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Learning to read Japanese is probably the most challenging aspect of studying the Japanese language. Most students find it far too confusing and time consuming to learn to read and give up. After spending a few months learning Hiragana and Katakana the prospect of learning a few thousand Kanji becomes too overwhelming.
However, learning to read Japanese doesn’t have to be a painful and confusing experience. A product called Read Japanese Fast has helped hundred of students become proficient readers of Japanese.
Most students make the mistake of learning to read Japanese in parts. First, students learn Hiragana, then Katanana. After this they learn a large number of grammar rules. Then comes learning hundreds of Kanji. Doing all of this would take several months of considerable study time with little results. Read Japanese Fast teaches students how to read Kanji in context in 30 days.
In this lesson you will learn the On (Chinese) and Kun (Japanese) readings of 5 common Kanji characters. I have provided an example sentence for each one. I am assuming that you can read Hiragana and have some basic Japanese under your belt. If you are unable to read hiragana please subscribe to our youtube videos – http://www.youtube.com/user/sodapencil
Learning Japanese characters is a great way to build vocabulary quickly. Also, I find Japanese writing to be quite beautiful. It is actually a pleasure to be able to write in Japanese. Learning to read and write Japanese characters is very worthwhile and something you should consider doing it immediately if you are serious about learning Japanese. Don’t bother wasting your time with romaji. Get straight into learning Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji.
Common Japanese Characters
| Kanji | On-Yomi | Kun-Yomiu | Meaning |
| 水 | すい | みず | Water |
なつ のとき よく 水 を のみます。
I drink a lot of water in summer.
| Kanji | On-Yomi | Kun-Yomi | Meaning |
| 本 | ほん | もと | Book, basics |
本 を よむ のは 好きです。
I like to read books.
| Kanji | On-Yomi | Kun-Yomi | Meaning |
| 人 | じん、にん | ひと | People, person |
あの 人 あなた の ともだち ですか
Is that person your friend?
| Kanji | On-Yomi | Kun-Yomi | Meaning |
| 気 | き | - | Spirit |
気 に しないで ください
Please, don’t worry about it.
| Kanji | On-Yomi | Kun-Yomi | Meaning |
| 元 | げん | - | Origin |
元気 ですか
How are you?
If you want to learn how to start reading Kanji with in 30 days please check out Read Japanese Fast
Most students of Japanese go about learning to read Japanese the wrong way. In fact most teachers go about teaching Japanese the wrong way. It is harsh comment, but an unfortunate reality. It is the reason why most students never reach a level where they can read real Japanese.
Most students are taught to read Hiragana, Katakana and then memorize Kanji in order to read Japanese. This is obviously a logical learning pattern or method. However, too much emphasis is placed on learning individual kanji characters and all their readings. Once a student has reached a basic level, where they can read hiragana and katakana, they should start trying to read kanji in context. The problem is students try to learn and memorize hundreds of kanji in no context at all.
Learning To Read Kanji
Memorizing hundreds of kanji readings will not help you read Japanese. More emphasis should be place on actually reading kanji in context and on “kanji vocabulary”. I struggled for years in order to reach a level where I could read real Japanese. I spent hours and hours on trying to memorize hundreds of kanji and lots of grammar points. When I went to practice to read I couldn’t. It was like having all the right ingredients, but not knowing how to use them. This is the problem you are probably facing right now with your Japanese - you know hiragana, katakana, a few hundred kanji, basic grammar, but you can’t read.
Learn How To Read Japanese
My wife and I have developed a learning method to help people learn to read Japanese quickly – in 30 days in fact. We coach students to read with screen capture video tutorials. We teach the basics, hiragana and katakana, but we mainly focus on reading kanji in context. We go through twenty reading pieces word by word, phrases by phrase explaining everything. We also take into consideration learner needs and the ambiguity of Japanese.
Culture plays an important part of Japanese, too. Most teachers of Japanese forget this. We discuss culture, social customs and the Japanese mind-set in our video tutorials. These factors play an important part in learning, speaking and reading Japanese. We also give concise easy to understand grammar explanations as well.
If your goal is to learn how to read Japanese then I urge you to give our product a go. We can have you reading Japanese in 30 days. I know that sounds like a bunch of sushi. Ten years ago, when I first started learning Japanese I wouldn’t have believe it myself. We have tested our method and upgraded our product over several years. If you have a basic understanding of Japanese and are frustrated with your slow progress consider ”Read Japanese Fast”. Our product comes with an 8 week guarantee so you have plenty of time to try our product without risk.
Here is a link for more information. You can sign up to our newsletter and receive some sample videos.
I have finally managed to work out how to blog in both Japanese and English so I thought I would post a kanji symbol lesson. In this lesson we will focus on just one kanji symbol and see how it can be used in a number of Japanese kanji compound words. Did you know that a kanji character can have several readings.
A single symbol will almost aways have an on-reading and a kun-reading. The on-reading of a kanji character (音読み・おんよみ) is the Chinese based reading. Kanji originated in China, and Japan started to adopt and adapt the writing system in the 4th century. On-reading kanji often have the same or very similar pronunciation to the Chinese version of the kanji. The kun-reading （訓読み・くんよみ） is the Japanese reading of the kanji.
Watch the video kanji lesson below.
Let’s revise!
車 has two readings; くるま and しゃ. Which one is the Chinese reading?
Here are the questions and vocabulary from the video;
車をもってますか － Do you own a car?
車をもってません － I don’t own a car
車はたかいですね － Cars are expensive
車 － くるま － kuruma – car
車椅子 － くるまいす － kurumaisu - wheelchair
自動車 － じどうしゃ － jidousha - motor vehicle
自転車 － じてんしゃ － jitensha - bicycle
書庫 － しゃこ － shako - garage
駐車所 － ちゅうしゃじょ － chuushajyo - car park
車輪 － しゃりん － sharin - wheel
What did you think?
Here is a sample from our learning package Read JapaneseFast. When learning to read Japanese students often make the mistake of focusing too much on memorizing kanji symbols. Students focus on learning the readings of several hundred kanji without really practicing reading. The best way to learn how to read Japanese is to read kanji in context. Also, more often than not learning compound kanji words is more effective than single kanji characters.
The Read Japanese FastMethod
1. Go to the vocabulary section and read the words.
2. Play the audio and follow the text (email) as Kaoru Sensei reads. Do this several times.
3. Try reading the email by yourself
4. Refer back to the vocabulary to check words you don’t understand
5. Read the text yourself aloud.
Reading Practice Vocabulary -読み練習の単語を覚えましょう
No. Kanji Reading Meaning
1 - 元気 - げんき - Well
2 - 私 - わたし - I
3 - 今 - いま - Now
4 - 人 - ひと - People
5 - 日本 - にほん - Japan
6 - 今日 - きょう - Today
7 - 十二時 - じゅうにじ - 12 o’clock
8 - 四十三 - よんじゅうさん - Fourty three
9 - 来月 - らいげつ - Next month
10 - 七日 - なのか – 7th
11 土曜日 - どようび - Saturday
Reading Practice – emails From New York 1
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おにいちゃんへ
元気ですか。 私は今インターネットカフェにいます。おいしいコーヒーをのんでいます。
ニュウヨークはすごいまちですよ。人がおおくて、とてもにぎやかです。日本とぜんぜんちがいます。
今日は、まちのバスツアーをします。 たのしみですけど、ちょっとたかいです。
四十三ドルもする。そのあとは、ともだちのアパートにいきます。来月の七日までとまります。
土曜日にうちにでんわをしますね。 みんなによろしくね。
Note: にぎやか -Lively, bustling
The Kanji learning Package comes with video tutorials that coach you how to kanji in context.
Grammar explainantions are also provided for each lesson. To learn more visit Read Japanese Fast
