Head's up: this article got a major update in the 1st week of Feb, 2025 with all new worksheets.
I Finally Developed to Resolve to Learn Kanji
(And I'm Beginning With a Commitment to Memorize 512 Characters)
I've always been very intimidated by kanji,
as I learned early on that the 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:
- Kanji is difficult. Many kanji look quite similar and yet have vastly different meanings.
- Memorizing just the kanji character and it's English meaning isn't enough. There's
a lot more to remember if you want to be able to see kanji and translate it
into meaning.
- 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.
- If I am going to succeed, I'll need some worksheets: something I can fill out over and
over as I practice.
The book isn't enough, nor is an
empty worksheet,
which was specifically designed for practicing Japanese writing.
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 generally 76 kanji on each sheet, so there are 7 sheets total (512/76 = 7).
- There are 4 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 each.
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 to practice stroke order and form.
- 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 (with 4 columns). 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 2-column or 4-column shuffled list for page 1, depending on
how confident I feel. It's okay to use both to begin.
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.
- When I'm done with all of that, I only use the 8-column pages (first ordered, then
shuffled). When you're using these, you know you're close to memorizing
all 512 kanji. These sheets are incredibly dense, making for a quick pass
on sets of 152 kanji at a time.
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):
- The corresponding book number and the English description. Also "v" for verbs, "n" for nouns, "a" for adjectives, and "c" for counters).
- 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).
- A hiragana hint (e.g.: for verbs, the verb conjugation root in red and the rest of the verb in grey).
- The computer version of the kanji (which is slightly different than the book version).
A Section of a Sample Kanji Grader
Now, looking closely at 65, 66, and 67:
- For 65 (to see), the verb is "miru" (みる). The kanji (見) only represents
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)
Here's a snapshot from a different grader (for a completely different Kanji working set):
Another Grader Showing Multi-Character Kanji
Note that for entries 163, 164, 177, and 181, the 1st kanji char has a red hiragana
hint, the 2nd kanji char has a black hiragana hint, and any hiragana
that's not representing kanji is in grey. In this way, the worksheets
can support a kanji pair (頑張ります!)
Flex pages (my term) is my attempt to bridge the kanji with it's associated
on-yomi and
kun-yomi.
For example, if you look at the 22nd line of the flex page, you'll see
it's for the entry for gold: 金.
On the right-hand side of that row, you'll see on-yomi:
きん,こん
and then a "|" separator and then kun-yomi
かね,かな.
The empty columns in-between are where you "flex" your knowledge of the kanji
by writing out words that are derived from the on-yomi
and kun-yomi for the kanji.
For instance, you might write "きんいろ"
(gold color) and "おかね" (money).
I'd like to develop the flex pages into something more useful in the future.
Below is the set of PDFs. I originally began with 30+ different single-sheet PDFs but
later changed it to 8 individual documents, from which you can just print the
specific pages you require.
Note that the shuffled worksheets have an increasing numbers of pages. That's because
I generated multiple copies of each, so you can't rely on the order of
the kanji on a specific shuffled page,
as the shuffling order changes from page to page.
The Grader:
Ordered lists:
Shuffled lists:
Flex Pages:
Despite all of this effort, there are some that I forget a bit too regularly,
but overall things are proceeding nicely.
がんばりましょう!