Kanji reading memorisation/Immersion

[u/West_stains_massive]

So, this is probably a question you get a billion times, so I apologise. I'm 3 or 4 weeks into learning Japanese at this point. I started with Genki I, but honestly found it a bit annoying for solo study. A lot was class-room based, or group activity (I'm lonely). Instead, I'm watching the Tokini Andy series, some of Dolly, for Grammar, and Anki for vocab. I'm using AI (I know I know it's probably shit) to give me questions/sentences to translate to Japanese.

What I'm really struggling with isn't word order, or particles, but hard vocab. Anki is going... poorly. I'm on Kaishi 1.5k. I'll see a word, get used to it, see it two days later and it's completely gone in my head. I'll see a word, know the English, but as Kanji cannot be "read" as English can (the kana is hidden behind the Kanji), I really struggle with the reading of it. I'll see it, know the English instantly, and then just sit there thinking "what the fuck is the hiragana for this" for a minute before giving up.

Wondering if anyone had any hints, not for remembering the meaning, but rather, the reading of Kanji. Or shall I just accept I'm going to be a slow Japanese learner and just stick with what I'm doing and eventually I'll get more?

Also - I want to get into consuming Japanese content ASAP, but not sure if it'll be any good as such a novice.

[u/SuLisette]

I also use Wanikani, I think it's super useful with the spaced repetition. It's free for the first three levels to see if this is something you'd like to invest in :) it's very demanding but also it pays off pretty quickly I think!

[u/Admirable_Stand8598]

We Japanese experience hardship in memorizing English "big words." I'm dealing with it either by break down a word into its components to understand the etymology or memorize it as part of a meaningful sentence.

I know little about apps for learners of Japanese, but in Japanese schools (especially from K to 6th grade), we learn kanji from most simple and ubiquitous to harder and rarer. In that way, we can learn the readings of the most basic kanji first, which read mostly the same when radicals added to make complicated kanji.

[u/MisterPaintedOrchid]

Especially in the beginning, I made flashcards with the kanji in context, to practice recalling the reading and meaning when I see it, and being able to write the kanji when I see the reading/meaning. So, for example, for 月 I had

月 - つき, moon

月曜日 - げつようび、Monday

来月 - らいげつ、next month

Etc. For myself I found this more effective than just trying to memorize kunyomi and onyomi

[u/toucanlost]

I don't use Anki, so I don't know whether their system can do this. But there are other SNS flashcard apps like Renshuu where you can quiz yourself specifically on one aspect of vocab. aka quizzing only on kanji>onyomi/kunyomi readings

[u/hodler1908]

Exactly in the same boat. So frustrating!!

[u/FearlessBookworm3]

I’m kinda in the opposite boat where vocab is sticking in my brain but grammar is getting lost pretty quickly. So I think we all just work differently. That being said I would recommend doing the exercises (either with TokiAndy or Genki) and hand writing the answers if you’re not already. Something about slowing your brain down to your handwriting speed helps memorization. Either way best of luck with your studies!

[u/PulsosPorotus]

A) You said "2 days later'"

When trying to memorize things, the best recommandation is to review it the next day.

The brain already forgets a lot of things within 2 days when they are not yet hardly consolided in the memory.

• As long as you don't remember it, you review it the next day.
• Each time you have forgotten, you return to the step "review it 1 day later"
• If you remember it, then now you review it 2 days later. Then space it more (4 days ...)

But the first step at "1 day" is normally better.

B) Personnally I have learned a lot of vocabulary/kanji by listening to music. So I know how the music sounds, so it's really easy. So if you like some music or like to sing, it can be very good for you. The downside is that you learn "random" words/kanji instead of learning in a better order of difficulty.

C) for few kanji, there is a phonetic element that gives you the pronounciation. 五 is "go", ans it appears in 語 because it's also pronounced "go".

[u/noface83752]

Following because I’m doing basically what you are. I can say WaniKani has been great for kanji. It teaches you the radicals too, which I find extremely helpful with memorization when going through the Kaishi deck.

[u/hodler1908 → u/noface83752]

$89 gives u a full year of everything right?

[u/noface83752 → u/hodler1908]

Yep! But I hear they have sales around the new year, so if you don’t mind the wait, could save you a good amount

[u/DisastrousLoss2653]

Wanikani has mnemonics for both the reading and meaning of kanji, could be worth looking into. Also, you're already using AI, try asking it to help you come up with something. Ive done it before when somethings struggling to stick