Kanji Help?

[spiritfannumber1]

Hello!
I've been studying Japanese for two years, and I've done foreign exchange in Japan!

However, I HATE kanji. It's always giving me trouble. I have quite a few books to study it from, but does anybody have any recommendations for best kanji books/methods etc?

[Konton no Tenshi]

Yes, kanji are veeery easy to forget. I usually remember them by creating some kind of story - the weirder, the better. It also helps to check the etymology of the character. (漢語林 Kangorin provides it.) E.g. 教 - an old man (老) whips (攴) the child (子), i.e. to teach.

Presently I am using 『日本語学習のための よく使う順 漢字2100』 in my kanji classes. I do not know whether it will suit you, but I am quite satisfied with it. I like the fact, that it is compact and yet it provides readings, stroke order, and compounds with example sentences.

[Pococurante]

I know this is an old topic, and my answer wouldn't be of much help anyway, but just wanted to respond...

In my experience, kanji is just plain tough to learn and tough to remember. I was kind of disappointed in my college Japanese classes, there was a significant focus on learning kanji when I really would have preferred more vocabulary and more learning of how to actually speak and use the language.

Some level of kanji is important (numbers, days, and the ones you will see in everyday usage (man, child, etc.) but past that point... it was just too much for me. I wanted to learn to use the language, not learn to read novels. Even when I was really trying, most of what I crammed in had fallen out of my head 2-3 weeks later. I feel like Usagi had the right idea... just stick with kana, it's enough to make yourself understood and that's what really matters.

Of course, if you want to truly learn to fluently read and write Japanese... giving up will get you nowhere. I guess maybe it's just a matter of repetition... and having several years of learning and re-learning kanji in the Japanese school system has got to be more effective than trying to cram everything in as a foreigner learning the language.