After jouyou kanji

Kid Chrono · Jul 24, 2006, 16:59

I recently started studying the meanings, readings, and writings of the last of the Heisieg kanji cards(as well as a few other kanji that I have picked up over the last couple years), so I was wondering what the next step of kanji would be for when I am ready to take it on. I am already saving up for a good electronic kanji/vocab dictionary that will help me with more obscure kanji, but there are quite a few kanji that I see fairly regularly that are not in my current kanji dictionaries or in the cards that I have. I was wondering if there were any other "sets" of kanji that I should know about?

On a side note, it is somewhat frustrating to finally reach my goal of studing the entire jouyou kanji set(and a couple hundred more besides) and STILL not being able to read many things because there are kanji that I do not know

.

Buntaro · Jul 25, 2006, 02:32

Kid,

My understanding is, there are other Kanji besides the Jouyou kanji, but they are specialized Kanji. For example, a speciailized field, like astro-physics or nuclear energy may have special Kanji that they use.

Which lead me to this conclusion: if there is a specialized field that you are interested in, learn the specialized Kanji for that field.

My understanding is also that most Japanese people have a hard time with all of the Jouyou Kanji, and even more of a difficulty with these so-called specialized Kanji.

KrazyKat · Jul 25, 2006, 02:56

Just learn new Kanji as they come up as you read.　If there are Kanji turning up regularly that you don't know, why don't you learn them?

Then there is also the 漢字検定 exams that you can study for.
http://www.kanken.or.jp/index.html

Originally Posted by Buntaro

Kid,
My understanding is, there are other Kanji besides the Jouyou kanji, but they are specialized Kanji. For example, a speciailized field, like astro-physics or nuclear energy may have special Kanji that they use.

Actually quite a lot of commonly used Kanji are outside of the 常用 and 人名　kanji, like 淹　狐　拉　捉 and 訊 for example. These are hardly related to specialised fields.

Buntaro · Jul 25, 2006, 04:18

Krazy is right, there are "commonly-used non-Jouyou" Kanji that need to be learned. Is Krazy's list complete, or is there a more-complete list?

JimmySeal · Jul 25, 2006, 23:48

Most college-educated Japanese people study about 3000 kanji throughout their time at school. There are probably about 30-50 non-Joyo kanji that are common enough that they usually appear without furigana. As for the remaining thousand, I don't think they'll help you dramatically, but I'd be the last to discourage you from learning them. If you've worked all the way through Heisig, you can order Volume 3 and just keep plugging 'til you reach 3007. Kanji are categorized as follows:

Kyoiku kanji: 1007 kanji designated to be taught through the end of Elementary school and divided by grade level
Joyo kanji: kyoiku kanji + 937 others designated as necessary for general use (reading books, newspapers) total: 1945
Jinmeiyou kanji: 285 kanji that don't occur in the joyo kanji that are commonly used in names, but are certainly used to spell non-name words as well.
JIS Level 1: joyo kanji + jinmeiyo kanji + 735 other kanji that occur with relative frequency in Japanese writing. total: 2965
JIS Level 2: 3384 more characters which in addition to level 1 should enable you to write practically anything you could ever want to.

Kanji Kentei level 準一級 encompasses all of JIS Level 1, and 一級 includes Level 2. Heisigs books together cover all of the characters in JIS Level 1.

Jul 26, 2006, 13:24

and personally, i just plan on learning kanji as i read them in text, i have a program that can translate words for me. Then i try harder to read them without using the program.

Kid Chrono · Jul 27, 2006, 06:01

Sorry for being so late, but I think the 漢字検定 are exactly what I am looking for. I have been learning kanji as I read, taking them out making cards and studying them, but I just wanted a list of them I could go through and study at my own pace even when I am not reading anything. It's also faster to just have a list ready so that I can study them whenever I have a few extra minutes.

Thanks!

Jul 24, 2006, 16:59	#1
Kid Chrono 日本語の学生 Join Date: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 19	After jouyou kanji I recently started studying the meanings, readings, and writings of the last of the Heisieg kanji cards(as well as a few other kanji that I have picked up over the last couple years), so I was wondering what the next step of kanji would be for when I am ready to take it on. I am already saving up for a good electronic kanji/vocab dictionary that will help me with more obscure kanji, but there are quite a few kanji that I see fairly regularly that are not in my current kanji dictionaries or in the cards that I have. I was wondering if there were any other "sets" of kanji that I should know about? On a side note, it is somewhat frustrating to finally reach my goal of studing the entire jouyou kanji set(and a couple hundred more besides) and STILL not being able to read many things because there are kanji that I do not know .

Jul 25, 2006, 02:32	#2
Buntaro 運動不足 Join Date: Dec 27, 2003 Location: Westmorland, California, USA Posts: 802	Kid, My understanding is, there are other Kanji besides the Jouyou kanji, but they are specialized Kanji. For example, a speciailized field, like astro-physics or nuclear energy may have special Kanji that they use. Which lead me to this conclusion: if there is a specialized field that you are interested in, learn the specialized Kanji for that field. My understanding is also that most Japanese people have a hard time with all of the Jouyou Kanji, and even more of a difficulty with these so-called specialized Kanji. __________________ Tada yori, takai mono wa nai. "There is no such thing as a free lunch."

Jul 25, 2006, 02:56	#3
KrazyKat Regular Member Join Date: Jan 17, 2006 Location: England Age: 23 Posts: 514	Just learn new Kanji as they come up as you read.　If there are Kanji turning up regularly that you don't know, why don't you learn them? Then there is also the 漢字検定 exams that you can study for. http://www.kanken.or.jp/index.html Originally Posted by Buntaro Kid, My understanding is, there are other Kanji besides the Jouyou kanji, but they are specialized Kanji. For example, a speciailized field, like astro-physics or nuclear energy may have special Kanji that they use. Actually quite a lot of commonly used Kanji are outside of the 常用 and 人名　kanji, like 淹　狐　拉　捉 and 訊 for example. These are hardly related to specialised fields.

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Jul 25, 2006, 04:18	#4
Buntaro 運動不足 Join Date: Dec 27, 2003 Location: Westmorland, California, USA Posts: 802	Krazy is right, there are "commonly-used non-Jouyou" Kanji that need to be learned. Is Krazy's list complete, or is there a more-complete list?

Jul 25, 2006, 23:48	#5
JimmySeal Tubthumper Join Date: Mar 5, 2006 Location: Japan Age: 27 Posts: 1,301	Most college-educated Japanese people study about 3000 kanji throughout their time at school. There are probably about 30-50 non-Joyo kanji that are common enough that they usually appear without furigana. As for the remaining thousand, I don't think they'll help you dramatically, but I'd be the last to discourage you from learning them. If you've worked all the way through Heisig, you can order Volume 3 and just keep plugging 'til you reach 3007. Kanji are categorized as follows: Kyoiku kanji: 1007 kanji designated to be taught through the end of Elementary school and divided by grade level Joyo kanji: kyoiku kanji + 937 others designated as necessary for general use (reading books, newspapers) total: 1945 Jinmeiyou kanji: 285 kanji that don't occur in the joyo kanji that are commonly used in names, but are certainly used to spell non-name words as well. JIS Level 1: joyo kanji + jinmeiyo kanji + 735 other kanji that occur with relative frequency in Japanese writing. total: 2965 JIS Level 2: 3384 more characters which in addition to level 1 should enable you to write practically anything you could ever want to. Kanji Kentei level 準一級 encompasses all of JIS Level 1, and 一級 includes Level 2. Heisigs books together cover all of the characters in JIS Level 1.

Jul 26, 2006, 13:24	#6
kohlrak Guest Posts: n/a	and personally, i just plan on learning kanji as i read them in text, i have a program that can translate words for me. Then i try harder to read them without using the program.

Jul 27, 2006, 06:01	#7
Kid Chrono 日本語の学生 Join Date: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 19	Sorry for being so late, but I think the 漢字検定 are exactly what I am looking for. I have been learning kanji as I read, taking them out making cards and studying them, but I just wanted a list of them I could go through and study at my own pace even when I am not reading anything. It's also faster to just have a list ready so that I can study them whenever I have a few extra minutes. Thanks!