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English words made only from twenty-six characters? Are English a bit lazy or what? We have fifty thousand characters in Chinese
— A Concise Chinese - English Dictionary for Lovers — Xiaolu Guo
QuackingShoe wrote:I think it's worth pointing out that, as the Heisig method involves learning Kanji through stories tailored to their components, it makes remembering how to write them incredibly easy. I believe the most complicated kanji components you ever encounter (as broken down by Heisig) are seven strokes, and they're pretty rare. And while the best method for going through Heisig probably involves the Reviewing the Kanji website's flashcards (http://kanji.koohii.com/), they're all production cards. That is, you get the keyword, and then have to remember how to write it, from a story/picture in your head detailing the components. Focusing on the writing this way is very useful, as it makes recognition much easier in all styles. Like you (at least from what I gather), I personally am almost incapable of even recognizing any kanji that I only know through sight, but am capable of clearly recognizing and acquiring vocabulary for any kanji I know how to write, which is at this point 1775. I'd really recommend giving it a try, as the sample PDF is free, covers, 276 or so kanji, and doesn't take very long to try out and decide if it's for you or not.
Good luck with however you proceed!
hatch_jp wrote:The number of kanji we learn at elementary school is 1006.
1st grade =80
2nd grade = 160
3rd grade = 200
4th grade = 200
5th grade =185
6th grade = 181
At junior high school, there are 939 kanji.
We have learnt about 2000 kanji, which are selected to be used routinely, for 9 years.