I Finally Developed to Resolve to Learn Kanji

I've always been very intimidated by kanji[1], as I learned early on that that average Japanese native knows approx 5,000 characters, and this always seemed like a hopelessly unreachable goal to me.

Despite that fear, I recently bought a book called Kanji Look and Learn and began to study it. As I began to study, a few things immediately became apparent:

• Ironically enough, kanji is actually fun. This may be because it involves a fair amount of drawing, but the origins of the characters can be interesting too[2].
• Kanji is difficult. Many kanji look quite similar and yet have vastly different meanings.
• If I am going to succeed, I'll need some worksheets: something I can fill out over and over as I practice[3].

The book isn't enough, nor is an empty worksheet, which was specifically designed for writing kanji.

In typical Laramee fashion, I typed all 512 kanji from the book into a single text file and then wrote a short program to generate PDF worksheets I could use as I work my way through the characters.

Some notes on the sheets:

• There are 76 kanji on each sheet, so there are seven sheets total (512/76 = 6.7).
• There are four columns on these sheets, allowing for three practice characters/kanji.
• Each sheet has a grader, which I'll explain in detail below.
• Each sheet has an ordered list of the 76 kanji on that page.
• Each sheet has a shuffled (randomly ordered) list of the 76 kanji on that page.
• Each sheet has 2-column worksheets, with two columns of 19 kanji.

It sounds complicated but when I explain the workflow, it'll make much more sense.

The worksheets are designed for a particular workflow: essentially, breaking down this huge set of characters into batches of 19, and then allowing you to develop progressive levels of mastery. (E.g.: it's more difficult to do the un-ordered worksheets than it is to do the ordered ones, as you [unconsciously] build in relationships in the order (when they're ordered) and those relationships are a memorization crutch.)

The way I've been using these is as follows:

• I began with the 1st two-column worksheet for page 1. This has 38 kanji total, with 7 columns in which to practice each character. This is where I begin for all new characters I'm studying.
• I'll use only this worksheet until I feel confident I've memorized all 38 characters.
• Then, I'll move on to the 2nd two-column worksheet for page 1, which also has 38 kanji on it, also with 7 practice columns.
• I'll also only use this worksheet until I feel confident I've memorized all of the kanji on it.
• Then I move to the ordered list for page 1. This has 76 kanji on it, with only 4 practice columns. I use this worksheet until I'm confident I know 99% of the kanji.
• Lastly, I move on to the shuffled list for page 1. This also has 76 kanji in it. This will be the last worksheet for page 1.
• If I have questions (and/or I forget the kanji), I refer to the grader or the book itself.
• Once I'm done with page 1, I move on to page 2, and begin with the 1st two-column worksheet for that page.
• Lather, rinse repeat for all seven pages:
  1st two-column page → 2nd two-column page → ordered set → shuffled set.

To explain the grader, check out the image below. It shows a few characters, along with their grader information.

Each character on the grader has four columns (the image is showing two kanji, therefore: eight columns):

1. The corresponding book number and the English description. Also "v" for verbs, "n" for nouns, "a" for adjectives, and "c" for counters).
2. A box for you to add an optional pen-stroke version of the kanji (to be copied directly from the book, by you, if you'd like that version of the kanji on your grader).
3. A hiragana hint (e.g.: for verbs, the verb conjugation root in red and the rest of the verb in grey).
4. The computer version of the kanji (which is slightly different than the book version).

Now, looking closely at 65, 66, and 67:

• For 65 (to see), the verb is "miru" (みる). The kanji (見) only stands in for the 1st character of the verb (み), whereas the verb suffix (る) is not represented by the kanji, so to write "to see" using kanji, it's "見る" (and it's why the み character is in red and the る is in grey [and the kanji itself is in red]... red = red, if that helps)
• For 66 (to go), the verb is "iku" (いく). The kanji (行) only replaces, or represents, the 1st character of the verb (い), whereas the suffix (く) is not represented by the kanji, so to write "to go" using kanji, it's "行く" (thus the red/grey in the hiragana hint).
• For 67, the noun for rice is "kome" (こめ), which is frequently written as "okome" (おこめ). Because the kanji only represents the "kome" characters in "okome", those are in red (こめ) and the "o" is in grey. To write "okome" you would write "お米".

Note: I haven't really figured out how to handle the nouns when the kanji is just one or two consonants in a multi-consonant noun. You'll see a lot of horizontal ellipsis (…) which indicate "characters before or after this kanji" (when the kanji is part of a larger word)[4][5]

Here is the set of PDFs. They're all single-sheet (by design). Start with "Columns: Col 1a". That's the 1st set of 19 + 19.

Despite all of this effort, there are some that I forget a bit too regularly[6], but overall things are proceeding nicely[7].

がんばりましょう！