You can learn vocabulary purely organically, but you do need to drill kanji, and, if you don’t need to write kanji, then Anki is in our opinion the best way to learn vocabulary and kanji at once. It is largely because of kanji that we recommend using Anki.

This article is tackling the question of how to learn kanji as a part of this process. We have already discussed how to build vocabulary organically. And learn vocabulary not from vocabulary lists, but from organic encounters. Which is to say, learn words with their kanji. This is why we say, “learn words, not kanji”. The minute they learn a kanji, it attaches to a body of knowledge they already possess and becomes a living part of their language understanding. They are not learning them in the abstract. But they already know the words that they signify. Japanese children do learn kanji as kanji. Even Japanese people learn them that way. So what is this talk about learning kanji organically? Surely they have to be learned by an abstract system. Japanese children study kanji in school for years before they become fully literate. Kanji is the same, only several hundred times bigger. They actually have to sit down and learn it. See a more up-to-date version of this article in this video:īut writing is different. Before they learn to read, they already have a grasp of vocabulary and grammar that takes a foreign student years to acquire. Their grasp of grammar and vocabulary comes from hearing it and using it.

On the face of it, there is a strong case against the possibility of learning kanji organically.Ĭhildren don’t learn to speak their own language out of textbooks. Our method of learning Japanese is based on a minimum of abstract study and a maximum of immersing yourself in the language and really using and enjoying it.īut what about kanji? Why they say you can’t learn kanji organically There are a lot of kanji-learning systems around these days.īut what if the best system is no system?

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