Does anybody know a really good site for learning Kanji? Some people suggested me buying some… - Feed Post by Xymo
Does anybody know a really good site for learning Kanji? Some people suggested me buying some educational books.
posted by Xymo
Comments 10
wanikani.com
Thank you very much!
freakymrq: thanks for the tip. I tried the site out, but there are a few things I don't like about it.
As far as I can tell, it forces you to earn the right to practice higher level words by first going through all the basics in small steps at a time, and you are allowed to review your studied items only when it tells you you can. How silly! I can't wait until I am allowed to review the words I studied.. :|
What strikes me as even worse is that it makes you remember arbitrary mnemonics that they present as kanji basics. They give meanings for radicals that they just make up (ハ means fins because they look like legs without feet), or radicals that they make up altogether ("leaf" radical?). Mnemonics can help you remember words, so I think they make nice complements, but their made-up mnemonics replace rather than complement. They are mutually exclusive with the real radicals that they overlap with, making it impossible to understand the parts that the characters are made up of as far as native speakers are concerned. Worst of all, the wording on the site is such that it sounds like their meanings are officially acknowledged meanings, which I think is very misleading.
I use WaniKani and I love it! But you could also buy the Remembering the Kanji textbooks and use Anki to make flashcards (that's what a lot of people do), or study from decks at Memrise (I usually just use Memrise for vocab, though, because I use WaniKani for my kanji).- @thehardsix Well I guess I was lucky that I discovered wanikani right around the time I first started learning japanese so all the basics were nice. I've used the site for about 6 months and I know about 500 kanji pretty solid. But the site works off of a SRS (spaced repetition system) because it is designed so that you can retain it in your long term memory rather than remembering it for a month and then completely forgetting it. Though i do agree it can be a little arbitrary with the mnemonics but personally I really like them because they're normally pretty funny so its easy for me to remember. I don't really understand what you mean by "officially acknowledged meanings" I can only assume that you are referring to the radicals? The site nowhere directly says if they are or aren't but for the purpose of their website they show that they made up the radical names for the purpose of their mnemonics.
- @freakymrq Cool, I'm glad it is working for you. I don't think that site is meant for people with prior knowledge because it requires re-learning, so I think your testimony is worth more than mine.
I did mean the meanings of the radicals, yes. The wording on the radical page is what rubbed me the wrong way. One of the first explanations stated that the radical means so and so, as if it were a fact. If they made it clear that they made up their own names elsewhere then I suppose I can't blame them for it.
I still think it's a bit iffy to have some of the names express acknowledged meanings while others don't, and to make up your own radicals in such a way that you can't recognize some of the actual radicals. I might have been a little harsh in my critique, but if the site helps you remember kanji and vocab then I have to admit it's doing its job. - @thehardsix No problem, I've actually seen the real radical names etc. (if anyone is interested in learning them here http://www.memrise.com/course/284232/hello-51/)
but I don't really see the high value of learning the real radical names since I don't even think that native japanese people use them (could be wrong). I think that you should just use whatever helps you remember the kanji whether it be by radical or writing it down a thousand times xD
But I do agree that the site is definitely geared towards the beginners but it does ramp up quite a bit after level 3. 
. Here are some very good pages to see a complete list of the kanji radicals:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_Japanese_kanji_radicals
http://kanjialive.com/214-traditional-kanji-radicals/
I thought I'd used WaniKani before, but I don't seem to have an account, so I submitted my email... All I can see is the 'WaniKani is Chillin' page. :(
However I read a review of the site:
http://nadinenihongo.tumblr.com/post/46118905083/resource010-reviewing-wanikani-tofugus-japanese
This review has pictures which include parts of their radicals list. At the moment I understand what TheHardSix means about this. From the way the list is presented in these pictures I'm seeing, it looks like those meanings they've given to the radicals are meant to be the real meanings?
八 eight = 'volcano', ハ eight (again, it's the same radical) = 'fins', 卜 divination = 'toe', 文 literature/text = 'doll'?! The 'gun' one looks pretty weird (especially as I doubt they had guns in China over 3000 years ago) but I guess it might be the ⺈(刀) knife radical? And the completely made up 'leaf' radical...
I'm actually pretty interested in the radicals and their ancient Chinese bronzeware and oracle bone script origins, and other possible meanings these radicals might have had. I'm sure the way radicals in WaniKani are being used can't be as bad as it looks? I just wish I could actually try it out for myself. ^^- freakymrq: Hey, if it works, it works ^^.
To me, the real meanings are also helpful because they often relate to the meaning of the characters they are included in. They aren't always logical (not at all!), but there are instances where I can remember how to write certain kanji because their radicals are so logical. The radical called 衣編 is for instance found in items relating to clothing, like 襟 or 袖. All you have to do is smudge the character for clothing 衣 together and you get the radical. This makes it easy to distinguish from the 示偏 radical found in words like 神 as well. I can't rely on this knowledge using the Tofugu definition of "Nelly's got a knife".
But I have to admit, I'm probably going to have trouble not remembering Nelly next time I see a character with the radical form of 示 in it. I think the mnenomics are really helpful for learning how to write and recognize radicals in the first place.
- @mog86uk they've actually removed the "volcano" radical a few updates ago. The site is still technically in beta right now so a lot of improvements are still coming along.
@thehardsix indeed, the site master of http://www.imabi.net/ is the same way as you and loves the original meanings and prefers everything in original context.
