master the Jouyou kanji

I went to Japan, so I can speak Japanese. Not perfect but I can communicate without problems.
But I still can’t read and write properly. It feels like one half is missing so I want to learn kanji!

I’ve been living in Tokyo since 1998 but due to laziness and bad study habits, my Japanese is only passable. I’ve got about 300 kanji under my belt now, but mastering the jouyou kanji will help me feel like I am actually capable of literacy.

This isn’t going to happen to the extent that I can say I’ve mastered it this year, my main focus now is applying myself to the singular task of passing the JLPT 1.

One of the keys to acheiving goals is to set acheivable ones which have reasonable time limits and then break them down. These smaller more acheivable goals should have time limits or frequencies, that fit into your life at reasonable intervals.

I have established some good habits, and hope to build on these small successes. I mentioned in my last post that I was using the Kanken Kanji gakushuu suteppu books to structure my learning. I am in the process of reviewing up to 5kyu. I hope to have 5kyu finished by the end of May at which time I will apply for a written test.

On weekdays I write out 6 characters 15 times each for a total of 90 characters a day, This takes about 30-40 minutes. During the day I use KankenDS for drills and more practice answering test questions, for at least 40mins. Kanken DS has a well structured practice course and good progress indicators for individual skills used in answering each part of the test.

For this reason, I am splitting this goal in to smaller subgoals with timelines, which I will detail here in my next post.

I`m currently reviewing the Kanji Kentei levels from 10kyu through to 5kyu. I studied from the Kanji gakushuu suteppu books in preparation for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test last year, which had a required 1006 kanji in the test. I passed, but it was clear that reading is still my biggest weakness.

Perhaps I should seperate this goal out in to further steps, with the aim of being more specific about the targets and timelines. In general I would like to study and master the roughly 2000 Kanji required for the 1kyu JLPT by the first weekend of December this year.

More specifically, I would like to be able to pass the kanji kentei at 4kyu or 3kyu in the same time frame. I will set three sub goals in that respect in seperate “things” once I decide when and at what level I will take the tests.

At my current rate of practice writing kanji, I get through one row of my notebook for each character in 5 minutes. I do roughly 6 characters a day, but will have to lift my rate to get through the 2000 in time for the test and still leave time for mock tests and review.

At this rate my review for the 1000 characters I learnt last year will be complete by the beginning of June, at which time I should think about doing the Kanji Kentei 5kyu.

Since I speak Japanese, this is not very difficult at all. I didn’t go to Japanese school as a child, so I didn’t learn to read and write kanji. I began teaching myself not too long ago. I already know quite a bit, I just have to put in a little bit more time. I’ve just been so busy and whatnot. Hopefully, I’ll be finished within a month or two. I’ll keep my diary updated.

A tough ask. You need to be using them every day preferably in real settings. Then don’t do what I’ve done which is manage to forget almost all of them in last eight years by not using them. Good luck!

Began studying Japanese at Århus university five weeks ago. My plan is to learn the meaning of all the 常用漢字 by the end of the school year by using a modified version of Remembering the Kanji . I plan to learn the pronounciation and compunds at the pace they are presented in class – which means approximately 500/year. Time will show whether I’m being too optimitisc :)