Hey guys! I have (another) question! I've read lot of times that it is wise to study… - Feed Post by VanillaQiwi
Hey guys! I have (another) question!
I've read lot of times that it is wise to study the radicals before you learn kanji - because it will make learning kanji easier and (maybe) less frustrating. So, I thought I could give it a try because there aren't that many radicals (216 or so?) but I've encountered some questions:
1) Will studying the radicals really help me?
2) Do I need to know every radicals' reading, or is the 'meaning' enough?
3) ??
Thank you!
I've read lot of times that it is wise to study the radicals before you learn kanji - because it will make learning kanji easier and (maybe) less frustrating. So, I thought I could give it a try because there aren't that many radicals (216 or so?) but I've encountered some questions:
1) Will studying the radicals really help me?
2) Do I need to know every radicals' reading, or is the 'meaning' enough?
3) ??
Thank you!
posted by VanillaQiwi
Comments 6
Spending even just a little time learning some of the 214 radicals should help quite a bit. In my opinion, I wouldn't worry so much about learning the readings, the meanings should hopefully be the bigger eye opener.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_Japanese_kanji_radicals
The list on this Wikipedia page is very useful. It shows the variant forms of the radical if there are any (where the radical changes shape depending on what location it is squashed into the kanji). I would suggest to learn the meanings of at least the most common radicals of this list, as these radicals appear in such a large proportion of kanji.
The radicals aren't too 面倒くさい to learn. Just give the list a quick glance once every few days after doing lots of JCJP Practice, and you'll start noticing more different radicals you want to know the meaning of. ^^
I always prefer to study radicals alongside kanji, not before or after. Learning radicals as you go lets you see them in practice, and has the added benefit of showing you patterns in not only when radicals appear in kanji, but where they appear in the kanji as well.
Of course, learning radicals is also important for looking up kanji that you aren't familiar with.
Some of the more complex kanji can be really similar, yet have very different meanings. Knowing the radicals will make it easier to distinguish them (of course accompanying kanji and kana will also help).
I agree with Nyangoro, in that I study radicals along with studying vocabulary/kanji.
Most radicals are kanji in their own right, and some are only parts of kanji. However, the radicals can give clues to either the meaning or phonetic sound of a more complicated kanji. This should not be relied on though, but it can be a great aid in vocabulary learning.
Kimbo is also correct in that recognising radicals makes it easier for remembering the construction of more complicated kanji.
I'm sure there's online resources that list radicals and general meaning to them.- *forgot to add* For radical study, I try to remember the radical shapes, and the general meaning of them for the kanji they appear in. Radicals that are entire kanji often pop up in vocabulary study anyways.
Ahhh thank you so much everyone!!
This really helped me a lot, I'll keep everything you said in mind! I'm really eager to tackle the radicals now!
Again, thank you so much :)
