can anyone help me? im having hard time with kanji. how do you know when to use onyomi or kunyomi?… - Feed Post by iamarchitect

• 
  Uniterno

  Read as Kunyomi when the Kanji is alone, and Onyomi when is accompanied by other Kanji. Of course, there are exceptions and sometimes you'll need to select what reading use (kun or on), it's easier if you practice how to read, without thinking about 'Kunyomi or Onyomi'. Example:
  
  今　「いま」　and 　今日　「きょう」 In 'today' we don't use いまひ　(いま is the 'Now' kunyomi and　ひ is the 'Sun' kunyomi) but we are using an exception, because both are accompanied.
  Kanji is not that hard, is just practice.
  
  
  I hope is well explained, if you have any question, ask me.

  June 15, 2015 at 5:13am
• 
  KenjiSama

  Ok!! Don't fret my friend!! You have a phone yes? I hope you do!!
  
  First, forget the reading!! Just focus on learning the meaning of the kanji. You'll learn the reading when you see the kanji used in words and such.
  For example the kanji for life has two onyomi readings, and like 15 kunyomi readings. Trying to remember them all will be a waste of time, and even if you don't, you won't know which reading to use when you see it...
  
  Here's what you do. Download Memrise, or go to their site (Memrise.com)
  
  It's easy to navigate. When you select a language to learn, go down to Japanese, and below it you'll see Kanji.
  
  The kanji course I'm using is called 2136 Joyo Kanji by grade. There are other courses as well, I believe I saw Heisig Remeber the Kanji as well.
  
  Memrise uses spaced repetition, and has you review them at a later time, which is good.
  I don't know if this is in the Play Store (if you have android), but if you have iPhone, download KanjiQ on your phone. It shows you the strike order of the kanji.
  
  Here's what I do.
  I look at the kanji. I look at the meaning.
  I look at the pictures (if there are some) to help remember that said kanji.
  Then, if the pictures don't have slide with the reading on it, I use google translate English>Japanese and put the English meaning in it, and the kanji appears on the Japanese side. I tap and hold the kanji translation, which copies it to my clipboard, then go to KanjiQ, which when you enter, asks if you would like to search up the Chinese Characters automatically, and it brings up the character....
  
  Sounds like a lot, but it's easy to navigate once you get the hang of it. I highly recommend Memrise,'as I can remember 40 kanji I learned the next day. (I haven't tested my max) Have fun!!!!

  June 15, 2015 at 5:24am
• 
  OwlPrincess

  Nice to see you sharing the site :)

  June 15, 2015 at 5:49am
• 
  mog86uk

  I personally really like the explanation on this page:
  http://lingwiki.com/index.php?title=On_vs._Kun_readings
  
  The only thing it doesn't explain too well is the part where that mentions verbs which consist of "a single kanji followed by する". This part doesn't make it clear enough that the rule also applies to other variant forms of ～する: ～す, ～ず, ～ずる, and ～じる. I remember talking about this before on here in more detail, here:
  http://japaneseclass.jp/forum/thread/887
  
  It's probably better not to spend any time thinking about this question and just carry on learning the basics, learning more vocabulary and kanji. This information will be more helpful a bit further on in your Japanese studies. ^^

  June 15, 2015 at 10:06am
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  iamarchitect

  wow thanks guys :D

  June 15, 2015 at 2:57pm