21 comments

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  Alec

  2 years ago

  Hey, I believe the kanji for 'kanarazu' starts on the top-right corner! You asked for exceptions. =D
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  chibipudding

  9 months ago

  nope, i doesnt...
  wait...which one do you mean? theres a bunch of Kanji phrases for kanarazu... O.o
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  hawthorneluke

  2 years ago

  obvious, but i thought i'd add that once you start getting to know simple kanji, you can worry less about the more complicated ones, as you want need to remember every stroke, but just what seperate kanji they are made up of :D
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  koichi

  2 years ago

  hey now - that was going to be a future article.
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  Elizabeth

  2 years ago

  err... I might not be right but I think it actually starts at the top left. like the mark on the top left comes first.
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  kurosaki_frank

  2 years ago

  Ah, im learning the last of hiragana and starting on kana... kanji looks so difficult right now...
  What would you think it would be better to learn kanji?
  Just write it a lot or like flash cards with sounds?
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• 

  Alec

  2 years ago

  Oh, gosh - you're right! Silly me. (_
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  Sexy Beam

  2 years ago

  千 (and others based on it) still starts at the top, but kinda mostly to the right. That's the only form I can really think of that really deviates from that rule much, but it's easy to tell from the direction of the first stroke.
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  Josh

  2 years ago

  do you know where to start to learn kanji?Because I cannot find a website for it.or books
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  Kuristeru

  2 years ago

  There's a book out there called "Lets Learn Kanji", and "Let's Learn More Kanji". They're basically workbooks where you can practice your Kanji. I haven't bought those books yet because I'm still learning Katakana, then I'll step up to Hiragana. But its worth a shot. You can find those books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders...
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  koichi

  2 years ago

  just a quick fyi, before you get too far, you should really be learning hiragana first - katakana is pretty much useless when it comes to beginning japanese. Everything you'll start with is in hiragana and simple kanji, with the occasional name in katakana. If you're not too deeply dug into learning katakana, I'd suggest switching over to hiragana as soon as possible! Good luck!
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  koichi

  2 years ago

  I think you should look into finding just general "learning japanese books." Those'll get you started in the right direction and integrate kanji learning with everything else learning.
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  Kaito

  2 years ago

  I want to make a point to say that when you have stroke intersecting a "component" as in 中, you draw the "component" first, then the intersecting stroke.
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  Kuristeru

  2 years ago

  I actually have a quick question. I do want to learn both hiragana and katakana, but would I be better off learning hiragana first? or katakana, then hiragana?
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  Sexy Beam

  2 years ago

  Do what Koichi says and study Hiragana first. If you start reading any actual Japanese you'll see a lot more hiragana, because all the particles and verb endings and some short words are written in it, so you'll definitely need to know that. Katakana is more useful for mostly foreign names and words, which you'll need to know eventually, but not being able to use them is no fun at all. It shouldn't take more than a few weeks to learn both completely, though, if you work at it. And you *need* to work at it if you want to learn Japanese!
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  Amy

  2 years ago

  Actually, don't characters like 愛"ai" (with the diagonal first stroke) begin in the upper right and move downward to the left? You could even say 光"hikari" kind of starts in the upper middle because of that first vertical middle stroke...right?
  
  Great article, by the way ^ ^
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  O-O-taku

  1 year ago

  Eek! all I really know is Katakana... From reading anime titles!!! I really am a nice person, though. I'm just not a very good student of anything. I hate being a statistic.
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  korru

  1 year ago

  Err... I just write it how I see it. I know it's wrong but I keep telling myself that as long as it looks the part I can play the gaijin card if anyone gets suspicious... The only time I really go by stroke order is if I can actually see the strokes (like if it was written with brush).
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  Una

  1 year ago

  That`s true. Now we only have to memorize all shapes of kanji, but it makes it easier ^^
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  Claudia

  1 year ago

  I have been practicing writing this and my lurning curve is kind of at a plateue right now...I keep forgetting the shapes..
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  Nicholas

  3 months ago

  道, michi, starts with the section on the right and ends with the radical surrounding it.
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