patterns.

But hey

u/mrzombieland · 1 pointr/OreGairuSNAFU

I unfortunately don't have many sources to use as practice reading since right now I'm at the stage of learning advanced Kanji so I can read and understand with greater facility. The one thing I use a lot to improve my reading though is to read manga in Japanese on a daily basis so that's what I would recommend since is has a lot of furigana. Otherwise, I'll link you my kanji book if you are interested on that.

Remembering the Kanji: https://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Characters/dp/0824835921/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=CCBYW3VAFYWQQB4PSJ0Q

u/Sentient545 · 1 pointr/LightNovels

Honestly, in my opinion, unless it's a very specialised language institution, don't even bother with traditional classes. The majority of them will do little more than go through the beginner textbooks at a pace 10x slower than you could on your own. All the information you need to learn the language is freely available as long as you have the discipline to go through it without being forced to.

The first step will be to learn hiragana, then katakana. After that you'll want to tackle grammar basics, beginner vocabulary and kanji, and then begin getting exposure to simple native content while exploring the more intermediate and advanced material.

---

For kana:

Use mnemonics to familiarise yourself with hiragana and katakana.

Then drill yourself with a tool like DJT Kana until they are burned into your brain.

-

For grammar:

The single free resource I most recommend in the beginning would be Wasabi's online reference, but there are plenty of other resources out there, including Tae Kim, Imabi, Maggie Sensei, Cure Dolly, etc...

For paid resources the most commonly recommended beginner textbook would be Genki. And then Tobira for more intermediate material. My most recommended resources to purchase would be a book called Making Sense of Japanese and the Dictionary of Japanese Grammar series, with emphasis placed on the first volume.

-

For kanji and vocab:

Wanikani will automate the process for you if you have the cash to pay for a yearly subscription.

If not you can use Anki with either Kodansha's Kanji Learner's Course or with Remembering The Kanji.

---

All my Japanese knowledge was acquired through self-study, starting with resources similar to these. After I had sufficient experience with the basics I went on to learn primarily through reading native material and using native linguistic resources.

It took around 3 years before I was able to begin reading light novels.

u/fellcat · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

Awesome, thank you. Should I just buy the book or do you know of any online resources?

u/PurpleHawthorn · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

Non-native here. I'm still in the process of learning kanji and I'm using the Kanji de Manga series along with Heisig's Remembering the Kanji.

My pace is pretty slow -- perhaps 10 - 15 kanji per week.

u/Evil_Roy · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

Hi, I'm fairly new to learning Japanese too, here is what I know so far: At first it seems like there is a brick wall that you have to break through. But hindsight is 20/20 as they say. If vocab are the bricks.. grammar (particles, canjigation etc.) Are the morter that hold everything together. Its more like having to build a house by yourself then it is breaking through a brick wall. It requires hard work, sacrifice and dedication. First thing is to learn kana, then focus on grammar and reading. Don't study kanji starting out and when you do start learning kanji, make sure to learn it in context. At first you will be focused on each character, then you will start to recognize words, and then you will begin to see sentences and then have to get used to keeping track of what the topic is (は).

SRS is good but won't help you learn well unless you are reading native materials also (such as graded readers or manga). At first I studied as much as possible for the first 4 months to get past most of the absolute beginer grammar. Also, after the first 3 weeks of learning vocab and honing kana skills I started wanikani. Now there are a lot of people who push RTK but having memorized 350 kanji from the book before getting serious about learning.. if I knew then what I know now, I would have gon straight to wanikani. (Anki is ok too if you're on a budget). RTK is good for overcoming fear of kanji and for learning correct stroke order (which comes in handy when looking up kanji that doesn't have furigana). This to me doesn't justify using RTK though in my mind.

I will say that it is better to go at your own pace instead of burning out like I did at first. To me, studying is what you must do in order to achieve your goal. Learning is enjoyable and even leisurely. Finding a good balance is important.

Also, I was in a class that was being taught on discord for a while. Now I'm learning on my own. The internet is full of resources that can help you.

Here are some good resources:

Takoboto (android or windows)
http://takoboto.jp/

WaniKani (I know there are wanikani decks for anki for free too if your watching $$$)
https://www.wanikani.com/

Anki (Free)
https://apps.ankiweb.net/

Japanese Graded Readers (level 1-2 I hear will get you high enough to start reading manga, but I cant confirm this as fact.)

Level 1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079Y2GR81/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_pr9nDb0JQRYY3

Level 2
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079XY9XTM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_vt9nDb32S5E9H

RTK (1st book is the only one worth using)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0824835921/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_Eu9nDb5SK9WP7

Genki 1 & 2 (more for in class but can be used to study on your own too)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M3STG9N/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_jw9nDb50CDXS6

u/AsunonIndigo · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

If you really, really start feeling uncomfortable with kanji, like I did, RTK can help.

It's controversial on this subreddit for a number of reasons:

  1. It does not teach you the readings of any of them.

  2. It teaches you one, concrete meaning for every kanji it introduces. Nearly every single jouyou kanji ("essential" kanji) has multiple meanings. It's nice to have an anchor point for each kanji you come across, but for some people, it can be hard to attach extra meanings to a character they've already memorized as meaning something else.

  3. Some of the meanings are just plain incorrect and wrong altogether. In fact, I made a post about it. So, every single kanji you learn using this book, ALWAYS cross check with jisho.org before committing the meaning to memory.

    The pros:

  4. It breaks kanji down into easy easy EASY to remember parts, all of which logically come together to form any particular kanji. Or at least, after you've formulated your own story to help you remember it, they do.

  5. It teaches you to dissect more complex kanji instead of just looking at some big, scary character and thinking "Oh God". For example, 夢 (dream) looks scary, doesn't it? Well it's not. It's composed of these "primitives" (every other resource you encounter will call these primitives "radicals".): Flower, Eye, Crown, and Evening. They're all separate pieces. It's not like "Dream" is just some insane, unique kanji. It's composed of parts, like a puzzle. 95% of all kanji I've encountered are this way. Even kanji I've never seen before can be dissected into these parts. Very few are completely, 100% unique and require their own memorization.

  6. You will remember them like it is your job. You won't know how to READ them; but assigning readings to kanji you already know is so easy it's disgusting. That's why I took a break from Genki upon starting lesson 3 and started RTK. It's been 25 days and I've learned 330 kanji thus far, 15 new ones today. It's hard, hard work, but it has paid off so far. Anki helps a great deal (free flashcard program, look it up if you haven't heard of it before).

    The biggest, most important part of this book, to me, is the fact that it shows you that kanji aren't impossible to learn. Challenging, definitely. Difficult, definitely. But not in the SLIGHTEST impossible.

    At my current rate, it'll take me about 5 and a half months to finish it up. The average time is 3-6 months, and it can be faster or slower depending on how comfortable you are with it. I try to do at least 15 a day. But sometimes, I have no time and skip it, and other times, I have excess time and will do up to 30. No matter what and no matter how many, it's always easy to remember. Just remember you aren't actually learning Japanese; you're merely making ACTUAL learning of Japanese potentially easier.
u/refrained · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I've been working on learning Japanese for a few years now! My focus comes and goes, and I understand far more than I can write/speak, but I'm getting there! Yes, I am an anime fan, and that's how my interest was sparked, but I love the sound of the language and the challenge of something without a Roman alphabet!

This book seems promising! And bonus! Awesome reviews. Kanji are so difficult to remember, and I've only ever been able to memorize about 20 of them before things start slipping away.

And this is one of my favourite songs. I was introduced to Hyde a long time ago by a good friend, and his voice has always been something I adore!

As for something funny... this has always frightened me with it's super happy intensity! It's one of those things that never fails to make me grin in response!

u/joshbeoulve · 1 pointr/Philippines

N3? That's pretty tough for a first-timer, but manageable if you put in the time to study.

On a related tangent, I highly recommend James Heisig's Remembering the Kanji series paired with spaced repetition app for reviews. It helped me break the well between the old Level 2 and old Level 1 and I wouldn't be where I am now without it.

u/BaconUnicornTamer · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

Considering that hiragana is far easier than Kanji, I was thinking of starting with it, in a way I would learn Kanji, so I can feel in a familiar zone. That or I get the over-suggested book (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Characters/dp/0824835921/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=51QhUaQJRmL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=3M7KCY676DQKC5N3P85S)

u/deneru · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

Check out Heisig's "Remembering the Kanji". Learn the kana, know stroke order, pronunciation, etc, but realize they are not a substitute for kanji. You need both to be able to do anything besides read children's books and play really old video games.

Get yourself an SRS (Spaced Repetition Software). Basically really intelligent flash cards. The software tells you when to review them so you don't waste time reviewing what you already know. I recommend Anki, but Surusu also has a large number of users. Both are free.

Check All Japanese All the Time. The author, Khatzumoto, tends to take things to extremes, and he verges off into personal developement a lot. If you stick to the Table of Contents I just linked to and take everything he says with a few grains of salt you'll be fine. A more moderate, more Spanish-focused view can be found on Spanish Only.

u/unknownbreaker · 1 pointr/LearnJapanese

Have you tried Remembering the Kanji?
Remembering the Kanji 1: A Complete Course on How Not to Forget the Meaning and Writing of Japanese Characters https://www.amazon.com/dp/0824835921/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_y76rDb13E5KC0

it uses mnemonics for memorizing the characters by making you imagine a picture of something. makes the kanji much more memorable that way.

the book eventually expects you to come up with your own stories/mnemonics after giving you several hundred.

u/Translation_Geek · 1 pointr/TranslationStudies

I can recommend Heisig's Remembering the Kanji to you, if you don't know it yet. It was incredibly helpful to me for remembering kanji and to also understand the different parts that a kanji consists of. To find kanji you don't know, you can either search them by radicals or you can draw them into this online dictionary. There are also apps that let you do this so you can check on your phone while reading.

u/tarkonis · -1 pointsr/LearnJapanese

Buy this instead: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Remembering-Kanji-Complete-Japanese-Characters/dp/0824835921 Seems like more effort at first but it helps so much to be able to recognise the characters.