Learning Japanese kanji has stopped being fun?

[GreyWolfXx]

  I've been trying to learn Japanese for a few months, but it has gotten very boring. At first, I was very interested in learning and it didn't bore me at all. I'm up to about 200 kanji using the Heisig method and this method has stopped being fun...I know this is probably the quickest way to learn kanji but learning kanji like this and studying flashcards quickly becomes a bore.

   The reason I'm learning is so that I can read untranslated VN's and this means that I need to have a grasp of kanji, right? It's impossible to read a VN without kanji knowledge. Is there a more fun way to learn kanji?

  

[Getsuya]

http://www.kanjidamage.com/

[Yuuko]

You could try memrise. It's lot more fun to me than anything else I have tried. Not sure how efficient it is though. 

Edit: Now that I think, it isn't completely kanji learning though so maybe it's bad for only kanji learning. Or I don't know if there is kanji only courses. Might be possible.

[Down]

Jump into reading. There's no 'fun' method for grinding the kanji, the fun is in witnessing your own progress in understanding what you're reading.

 

What I did personally was to use an Anki vocab/kanji deck (learning the kanji out of any context is imo extremely unsatisfactory and not optimal - having vocab along it at least provides a bit of context, even though that's def not as good as seeing it in full context) in parallel of going painfully through some LNs.

[GreyWolfXx]

kanjidamage.....heheh yo mama. Thanks, Getsuya.

Yeah, I've tried sites like memrise before and I stopped because they didn't teach only kanji, which is what I was focusing on, Kiriririri. 

And, Down, it's true. Kanji learning isn't really a "fun" thing. Although, I'm hoping some yo mama jokes might get me back into it 

[Zalor]

Jump into reading. There's no 'fun' method for grinding the kanji, the fun is in witnessing your own progress in understanding what you're reading.

 

What I did personally was to use an Anki vocab/kanji deck (learning the kanji out of any context is imo extremely unsatisfactory and not optimal - having vocab along it at least provides a bit of context, even though that's def not as good as seeing it in full context) in parallel of going painfully through some LNs.

 

Despite having completed Heisig myself, I think Down's suggestion is the best way to learn Kanji. Once I finished Heisig I started learning grammar, and would practice by reading. You learn Kanji way more efficiently and enjoyably by reading. Putting the words you had to look up in flashcards (or flashcard software) is the best way to go. Also, basic words often get repeated a lot, so eventually you will learn words just by running into them a lot. Heisig has only been helpful for me in writing kanji (which will be useful for me when I start studying Japanese formally in college). But if you just want to read; Heisig is honestly kind of useless.

 

Just makes sure to familiarize yourself with grammar before reading. I recommend reading Basic grammar, Essential grammar, and Special expressions in this guide: Tae Kim's Grammar Guide   

[Fiddle]

You should just be thankful that it was ever fun.

 

Kanjidamage is almost undoubtedly meant to be the "funnest" method of learning kanji. If even that fails you, therefore, I suggest considering the possibility of changing your method of learning Japanese in general by, if possible, instead reading media (namely visual novels) firsthand and thus learning the kanji by osmosis.

[Deep Blue]

if after 2 months you only learned 200 kanjis using the heisig then you are doing something wrong, try changing the method, for me it was the same when I was learning the kana, it took me 1 month to learn あえいおう(yes im not kidding) then I tried another approach to it and in a 1 week I learn all the hiraganas and in 2 weeks all the katakanas

I'm using memrise and so far I learn all the vocab from n5 in 1 month and around 800 kanji (not all of them with the un and kun reading but it's fine) btw I study half and hour every day and when I'm really into it maybe an hour.

The thing is to dont get stuck, try new things if something doesnt work out, everyone is different and they need different method of studying something. Don't give up

If you want to read a vn you need to know the grammar, that's more important than the kanji (with translator aggregator you can translate the meanings of the kanji) but without the grammar you can't make sense of anything, most important particles!

[melo4496]

   The reason I'm learning is so that I can read untranslated VN's and this means that I need to have a grasp of kanji, right? It's impossible to read a VN without kanji knowledge. Is there a more fun way to learn kanji?

 

Learning Kanji through flashcards is boring, but learning Kanji through VNs is fun.

Like what they always say - What you need in reading untranslated VNs is not Kanji, but grammar. Kanji (and vocab) can be learned slowly as you keep on reading vns. I think the 200 Kanji you know is enough if you know how to use either Jparser or a dictionary program.

[GreyWolfXx]

if after 2 months you only learned 200 kanjis using the heisig then you are doing something wrong, try changing the method, for me it was the same when I was learning the kana, it took me 1 month to learn あえいおう(yes im not kidding) then I tried another approach to it and in a 1 week I learn all the hiraganas and in 2 weeks all the katakanas

I'm using memrise and so far I learn all the vocab from n5 in 1 month and around 800 kanji (not all of them with the un and kun reading but it's fine) btw I study half and hour every day and when I'm really into it maybe an hour.

The thing is to dont get stuck, try new things if something doesnt work out, everyone is different and they need different method of studying something. Don't give up

If you want to read a vn you need to know the grammar, that's more important than the kanji (with translator aggregator you can translate the meanings of the kanji) but without the grammar you can't make sense of anything, most important particles!

 

 

Well, I actually learned at about 15-25 per day for two or three weeks then I just dropped it and maybe did two or three a day until I stopped altogether. I think I just tried too hard and got bored with it? 800 kanji in one month? Woah. Maybe I could try Memrise a bit more..

 

 

Learning Kanji through flashcards is boring, but learning Kanji through VNs is fun.

Like what they always say - What you need in reading untranslated VNs is not Kanji, but grammar. Kanji (and vocab) can be learned slowly as you keep on reading vns. I think the 200 Kanji you know is enough if you know how to use either Jparser or a dictionary program.

 

Alright, I'll learn some grammar and move on to some VNs. Maybe I'll take a look at the thread that rates how difficult some untranslated VNs are again. I'm fairly sure I know how to use Jparser, thankfully.

 

You should just be thankful that it was ever fun.

 

Kanjidamage is almost undoubtedly meant to be the "funnest" method of learning kanji. If even that fails you, therefore, I suggest considering the possibility of changing your method of learning Japanese in general by, if possible, instead reading media (namely visual novels) firsthand and thus learning the kanji by osmosis.

I'll try to do this haha because I can already see kanjidamage boring me....which is bad I think. My attention span is...nonexisistent

[GreyWolfXx]

Despite having completed Heisig myself, I think Down's suggestion is the best way to learn Kanji. Once I finished Heisig I started learning grammar, and would practice by reading. You learn Kanji way more efficiently and enjoyably by reading. Putting the words you had to look up in flashcards (or flashcard software) is the best way to go. Also, basic words often get repeated a lot, so eventually you will learn words just by running into them a lot. Heisig has only been helpful for me in writing kanji (which will be useful for me when I start studying Japanese formally in college). But if you just want to read; Heisig is honestly kind of useless.

 

Just makes sure to familiarize yourself with grammar before reading. I recommend reading Basic grammar, Essential grammar, and Special expressions in this guide: Tae Kim's Grammar Guide   

[Deep Blue]

knowing the kanji (Heisig) helps you later on when you actually learn the kanji itself or with some vocabulary, if you need to remember a word for example 大丈夫 (だいじょうぶ-daijoubu) or to be ok etc.

The kanji itself are worthless, why does big, length and husband mean to be ok? but you already know them so they are not just symbols to you so if you need to memorize them it becomes really easy to do, a healthy grown up man/husband so he is ok (now when you see this word you already know the meaning!)<---it become really easy to memorize because you already know something, you dont have to learn something abstract or from scratch.

 

It just another tool to make your learning a bit more easier, and yes it does help a lot! At least it did help me.