Learning Kanji With Me

[amplify]

I've decided that I will learn one new Kanji a day, which is far fetched from what actual Japanese children have to go through during their K-12 studies. Being that I will be a long term resident of Okinawa, this I know will be helpful to me in the long term and to those who wish to learn along with me I will post a new Kanji (the one I work on that day) in this thread. This is intended for those who already grasp the concept of Hiragana and Katakana as examples of them will be used and Romaji won't. I will be going in order of their usefulness and not in the order taught in school.

If anyone is interested in me continuing this effort daily, please give this post a “thanks”. Also, if you are a Japanese national and find error in the brush stroke, PLEASE correct me.

Anyway, let’s get started. If you want to learn to write, then practice by making your brush stroke start from the corresponding number/color. The first Kanji I picked is seen everywhere and if you can recognize this, you will find what you want... Some nice cold ones!

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8238/sake.jpg (http://img43.imageshack.us/i/sake.jpg/)http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/sake.jpg/1/w300.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img43/sake.jpg/1/)

SHU, sake: rice wine or liquor
ぶどう酒　　　ぶどうしゅ wine
酒飲み　　　　さけのみ (a) drinker
酒屋　　　　　さかや liquor shop

As a reminder, when I first began learning Kanji, I thought that it has to be PERFECT as in the book. I came to realize that no matter how you write it, it is still legible to Japanese and I was just wasting my time perfecting it whereas that comes in time. An example of what I mean...

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/43/exampless.jpg (http://img7.imageshack.us/i/exampless.jpg/)http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/exampless.jpg/1/w500.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img7/exampless.jpg/1/)


Hope you enjoyed and if you already didn’t know what “ 酒 ” was out in front of Lawson & Family Mart, now you do.

[dk]

Cool idea, amplify!!!

[Trail]

Heh, is it just me or does that kanji symbol look like a beer sitting on a bar saying "drink me?"

[amplify]

Heh, is it just me or does that kanji symbol look like a beer sitting on a bar saying "drink me?"

A lot of Kanji's look as if they are what they are explaining if you think deep enough about it... To me it looks like a keg shouting "tap me". That is how I remember what a Kanji is. Associate the picture with what it really is in a way like you just did.

Were the Japanese the first inventors of a keg?

[Trail]

A lot of Kanji's look as if they are what they are explaining if you think deep enough about it... To me it looks like a keg shouting "tap me". That is how I remember what a Kanji is. Associate the picture with what it really is in a way like you just did.

Were the Japanese the first inventors of a keg?

Just like the kanji for Kadena looks like a plane on a runway.

[amplify]

I've also found that in the beginning, remembering and writing them is difficult, but with the more you do the easier they get. An example is when I learned cashier (お会計), I had to write that 100s of times before I remembered it. Though, as time went on and I learned more and more, I will only need to see it a couple of times and write it possibly 10 and continue to practice it at least once a week. I believe in time, they will be so engraved in my brain that I won't need to do the practice but just keep learning new ones.

酒 is one you see everywhere and hopefully you won't need to see 病院　びょういん (hospital), but it is more difficult to write the first time.

[dk]

Leather looks like a robot to me.

なめし革

[Trail]

Leather looks like a robot to me.

なめし革

Nah, it kind of looks like a cowboy with a belt and huge hat who would probably be wearing lots of leather. :D

[dk]

To me it looks like the robot maid from The Jettsons.

[Trail]

To me it looks like the robot maid from The Jettsons.

Rosie? http://www.technovelgy.com/graphics/content06/rosie.jpg

[dk]

Yep. That's her.

[amplify]

I’ll be posting the Kanji of the day at around 10 PM for the following day so that people who stay on late may get a chance to practice it that night and others can do it the whole day throughout work or their day off. I get up too late to post for the day of…

Today’s Kanji (Sept. 14, 2009): にく

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/5648/niku.jpg (http://img40.imageshack.us/i/niku.jpg/)


I thought that this Kanji is relevant for those of you who do the occasional grocery shopping in town and those that would like to what they’re eating at an izakaya or yakiniku (if you can’t tell the meats apart…).

Here are some examples of how NIKU are used:
鶏肉　けいにく chicken [meat]
豚肉　ぶたにく pork
牛肉　ぎゅうにくbeef
肉屋　にくや butcher shop
筋肉　きんにく muscles

It’ll impress the ladies if you know how to order your food without them helping you. :thumbup1:

As a side note, I learned this Kanji easier because it looks like two chickens going down a conveyer belt, one of which is getting its head chopped off and the other is next in line.

Kanji’s covered thus far: 酒 (http://www.japanupdate.com/forum/showthread.php?p=274293#post274293)　肉

[gtlm2000]

I hate Kanji!! :D

[amplify]

I hate Kanji!! :D

I feel sorry for how you learned it... :ohmy:

[gtlm2000]

I feel sorry for how you learned it... :ohmy:

I make mistake some kanji sometime :D

[amplify]

I make mistake some kanji sometime :D

Isn't a mistake like a misspelling in English though? It's still legible, but wrong?
I.E. speeker (speaker)

[gtlm2000]

Isn't a mistake like a misspelling in English though? It's still legible, but wrong?
I.E. speeker (speaker)


It's conbination of Kanji for Japanese word.
Some Kanji has same pronunciation so I put different one sometime.

as like 小 "shou" 生 "shou"

[abonifi1]

Isn't a mistake like a misspelling in English though? It's still legible, but wrong?
I.E. speeker (speaker)

I'm late on this, but what I did to learn Kanji, not that I am great by anymeans, was to buy the 1st grade Japanese book and learn it like the natives did, then second.

It got me to pass the JLPT 4 test, so it does work. This method too requires that you already understand Katakana, and Hiragana, as you will have to read that, but it is also a great way to improve your vocabulary, and sentence structure in Japanese.

I agree that people who want to should learn Kanji, and Amplify's method here gives you the chance, but it can confuse you, since every Kanji has at least 2 different meanings, and some can have 7 or more pronunciations.

[amplify]

I agree that people who want to should learn Kanji, and Amplify's method here gives you the chance, but it can confuse you, since every Kanji has at least 2 different meanings, and some can have 7 or more pronunciations.

What I've found is that Kanji's can have many different meanings when added to other Kanji's. What Kanji's I will add to this thread will only have one meaning or to have it's most used meaning. Such as SAKE and NIKU. It's also to help with writing them as you will need to get an additional book other than 1st/2nd grade to remember the correct brush strokes. Your method to remember the Kanji is good and I do that also, but I'd like to know how to write the specific characters and improve on speed while doing so to possibly get my PR faster. :thumbup1:

[abonifi1]

Your method to remember the Kanji is good and I do that also, but I'd like to know how to write the specific characters and improve on speed while doing so to possibly get my PR faster. :thumbup1:

Just so you know, I not trying to put down your effort, I applaud it. I was just wanted to give people another option that is available, to complement or add on, and some of what they will run into, or at least what I have run into.

[amplify]

Just so you know, I not trying to put down your effort, I applaud it. I was just wanted to give people another option that is available, to complement or add on, and some of what they will run into, or at least what I have run into.

And that's why I said your method is good and I use it too. :thumbup1:

[Mehi River]

amplify, your stroke order for sake 酒 is incorrect.
do the three on the left in order to to bottom. then the first horizontal bar on the top.
Next do the top and 2 sides of the box (NOT the bottom), by doing the left side top to bottom as one stroke, and then the top and right side together as one stroke moving across to the left and then around the corner and down.
The do the two leg/cleavage curves, left one then right one.
finally finish with the two horizontal strokes, left to right, as if writing '=' , and the bottom line being the bottom of the 'box' mentioned above.

all done. Now to remember it's meaning by drinking some!

[amplify]

amplify, your stroke order for sake 酒 is incorrect.
do the three on the left in order to to bottom. then the first horizontal bar on the top.
Next do the top and 2 sides of the box (NOT the bottom), by doing the left side top to bottom as one stroke, and then the top and right side together as one stroke moving across to the left and then around the corner and down.
The do the two leg/cleavage curves, left one then right one.
finally finish with the two horizontal strokes, left to right, as if writing '=' , and the bottom line being the bottom of the 'box' mentioned above.

all done. Now to remember it's meaning by drinking some!

Thanks, my book (A Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese, Third Edition) doesn't show every single stroke order (8 stroke example for a 10 stroke Kanji) so I had to improvise, yet I learned the way I showed... That'll be hard to fix what I've already learned and I'll edit the picture to reflect the way you showed me.

Cheers

[Mehi River]

Thanks, my book (A Guide to Reading & Writing Japanese, Third Edition) doesn't show every single stroke order (8 stroke example for a 10 stroke Kanji) so I had to improvise, yet I learned the way I showed... That'll be hard to fix what I've already learned and I'll edit the picture to reflect the way you showed me.

Cheers

No worries. I have just finished the school books for years 1-6 of Japanese elementary school, and although it can be a pain in the bottom to do, there is method in the madness; the correct stroke order is actually very important because it does affect the finished product and how it looks. Even more so when you start to write them quickly, and have a kind of running-writing Kanji.

Another thing you might want to lock down before you have memorised too many is the actual direction of the strokes. This is important for the same reason.

[amplify]

Another thing you might want to lock down before you have memorised too many is the actual direction of the strokes. This is important for the same reason.

I know... That is how Japanese tell the difference between written ソ (so) and ン (n), but I can't tell the difference either way! (That is until reading it in context and possibly messing up the 1st time) :ohmy: Apparently they can tell exactly where the pen hit the paper and left the paper in a stroke, I suppose I'm too blind to see that though...

[amplify]

Just got back from the book store in Jusco today and found this nifty picture dictionary titled "The Rainbow English-Japanese, Japanese-English Dictionary". The thing that sets this picture dictionary apart from all others is it gives the word, an example of the word stated as a picture and how to use it in a sentence with full Kanji AND Hiragana above every Kanji so there is no need to flip back and fourth between books.

Example from the book:

Do -
What shall we do after school?
がっこう　　　　　　　　　なに
学校　　　　がすんだら　　何　　をしようか。

What are you doing?
何やっているの?


One of my better books now and a great buy for 2600Y if you're serious about learning everyday Japanese.

[Mehi River]

you owe us 2 days worth of kanji!!

[Mehi River]

薔薇

A rose by any other name would take as long to write....?

[Jazz]

Just got back from the book store in Jusco today and found this nifty picture dictionary titled "The Rainbow English-Japanese, Japanese-English Dictionary". The thing that sets this picture dictionary apart from all others is it gives the word, an example of the word stated as a picture and how to use it in a sentence with full Kanji AND Hiragana above every Kanji so there is no need to flip back and fourth between books.

Example from the book:

Do -
What shall we do after school?
がっこう　　　　　　　　　なに
学校　　　　がすんだら　　何　　をしようか。

What are you doing?
何やっているの?


One of my better books now and a great buy for 2600Y if you're serious about learning everyday Japanese.

This sounds pretty good. I'm gonna try and pick one up after work.

[Richard Burns]

San-A has a book for about ¥1000. It's called Kanji starter or something like that. The book is small i'll look for a pic in a minute but yea. This book is tight.

[Jazz]

They didn't have that dictionary at Jusco in Mihama. Was there more copies when you got yours Amp? Was it with the other dictionarys? Could you maybe post a pic of it?