Just wondering how you guys learn kanji and what specifically is your method.
Based on my research, it seems like some of the most popular methods are using:
3 Likes
I started out using WankKani, but I actually swapped to MaruMori because it also has grammar lessons and a bunch of extra learning tools which are helpful.
Tadoku has also been really useful, I have been planning on trying out Satori Reader too, but I keep putting it off 
I like that it has the option to disable furigana for kanji you already know
How about you?
1 Like
Hi!
I recommend two apps: Kanji Study and Ringotan.
Kanji Study to learn the reading and meanings of kanji.
Ringotan to learn to write the kanji, which has proven incredibly helpful for me so far.
Good luck with your studies!
1 Like
I thought I might make a comprehensible input suggestion since I don’t see one in the thread. The method by which I study kanji is watching videos with Japanese subtitles. I haven’t tested my ability to write, but it has been immensely helpful for recognition and reading.
Hi everyone,
Thank you for taking the time to respond!
@hanna How do you like MaruMori so far?
I have tried the free version of Satori Reader before, but as they mention on their website, it’s really meant for intermediate learners. As a beginner, I was bored because I was constantly clicking on the translations…
@diana Thanks! I’m going to check out those apps (especially since Ringotan is still free at the moment).
Good luck with your studies as well!
@alexander Interestingly enough, I recently started watching a video game longplay with Japanese subtitles and I have found that I am already starting to recognize some of the frequently used kanji. Thank you very much for your suggestion.
1 Like
I’ve found MaruMori to be good! The grammar explanations are detailed without being over complicated and there are lots of good examples. The community there is also very friendly and there is new content all the time. I’d recommend giving the trial a go 
And yeah I think Satori Reader is maybe still a bit hard for me too, but I am enjoying reading the level 0 books on Tadoku!
I use WaniKani. For me, its been amazing. And fun, actually, which is not something I ever would have thought kanji could be for me lol. You can use it for free through 3 levels, which is quite a lot of kanji and time, so it’s worth trying to see if it works for you.
1 Like
I personally use jpdb
As far as SRS (Spaced Repitition System) goes I prefer WaniKani but I can’t afford it, and between subscribing to CIJ and WaniKani I would rather choose CIJ.
jpdb is real nice though, lots of premade decks made from various books+textbooks, manga, anime, and even some games. You also have the ability to make custom decks like you can with Anki. jpdb is also an online dictionary I think first and foremost.
Most of my retention I’ve noticed comes from obviously the most common words I hear. Also I intentionally add words to a custom deck that I haven’t learned yet but have heard/seen a few times in my listening and have come across in reading graded readers and posts on bluesky lol. Stuff I couldn’t figure out just through listening.
Between jpdb and WaniKani, I really don’t like jpdb’s mnemonics and kanji/radical names at all. However you can write your own in instead, which is real useful.
I don’t really spend tooooo much time on SRS but it does feel like making myself aware of these words and kanji through SRS kinda prepares my brain to hear and understand them when I listen.
Edit: You might know this already but just in case: something to keep in mind with SRS method is that even with example sentences, a lot of words probably won’t stick in your mind in a way that matters unless you hear them in the context of a video or read them in a book or something. In my (limited lol) experience SRS seems to be at best a supplement to your listening and reading practice.
1 Like
@hanna Thanks for the review on MaruMori! I might check it out if I ever need a new learning resource. I thought the most interesting part was the reading practice.
@mark888 WaniKani seems to deserve its popularity based on how many learners have mentioned how it’s managed to make learning kanji fun.
Personally, I didn’t like it when I signed up because I didn’t like how they didn’t explain radicals properly (but that’s probably because I learned Chinese in school and my teachers were very insistent on having the students learn and understand the radicals properly to make it easier to learn the characters. Unfortunately, I’ve forgotten most of my Chinese so I need to learn kanji the regular way lol).
But thank you; I appreciate the recommendation and I’m sure people lurking on this community page will too!
@couchlazy Thanks for the detalied answer.
I have seen people recommend jpdb! I’ll have to check it out to see what the hype is about. I like the idea of premade decks from sources that learners are generally interested in.
Speaking of SRS, @diana recommended Ringotan earlier in this thread. It’s currently a free app that is meant to help you learn how to write kanji and uses SRS. The SRS has really made a difference in my ability to recognize and remember kanji!
2 Likes
I did RTK at the beginning, following AJATT advice.
After this I never studied readings, but sometimes check them out using the kanji study app and specifically the outlier kanji addon. Knowing about how the kanji came to be and where the reading comes from is fascinating and useful.
I’ve been to occasionally (very inconsistent) use the KLC graded readers to practice my reading of the kanji. This fits with my overall approach which has mostly been extensive reading.
I used Tadoku and Sakura when I was a beginner, Satori and “easy” manga when I was more intermediate, and now I read whatever I’m interested in (novels and/or manga)
1 Like
@kasasto Thanks for the answer. It’s not a big surprise, but it seems like people who have the discipline to go through RTK tend to do very well when it comes to reading.
I’d really like to try the Kanji Study app, but it’s only available on android at the moment. People tend to recommend Renshuu as an alternative for iOS users which is nice because I can use it to look up mnemonics and vocabulary/pitch accent, but I’d still like to try something like Kanji Study.
Yeah it’s a good app, unfortunate it’s not on apple.
And also I agree, when I first started RTK I thought “if it’s not that important to do, then why did so many people with great Japanese do it?” But I think it’s more just that the overlap of people willing to put in thousands of hours and the people willing to do RTK to completion is very large.
1 Like
When I started learning Kanji it was with WaniKani I think. But after reaching around level 20 I felt it was much too limited and slow.
After a lot of research I did RTK with like 20 Kanji a day for a few months + review. After I finished it I dropped it and just learned new words in context and with a 6K + mining deck.
After RTK I never wrote Kanji by hand again as I don’t need it without living in Japan.
Learning new Kanji in context after around 3 years learning japanese is now very easy. The more Kanji you know, the easier it gets.
1 Like
Learning how to read? Cold reading on earlier CIJ videos I already understand based on the audio alone is really good, and making an effort to visualise what’s happening in the audio (without watching the video) while doing the cold reading helps with making the association between the kanji and the concept it represents.
For writing I use Kanji drill books
1 Like
I don’t learn pure Kanji, just vocabulary, using the Kaishi 1.5K Anki deck. However I hate Anki, so I only do 1 or 2 new words a day, so my progress is very slow. Tadoku is too easy, Satori Reader is too hard 
2 Likes
It’s hard to stay consistent with Anki, so I know what you mean.
I’m lazy so I just watch non-CI videos with Japanese subtitles and that method has been working for me. Thank you for your response.
1 Like
Hmm, kanji is certainly something I have been putting off for a long time, though reading in itself. I have been grinding CIJ since February 18th and yesterday I hit 250 hours. I haven’t read anything beyond hiragana so far and an interesting observation I have made is that I can read quite a few kanjis that I have never seen before. The reason is that whenever I look at the okurigana (the hiragan attached to the kanji) a lot of times I just figure it out. Best feeling ever, haha.
I am very faithful to Kenneth Goodman in this regard (to the Natural Approach in general, haha) and I stay by the fact that we get better at reading through reading. So, I suggest to you pleasure reading. This can be the transcripts of CIJ videos you liked or Tadoku and Graded Readers (Which are few in numbers sadly).
Though how come Tadoku is too easy for some people? There are 5 levels. (I can read level 3 pretty nicely, though there are certainly unknown words). Hmm, they might be at N2 or N1, then. Well, anyway I have two solutions for you.
This has all the free books that are on Tadoku with all 5 levels. Of course there more on the paid side, but let’s stick to free stuff for now.
Edit: I have found a bunch of Tadoku files on my cloud drive. Have fun with them.
Edit: I found the Olly Richard’s Graded Reader on my cloud drive as well.
Might as well add his website meanwhile I erase my sins.
Well, essentially read a lot and trust the process. I only believe in the Natural Approach.
Some useful information, if you’re familiar with the ON & Kun reading concept you should really know about existence of phonetic components that can help with ON-readings.
Here’s a video that quickly explains how they work & their usefulness (if you’re struggling to understand her voice it has English subtitles)
And I personally almost never Anki but this is a case where I would recommend it if you understand how to recognise a possible ON-reading (the longer a kanji compound word is the more likely it is to be ON), and know when something almost definitely isn’t one (pretty much anything with attached kana will be a kun reading for example, or anything that isn’t a noun) so here’s a deck for it
Also there’s the book “the kanji code” which has a more extensive list of possible phonetic radicals, if you want to study more of them or create a more inclusive deck from it or something.
1 Like
I personally recommend WaniKani. At first I had some issues with it because I didn’t understand why they did things in a certain way, but I can’t deny the results I feel I’m getting. I haven’t tried other kanji resources because I just wanted to choose something and stick with it. After about level 10 I started using Bunpro, but just to read and listen to the sentences. I did not use the grammar SRS which I wasn’t a fan of. I was surprised how much I could read just at level 10. But something I noticed is that I would have trouble learning new kanji from reading sentences in Bunpro, but once I got to that kanji in WaniKani I was able to start recognizing it easily. So that is one reason I am sticking with WaniKani and am now level 30+.
1 Like