Is it necessary to learn to write Kanji? I mean, as long as I know how it sounds, how to read it… - Feed Post by Shanonsan
Is it necessary to learn to write Kanji? I mean, as long as I know how it sounds, how to read it and what it means, should I know how to write it too?
posted by Shanonsan
Comments 14
If you don't live in Japan nor do you plan on moving there, I don't think you need. I also can't really write, I usually don't remember the kanji if I don't see it, so I can read well, but not write. If I got the habit of writing, it would probably be a lot easier to remember them...but I'm too lazy for that D:
If you write them constantly it becomes much easier to learn them.
If you work in Japan at a Japanese-only company that requires written paperwork as part of the job, or you handwrite letters to native Japanese who know very little English, you definitely need to know kanji or 漢字.
But really even in japan most to all work is done on the computer or through a phone so learning to write is becoming less and less necessary unless you go to school in japan.
I find writing them does help to learn them easier, but I don't spend a lot of time on it. Also, you never know when you will need to actually hand write something.
All work is done on the computer? Pfft. You are obviously not working in a Japanese workplace. Forms, in triplicate, day in, day out. Also fax, not email, is the more popular form of communication. Because hanko.- No, I have not worked in a real japanese workplace but I am taking the experiences of friends and family have worked in Japan and if Japan is becoming more like the american workplace where computers really are becoming the standard means of work it wouldn't be surprising that writing is becoming less and less standard since work on computers is much more convenient.
- Convenience takes a back seat to bureaucracy. It's still unacceptable for resumes to be made on a computer, never mind any form you might have to fill out ever. Anything that would involve a stamp is also going to need to be filled out by hand and faxed. Japan is modernizing, but much slower than you'd ever think.
I Figured I'd throw in my two cents here. I started Japanese by trying to go through "Remembering the Kanji" but gave up at about #350 or so, however, those kanji are the only ones I get right without a doubt as to what their meaning is.
When reading you are forced to learn only a thing unique about the kanji to recognize it. Which works until you face an almost the same kanji. When writing, you can't fake anything, even a single stoke slightly wrong means failure, you see it, and correct it.
Example. 未 末 土 士 水氷永
There's probably a lot more that are really close. This font that i see on my computer makes the first two almost impossible to tell apart at a glance, the second two are more obvious, but in other fonts appear more subtle. The third set might look obviously different together, but if you only encountered them when reading, I could see some confusion.
Is it necessary to learn how to write kanji? It depends. What are your goals? What do you want to do with Japanese? I've encountered many people who have high Japanese ability, yet they can only write a handful of kanji from memory (myself included). If you choose not to, you should understand how stroke order and radicals work.
Having said that, should you learn how to write it? Yes, you should.- If you're just learning Japanese to watch anime, or read manga, heck, skip it. But if your future plans might in any way shape or form bring you to Japan, it would not be time wasted to learn how to write it. Keep in mind that "learning how to write" kanji, if you understand the radicals and such, does not really take that much time at all - or not as much as you are expecting.
I pretty much ignored learning to write kanji by hand because I was fairly certain I'd never even set foot in Japan. I've simply memorised the rules for writing kanji. However I did learn kana mostly through repetition of writing out the 五十音 tables and also practiced writing a few kanji back when I was learning kana.
I strongly dislike writing by hand even in English, as I struggle to keep my handwriting neat and readable. Trying to learn kanji while also writing them by hand is something which would have put me off learning kanji in general and would have slowed me down. I can writing kanji while learning them should help with kanji recognition accuracy though.
Now that I'm thinking actually thinking about travelling abroad, I've started to think more about learning to write kanji properly and to practice this. I'm still going to leave this until the very end, after I'm satisfied with learning grammar and everything else.
@Arachkid Hearing that resumes have to be written out by hand in Japan is a scary thought. I wouldn't like to do that even for English resumes, as it would definitely look scruffy no matter how many attempts I made. xD
I think it might actually be looked down on more in the West if you wrote a resume by hand rather than on computer, because maybe it could give the impression you're computer illiterate? Interesting how there may be a difference there.- Yeah, and it has to be in ink, and so one mistake and you're doing it all over.
Gee thanks guys! All your opinions gave me a lot to think about.
