Why K-FRU?
Here is a short story about Ann. Ann has learned hiragana and katakana, and now she is set to start learning kanji. She excitedly opens her kanji book and starts studying. The first few are like pictures: Mountain – 山, River – 川, Tree – 木, Sun – 日, Moon – 月. These are easy! Ann is excited to be learning kanji so quickly! But then they start getting more complicated: Hundred – 百, Thousand – 千, Ten Thousand – 万, Woman – 女, Man – 男, Child – 子, Winter – 冬, Spring – 春, Summer – 夏, Autumn – 秋, North – 北, South – 南, East – 東, West – 西.
The kanji do not look like pictures anymore. But Ann keeps studying. They are not as easy to remember, but Ann works hard. She learns the way Japanese children do; she writes the kanji over and over…and over. But writing them is not enough. On top of remembering what a kanji looks like and how to write it, she also has to learn what it means AND what it sounds like. And most of the kanji have more than one sound. So she also makes flashcards and goes through them hundreds of times. And this method is effective…for a while.
After a few months of studying, Ann has studied over 200 kanji. But now she is encountering a problem. She can remember her recently studied kanji, but she is starting to forget the kanji she first learned. She does not have time to write all 200 kanji every day. After all, she needs to study Japanese grammar, vocabulary, and listening as well. On top of that, Ann is confused by different kanji. The parts are too similar. For kanji like 厚 and 広, she has to think, is it 厂 or 广? For kanji like 皆 and 昆, does the 比 go on top or bottom? For 脱 and 明, is the 月 on the left or on the right? She is mixing up how to write them, and she is confusing what they mean and sound like.
By 300 kanji, Ann is at her limit. She is already spending three hours every day on kanji alone, yet she is forgetting more and more kanji. She knows there are over 1900 kanji she must learn for everyday Japanese ability, and she is overwhelmed at 300. What is she to do?