How many kanjis do I have to learn? 漢字をいくつ覚えなければいけない？
How many kanjis do I have to learn? 🤔 ❓
I’m sure Kanji is the biggest barrier for Japanese learners 🇯🇵
How many kanjis do I have to learn? 🤔 ❓ I’ve seen this question so many times. You’ll have trouble learning kanjis unless you’re from kanji countries like China.
Japanese also have trouble learning kanji
But no worries.😉 Even Japanese people have trouble learning kanjis. We take long time to learn kanjis. Children start learning kanjis right after starting an elementary school. After that, they learn kanji little by little at school; at home they do kanji homework every day. At school, they have kanji tests every day. Many students feel they are poor at kanji but we cannot run away from kanji practice since kanjis are deeply ingrained in our society. So you can't do away with kanji if you want to be a part of the Japanese society.
Lean kanji with fun🤓
practice reading kanji so that you can input kanji with your digital tools
However, you have a strong helper right now; Smartphones and computers! They assist you to write kanji if you know how to read them! So at least you have to be capable of reading kanji correctly. So I recommend you to practice reading kanji so that you can input kanji with your digital tools.
Around 1000 kanjis you should learn
Go back to the question; how many kanjis do I have to learn? There may be different answers but my suggestion is around 1000.
Too many? Well…I see what you mean… but I think you need to at least 1000 kanjis to recognize because around 1000 is the number of kanjis Japanese elementary school students learn at school in six years.
1006 kanjis in elementary school
Ministry of education has published a list of kanjis taught in elementary schools by grades; in the 1st grade:80kanjis, 2nd grade:160, 3rd grade:200, 4th grade:200, 5th grade:185, 6th grade:181. In total, 1006 kanjis are taught in elementary schools.
A list of kanji elementary school students learn at school in 6 years
2136 common-use kanjis
To tell the truth, the Japanese government encouraged us to learn 2136 kanjis; they are called Joyo kanji 常用漢字 or common-use Chinese characters. Official documents are encouraged to be written in those kanjis so that every citizen can read the documents without efforts. 1000 is about a half of them, which means they are basic and necessary. If you know 1000 kanjis, you’ll be able to read simple articles in the newspaper. So give it a try!
2351kanjis for JLPT
For your reference, you need to learn 2351 kanjis if you want to complete JLPT up to N1. It’s a long way but slow and steady wins the race. Let me be your company so that you can enjoy learning kanjis.😆 😍 😊
June 29, 2020
