February 23, 2007

A quarter literate

How many kanji do you know? I scored 540-560 kanji. I'm not sure if this is good or bad compared to other people who have been studying for about a year and a half. But I've been thinking of studying kanji more often, so I can understand more of the three Japanese books I am reading now (Suicide Club, どんと来い, and The Gunslinger). It may sound a little crazy to do that, but keep in mind I like books, and reading is the best way to get vocabulary (though not necessarily vocabulary that you can say out loud, if that makes sense).

11 comments:

  1. I got 690-730, which is really bad for the amount of time I have put into it. (3 years) So, I'd say you're on a good track.

    To be honest, I used to be much better than that, but my skill degraded over the past year and a half, until I started studying again recently.

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  2. Hey dude - awesome kanji skills. Congrats. Ha ha.
    Where'd you take the test to tell you that you know that many? I want to take it. I always tell people that I know 4 or 5 hundred, but I have a feeling that I'm being a bit optimistic on the estimation there...so yeah. Also, my biggest problem is remembering the stroke order. There are tons of kanji that I can read, but that I could not write if you handed me a sheet of paper and a pen and told me to do so without looking at anything. It's a recall issue. Any hints for me? :-) Ha ha.

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  3. ahem, Deas, the link is the first line of the post.
    Good luck to you both!

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  4. Deas = slow. Thanks. Ha ha.

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  5. what about your score? I am curious as to how a Waseda illumni is retaining after college.

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  6. Not so bad. I wound up with 690 - 730. Same as Andy up there. I am thrilled to see that I underestimated myself, but I too should be farther along than this. And I won't lie - I knew some of them only tangentially with questionable reading (e.g., new the meaning but could pronounce only half of the pair correctly with confidence). So, I have a long way to go if I want to go for 2-kyu. Sometimes I feel like I've hit such a plateau. It's hard to break forward with more momentum. We should all egg each other on. どんと勉強しろ! Ha ha. :-)

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  7. wow! you live in japan, speak nihongo, and write in kanji?! i'm envious!! i'm just stopping by (saw your youtube reply on the rosie o'donnell vlog - in case you're wondering). take care.

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  8. Well, boeboe, writing is a whole different ball game, though thanks to my DS Lite I am better than one might be otherwise!

    You mean Alex, Deas? Anyways, I have a crazy dream to do 1kyu. It can be done...

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  9. well after 2years and a half of japanese( and i m not in japan or studying japanese as my major) i managed to pass the 2 kyuu with 75 % so, 1 kyuu is not that far a dream, at least i think...
    for your kanji skills I think it's pretty good, after 1 year and a half i was just about the same i guess

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  10. Um, yes, I meant Alex. Sorry, Alex. (And Andy, whoever and wherever you are.) Good catch.

    By the way, do you recommend the DS software? I still haven't bought it, but think about it every time I'm in the store.

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  11. http://neosamurai.blogspot.com/2006/12/12-most-instructive-ds-japanese.html
    I really like that dictionary he mentions, and FF3

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