A little #languagelearning strategy that works well for me for non-native writing systems: you've got to learn to write. I see a lot of learners insist they will never write with pen and paper in that language and I'm just...why would you deny yourself such a great learning tool?
Look up some high frequency words in the target language, find a guide to handwriting, and try to produce the script. You'll learn how to read it SO much better, I promise. Currently doing this with #yiddish
@unrelatedwaffle In my experience it’s really not that useful with Japanese. Even Japanese natives themselves struggle writing Joyo kanji because they basically never have to write them by hand anymore. It’s commonly called “character amnesia” (there’s even a WP article about it!)
With the time constraints of a normal adult, resources should be allocated elsewhere.
That being said,
@unrelatedwaffle Crap hit submit by mistake.
That being said, learning a new alphabet (like for Yiddish) is much easier than learning how to hand-write 1000 kanji just to meet the bare minimum. 2000-ish is the normal expectation by 18yo, but 1000 gets you pretty capable as a learner.
@unrelatedwaffle I'd recommend something like Kanji in Context for learning to read them in context instead of in isolation. You learn vocabulary, and since kanji change pronunciation based on where/how they're used, you start developing a Sprachgefühl for which pronunciation to use when.
As you point out, learning in context is key!
@kylegoetz I actually started using this method with Japanese when I was 12 years old to teach myself hiragana and katakana. I've been a student of Japanese for 23 years, and I'm very familiar with the unique challenges of learning kanji.
I agree that kanji readings/meanings are best learned through vocab (especially the canonical meaning(s)), but I disagree that writing kanji is not a good use of time. Memory is multi-modal and I think the payoff is worthwhile.
unrelatedwaffle
KyleGoetz