This is part of Krys Suzuki’s series on preparing for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Links to the rest of the series follow at the end of the article.
If you’re struggling to learn kanji, you’re not alone. For many Japanese language learners, kanji represents the epitome of difficulty. Not only are there thousands of them, but so many of them look the same! How do you even begin to memorize them all?
The trick is: you don’t! Learning kanji won’t happen by rote memorization alone. Least of all kanji for the JLPT, where their job is to trip you up by purposely showing you similar ones, often without context.
So how do you study kanji for the JLPT? You start by focusing on kanji radicals!
What Are Kanji Radicals?
Kanji radicals, or “bushu” (部首) are smaller “sets” of strokes that make up a more complex kanji. All kanji consist of one or more radicals.
There are 214 radicals, of which about 51 are most common. As you can see, there are a lot fewer radicals than kanji! And learning them will radically improve your ability to remember kanji (pun absolutely intended).
How Kanji Radicals Work
Each radical has its own name and meaning. Some can function on their own as a separate kanji, while other only work as part of a kanji.
By knowing what these radicals represent, you can usually guess a kanji’s general meaning. In the instances where a radical’s meaning is not directly related to that of the kanji, you can still make associations called mnemonics that can help you remember (more on that later).
Why Kanji Radicals Are Useful to Know
Radicals are basically the alphabet that forms kanji, in which radicals are like letters, and kanji are words. In order to read the word ‘cat’, we must first be familiar with the letters ‘c’, ‘a’, and ‘t’. Even if you know the first two letters, if you don’t know the sound that ‘t’ makes, you might confuse ‘cat’ with ‘car’, ‘cap’, or ‘cab’.
The same with kanji. Also, similar to how you look up English words in a dictionary by their first letter, you search a kanji dictionary by radical. In this way, even if you have absolutely no idea the meaning or pronunciation of a kanji, if you recognize the radical, you can look it up! (Online dictionary jisho.org and smartphone app imiwa? are two of my favorites!)
Finally, learning radicals is also similar to how we learn the alphabet first in English. By first grade, most children already know all 26 letters of the English alphabet. However, they certainly don’t know every word! And no child would be able to memorize every word in the English dictionary by sight alone, without even knowing their ABCs.
However, this is what many students of Japanese attempt to do. Memorize kanji by recognition or stroke order, without even knowing the radicals.
How to Use A Kanji Dictionary
Apps like imiwa? and jisho let you search for radicals by number of strokes. However, you might not always find some radicals on the list.
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This is because some radicals have multiple forms! For example, water: 水
The water radical normally looks like this: (水), but sometimes it can look like this (⺡). The radical for “small” can also look like (小 ) or (⺌). It’s important to know these alternate forms so that if you see one in a new kanji, you know what to look for in the dictionary.
How to Study Kanji Radicals for the JLPT
There are different methods for kanji and radical study, which can vary by person, as well as what you’re studying for. While you might want to take a more thorough approach and learn them all for general study purposes, for something specific like the JLPT, you’ll want to narrow it down.
I would recommend learning the 51 most common radicals. Then from there, only learn new radicals as they appear in the kanji for your level. You don’t even need to dedicate a separate study block for radicals. This should be done in conjunction with your kanji study as to not overwhelm yourself.
The following are some study methods and techniques that can help you memorize both kanji and radicals.
Memorization
This is the method most students use, and while it may work for some, I don’t recommend it. Plain ol’ memorization can get really repetitive, REALLY fast. Also, memorization drills (such as writing over and over again) leave what you learned in your short-term memory. Even if you manage to cram 100 new kanji in your brain this week, if you don’t regularly study and use them, you’ll find yourself forgetting many of them within weeks.
However, I’m not saying to avoid this completely! Drilling is useful when used in conjunction with more effective methods. It’s also good for building muscle memory when learning how to write. But for the JLPT, where writing is not necessary, focus your attention on one of the following methods.
Learn Radicals in Kanji Compounds
Radicals, like kanji, are much easier to remember in compounds, or groups. This will familiarize you with its general usage, as well as how they function with other parts. With radicals especially, you will also become aware of the other forms it can take.
Using the English alphabet as an example again, think of it as the written version of how English vowels make different sounds in different words.
The ‘a’ in ‘cat’ sounds different from the ‘a’ in ‘cake’.
The ‘small’ radical (小) radical looks different in the kanji 当 (on top) and 尓 (on bottom).
(Screen cap from imiwa? app; taken by Krys Suzuki)
Use Mnemonics
Mnemonics are a super effective (and fun) way to remember kanji and radicals. When you know what they mean or associate what they look like with something, you can create some pretty fantastic sentences. (The Heisig Method is a popular study series based on this).
Some people insist on incorporating every radical into the sentence or story. However, I find it more effective and time-saving to only use that which stand out to YOU. For example, the kanji 黙 (silence) has four components: 犬 (dog), 里 (village), 灬 (fire), and 黒 (black). (Notice the fourth component is actually a combination of the preceding two.
(Screen cap from imiwa? app; taken by Krys Suzuki)
A full mnemonic might sound something like this: “The dog set the village on fire and all went black. Because of this, it became really quiet.”
For that story to work, you need to know all four components plus the meanings of all of them.
My preferred mnemonic is this: “A dog sits quietly in darkness”. Here, I only have to remember ‘black’ (which I associate with the dark), and dog. The meaning, ‘quiet’, is already included in that one sentence. It’s much less to remember, and much faster to recall. And for the JLPT, speed is key.
(Screen cap from imiwa? app; taken by Krys Suzuki)
Note: I also don’t recommend using this method for EVERY kanji if you don’t need to, only the ones that you struggle with. You don’t want to spend the bulk of your study time memorizing funny stories instead of actually learning!
Radical Associations
Sometimes, you don’t even need to go the extra step with full sentences. If you already happen to know a radical’s general meaning, you could simplify it by only memorizing those within the context of specific similar kanji.
One example is: 待 (wait)、持 (hold)、and 時 (time).
They all look relatively similar, except for the radical on the left side. In order, they are 彳(stop/going man radical), 扌(hand radical), and 日(day/sun radical).
By knowing these radicals, you can easily figure out which kanji is which. Wait (待) uses the ‘stop’ radical, hold (持) uses the ‘hand’ radical, and time (時) uses the ‘sun’ radical.
Which Kanji Radicals to Learn for the JLPT?
To recap, for the JLPT, I wouldn’t recommend trying to memorize all the radicals outside of the context of your level-specific kanji study. (Though you may want to do this in the future when time isn’t a concern).
So first, I recommend checking out which kanji you need to know for your level. Then, I would study the 51 basic radicals, and any others as they appear in your kanji study sessions. It can be tempting to skip ahead, but don’t. This could jeopardize your ability to recall your focus kanji for the week.
Remember, we don’t want to cram here. We want to familiarize ourselves with the kanji enough that we can recall them instantly on sight as they appear on the JLPT test booklet in front of us.
In our next JLPT Study Series piece, we continue looking at JLPT kanji. I’ll share how to effectively study test-specific kanji, as well as some of my favorite methods, apps, and even TV shows to watch!
Kanji Poster
One way to familiarize yourself with full kanji is to get a Kanji Poster! The White Rabbit Press Kanji Poster has every kanji, coded by color. It also includes a separate poster with readings that you can use to quiz yourself. And if you want something to specifically help you with radicals, the White Rabbit Press Flashcards include them, too.
Study Resources
- Kanji Poster: https://www.whiterabbitpress.com/kanjiposter/
- Online Dictionary: jisho.org
- imiwa? (Smartphone app): https://apps.apple.com/us/app/imiwa/id288499125
Other Pieces in Our JLPT Series
- Take the JLPT: What You Should Know:https://unseen-japan.com/take-the-jlpt-what-you-should-know/
- How to Study for the JLPT: Designing Your Game Plan: https://unseen-japan.com/how-to-study-for-the-jlpt-designing-your-game-plan/
- JLPT Study Guides: Choosing the Right One for You: https://unseen-japan.com/jlpt-study-guides-choosing-the-right-one-for-you/
Other JLPT Sources:
- Official JLPT Website: http://www.jlpt.jp/e/
- JLPT Self-Evaluation:https://jlpt.jp/e/about/candolist.html
- JLPT Practice Tests: http://www.jlpt.jp/e/samples/sample09.html
- JLPT Schedule: https://jlpt.jp/e/application/overseas_list.html
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