Kanji problem

• 
  mog86uk February 9, 2014 at 12:55pm

  Hey
  
  I wouldn't worry too much about trying to learn every single reading, while you are just starting out. Later on, you will start to figure out what readings go with which kanji once you've come across those kanji used in other words. When you learn verbs and which kanji are used to write them, then it becomes easy to remember many of the kun-readings of kanji.
  
  For the meanings of kanji, I highly recommend learning a few of the most commonly used radicals - the component parts that make up a kanji. There is a traditional list of 214 radicals. Within this list, there are some radicals that are used a LOT, and others that are hardly used for anything. If you learn some of the common ones, it helps a lot with figuring out the kanji meaning, or at least gives clues.
  
  Here is a decent list of Japanese kanji radicals:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_Japanese_kanji_radicals
  
  Some of the radicals have one or two variant forms used depending on where the radical is squashed into the kanji. If you sort the list by 'frequency' and learn just the meanings for some of the most frequent radicals, it should help you a lot with remembering the meanings of kanji when you see them. You need to keep a VERY open mind though, and radicals don't always help every time. ^^
• 
  nashimo February 18, 2014 at 7:04am

  I see. thanks for the help :)