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Learning Strategies

The study of Kanji for native Japanese speakers covers a time length extending to nine full-time years, employing a dozen textbooks. For non-native Japanese speakers to learn all 1,945 Kanji characters short of nine years, using a single volume textbook is definitely an immense challenge. For that reason, you must brace yourself for a commitment that would transform the course of your new life. Much will depend on the criteria of time availability, or the willingness to create it. Determination is one's ammunition. The will to succeed will be a constant weapon in the long and difficult struggle. The Learning Strategies from one to seven listed below follow a sequence. However, after familiarity has been established, feel free to design a different arrangement.

Strategy One: Take a general survey by going over all eleven chapters of this book from "Triple Treat" to "Zigzag." Your eyesight must be trained to read the KanjiHybrids, which are printed in large fonts draw immediate and lasting attention. Make a mental note of which KanjiHybrids you did not immediately recognize. Your list will be rather short—contrary to your initial fears—as the meaning of the majority of KanjiHybrids will already be morphed in your mind.

Strategy Two: Starting with the first chapter, make a persistent and repetitive effort to practice penmanship with the KanjiHybrids. Follow the brush stroke order determinedly. Then, write the remaining English letters of each KanjiHybrid. Each KanjiHybrid should be written a minimum of twenty-five times. Without the handwriting drill, your objective of mastering Kanji characters will definitely flounder. As a beginner, your penmanship is hardly expected to be smooth, much less refined like that of a native Japanese speaker. However, as the Kanji handwriting drill progresses over time, a distinctive pattern will emerge, which will be your Kanji handwriting style. The handwriting drill is not designed to make you a Kanji calligrapher overnight. The consistent practice of writing each Kanji character, stroke-by-stroke, will definitely make them easier to remember. The nerves driving your writing hand are directly connected to your brain. Thus, the action of writing each Kanji character will reinforce memory retention. Take note that Japanese pupils do the same laborious task when learning to write Kanji flawlessly and straight from memory. You should be able to reach that level over time.

Strategy Three: For each KanjiHybrid, imagine other possible variations of core meanings. For example, the KanjiHybrid 動ovement can appear as: 動ove, 動oving, 動obile, or 動obility. The core meanings do not distinguish between nouns, verbs or adjectives. After mastering a KanjiHybrid, write a checkmark in the Complete Listing of Jōyō Kanji Characters found on page xlvi. Write the date so your learning progress can be monitored.

Strategy Four: After mastering a set of KanjiHybrids, you can move on to the next dimension: Veemuenics. Since KanjiHybrids are subsets of Veemuenics, the KanjiHybrids handwriting drill must be grouped within the context of a certain Veemuenic. Beyond KanjiHybrids, Veemuenics allow you to distinguish between similar-looking Kanji characters, while at the same time, ensuring memory retention of core meanings. Memorize as many Veemuenics as possible. The words usually rhyme for ease of memory retention.

Strategy Five: By this level, you must be ready for action, or practical applicability. I suggest keeping a separate notebook as a KanjiHybrid Diary, in which you will use your newly acquired knowledge. When writing in your KanjiHybrid Diary, use as many KanjiHybrids as you have mastered. You need not have completed all the chapters before you start keeping a KanjiHybrid diary. Even for yet to be learned KanjiHybrids, you must begin committing yourself to practice. Here's an example of a diary entry:

当his 朝orning, my 母other and I hosted a 特pecial 集athering. Her 友riends from 高igh 校chool came to 訪isit her. It was their 初irst 会eeting after so 多any, 多any 長ong 年ears. It brought back 貴herished 憶emories of their 若outhful 時imes. I have never 見een my 母other and the 全ntire 家amily so 喜appy...

Strategy Six: The reading drill is the next stage in learning Kanji characters. The handwriting drill and the reading drill are of equal importance in the process of learning Kanji characters. Get in the habit of reading news articles in Japanese newspapers. The Internet is a good place to find brief news articles in Japanese. The aim of this stage is to identify the meaning of some Kanji characters outside the comfort of this text. Neatly pronouncing every recognizable Kanji compound is not necessary. Reading Kanji characters means the ability to understand the core meaning. Concentrate on the meaning, meaning and meaning.

Strategy Seven: Welcome to the final stage: Kanji compounds. Go to the word entries section and pick out several Kanji compounds. This process will build your Kanji compound vocabulary. Break them apart into component Kanji characters. For example, the Kanji compound for seafood [海産物] can be broken down into three KanjiHybrids: 海cean, 産roduce, and 物hings. KanjiHybrids are not an end in itself, but a learning tool to further knowledge. The ultimate goal is familiarity with Kanji compounds, pure and simple.

You must set in motion a lifetime commitment for advancing your Kanji reading and writing skills through constant and continuous application. Devotion to these seven learning strategies will pave the way for you to penetrate one of the most restricted world languages yet devised by human ingenuity.