Wooow, 6 years? How did you get into that? Was it the JET programme or study or anything?

Yeah, that’s probably the most depressing thing about it. Every Japanese person I’ve met has also said their Kanji is bad and that they keep forgetting to write. Doesn’t bode too well at all there.

You’re totally right there and I agree. But I think I’d better clarify what I was saying up there.
I do learn how to write Kanji during each lesson of Kumon (usually 5 or so a week) and every Kanji I know I’ve had to write at some point or another. The problem is, unless I keep writing them, I forget them really quickly, and I usually don’t see any point to re-memorizing them (hence re-inviting the cycle). Come the test time, I usually write the ones I know (usually like 25% lol) and am not really phased by not knowing the rest.

Ahh wow okay. Yeah haha… my Japanese was never good enough to ever go into a meeting situation like that. But yeah, I would say once the necessity to be able to write it came along, it would probably become much quicker. It’s definitely something I would focus on when/if I go back to Japan.

Either way, since I’m thinking of re-taking the JLPT 2 exam this year, if I’m to have any hope of passing it, odds are I’ll need to rethink this pattern…

Thanks again for the post! I also loved the site you put up too! Thanks!

Wooow, 6 years? How did you get into that? Was it the JET programme or study or anything?

Yeah, that’s probably the most depressing thing about it. Every Japanese person I’ve met has also said their Kanji is bad and that they keep forgetting to write. Doesn’t bode too well at all there.

You’re totally right there and I agree. But I think I’d better clarify what I was saying up there.
I do learn how to write Kanji during each lesson of Kumon (usually 5 or so a week) and every Kanji I know I’ve had to write at some point or another. The problem is, unless I keep writing them, I forget them really quickly, and I usually don’t see any point to re-memorizing them (hence re-inviting the cycle). Come the test time, I usually write the ones I know (usually like 25% lol) and am not really phased by not knowing the rest.

Ahh wow okay. Yeah haha… my Japanese was never good enough to ever go into a meeting situation like that. But yeah, I would say once the necessity to be able to write it came along, it would probably become much quicker. It’s definitely something I would focus on when/if I go back to Japan.

Either way, since I’m thinking of re-taking the JLPT 2 exam this year, if I’m to have any hope of passing it, odds are I’ll need to rethink this pattern…

Thanks again for the post! I also loved the site you put up too! Thanks!

I understand what you are saying. Writing difficult Kanji is something that even Japanese people today forget every now and then. Kinda makes it hard to stay motivated when even the natives fail from time to time.

Still though, I think refusing to learn to write -any- Kanji is extreme and only doing yourself a disservice. It’s so much easier to learn to read lots of Kanji when you can write them as well. Practically speaking though, the only disadvantage you’ll have in not being able to write anything is that of personal embarrassment when trying to write stuff in front of Japanese people… which only happens in situations like you mentioned, when filling out forms, or once in my case when taking notes on a whiteboard during a meeting when I was working at a Japanese company. Making mistakes there is just embarrassing. Even if you can participate in the meeting 100% verbally, when you try to write down someones great idea and can’t write, it just makes you look inferior, and natives will begin to seriously doubt your language ability.

Anyway, remembering to write kanji is definitely the hardest thing aout learning Japanese. And the hardest parts are always the ones we tend to avoid the most!

I understand what you are saying. Writing difficult Kanji is something that even Japanese people today forget every now and then. Kinda makes it hard to stay motivated when even the natives fail from time to time.

Still though, I think refusing to learn to write -any- Kanji is extreme and only doing yourself a disservice. It’s so much easier to learn to read lots of Kanji when you can write them as well. Practically speaking though, the only disadvantage you’ll have in not being able to write anything is that of personal embarrassment when trying to write stuff in front of Japanese people… which only happens in situations like you mentioned, when filling out forms, or once in my case when taking notes on a whiteboard during a meeting when I was working at a Japanese company. Making mistakes there is just embarrassing. Even if you can participate in the meeting 100% verbally, when you try to write down someones great idea and can’t write, it just makes you look inferior, and natives will begin to seriously doubt your language ability.

Anyway, remembering to write kanji is definitely the hardest thing aout learning Japanese. And the hardest parts are always the ones we tend to avoid the most!

＞rie
はは、まぁあ～、ぎりぎりだね。　XD
はは、日本人にも大変だったら私はちゃんと覚えるわけがないと思う。　XP
あぁ、うん、覚えるまで書く事ってよく聞いたが、それだけじゃないね。　多分漢字の部首の勉強は必要なんだね。
おっと、全部書けなくないだろう。。。？　おっと大変だね。　でもけっきょく、携帯を持っていれば、ちゃんと覚えなくていいね。。。。　XD
へへへ、うん！　Good luck!!

＞rie
はは、まぁあ～、ぎりぎりだね。　XD
はは、日本人にも大変だったら私はちゃんと覚えるわけがないと思う。　XP
あぁ、うん、覚えるまで書く事ってよく聞いたが、それだけじゃないね。　多分漢字の部首の勉強は必要なんだね。
おっと、全部書けなくないだろう。。。？　おっと大変だね。　でもけっきょく、携帯を持っていれば、ちゃんと覚えなくていいね。。。。　XD
へへへ、うん！　Good luck!!

Wow really? So that means that they grasped the technical grammar of English, and can understand it… and yet they can’t actually reproduce it? That’s fascinating.

I suppose that just goes to show how complex and diverse languages are and how the relate to each other.

I don’t suppose you have a link to an article on those Koreans and how they studied it?

Wow really? So that means that they grasped the technical grammar of English, and can understand it… and yet they can’t actually reproduce it? That’s fascinating.

I suppose that just goes to show how complex and diverse languages are and how the relate to each other.

I don’t suppose you have a link to an article on those Koreans and how they studied it?