How do can you successfully learn a new kanji?
Before I get into the tips that I've used to learn a new kanji, I have something important to say: Learning Kanji requires patience, time and effort! --Sorry, there's not magic trick!
Yet, I do have a few tips that if you follow, it will make it so much easier not just to learn it, but to remember it for the long run... Because I'm guessing that's your ultimate goal right?
So here are the tips that I (and my followers) have agreed on:
- Practice the proper stroke order: This will allow your brain to remember a specific sequence! Also, kanjis are usually built one upon another, so it makes it so much easier if you follow the correct order.
- Practice the radicals: After you learn Hiragana and Katakana and you are ready to learn kanji, take the time to review radicals. You don't need to know all 200 of them right away, but at least start with the basic ones. It will help you a lot!
- Create mnemonics that will help you remember the new kanji: It could be a sentence, it could be a drawing or it could be the actual etymology of the new kanji. Your brain is very good at making connections. By creating a relationship, it will be so much easier to recollect the new kanji.
- Look up basic words or sentences that use the new kanji: Learning a kanji all by itself will make it difficult to remember, because technically you brain has no purpose for it. By seeing it in actual vocabulary or sentences, you are creating even more connections.
I hope you found these tips helpful!
