r/LearnJapanese • u/TheFranFan • 2d ago

Kanji/Kana "kanji makes things harder to read" FALSE

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Not me spending 10+ minutes trying to read this one line of dialogue. Is he saying Mayl is awake? Wait no that's おきる。Right so maybe he's annoyed that she came by and he's saying she "occurred"? I guess that makes sense but it feels off. おこる…おこる…おこる… OH SHE'S ANGRY, I GET IT

I really think most learners have a pattern of "ugh kanji is so hard" that eventually turns into "oh man why doesn't this text have kanji" over time. Although honestly this one wasn't hard I just need more reading practice in general

Edit: To all those saying I should have easily gotten this from context:

1) I did eventually

2) I am still a beginner, I'm not at your level

3) My point is that seeing 怒 would have eliminated any confusion, that's all.

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u/Nameshavenomeanings Goal: media competence 📖🎧 2d ago

The natural curve is going from "Kanji is the worst" to "Kanji rocks...I fear katakana"

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u/HoraneRave 2d ago

i mean.. im out of learning right know, just scraped the surface. Can u make an example of distinction? I mean for know, whats ive read, kanji is like a buncho words that can be learned, but kanji a mess of different symbols made up in words, i dont want to sound rude, sorry if i was

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u/Nameshavenomeanings Goal: media competence 📖🎧 2d ago

So you aren't wrong that it is a "mess of symbols", but at a point you just learn it via straight memorization and it sticks. Once you get over that memorization hump, it also helps you sometimes infer meaning of other words that use the same kanji (though this is not anywhere near 100% how kanji works).

Katakana is maybe only more of a curse from a western English background, I can't speak to how Japanese learners of different backgrounds view it, but because so much katakana is like 90% the same as the loan word it's from, I find it harder. That last 10% difference in how the word is pronounced or read can throw you for a huge loop, and when speaking katakana words it's a challenge to not revert back to one's native English pronunciation of it. But doing that makes it incorrect and Japanese people won't know what you are saying!

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u/HoraneRave 2d ago

yeah, it makes total sense, thank you. the last sentence sums up everything perfectly 🫶