the japanese project, update 1

I know five hundred kanji.  No kidding!  (Here is the first post about learning Japanese.) There are  2000 in the official basic literacy set for Japanese folk, so, in theory, I am 25% there.  I’m adding about 20 kanji a day, which so far has been doable and leads to about 100-150 or so cards a day in Anki (that’s like electronic flashcards in a spaced time schedule depending on how well you were able to remember a given card on a given repeat).  Takes less than an hour.  This photo is one day’s Anki SRS session.  If I keep doing it, 20 kanji a day, I’ll know all 2000 kanji by the end of April.

Sophie is learning maybe 5 a day.  She has an amazing memory, although much less stamina than I do for sitting and studying.  It’s kind of a foreign concept for her, haha.  Luc picks up maybe one a day, without trying, although he picked up all  the kana very quickly.  “What’s ‘mi’ again?” I say and he calls out from the other side of the yurt, “the one that looks like a ’21′ !”  He thinks all the kanji look like our cat, Momo.  “She’s sitting down, that’s her profile.”  “She’s standing, that’s her tale.”  “That’s Momo when she sleeps on her side!”  I have to say, I just don’t see it.

Here’s the thing: I have no good reason to learn Japanese.  Shouldn’t I use this time and effort on something that makes more sense?  Why am I doing this?  What is the point?  All I’ve got in answer to that is, it’s fun.  It’s interesting.  Maybe it will stave off dementia a few more years.  But mostly, it’s fun.  So why not?  I admit, I feel a little guilty.  Which I think is weird.  But there it is.

But it’s so cool to recognize about 25% of the kanji and maybe 80% of the kana on the credits and street signs in the anime we watch!  And I can recognize radicals (parts of kanji) in many others, even if I don’t know the particular kanji.  “That’s ‘wild dogs’ and ‘rice field’ and ‘king!’ ” or whatever. (I just made that up, I don’t know if there is a kanji with those three parts!) The kids and I pause on any screen with writing and point out the ones we recognize.  Which adds a whole fun game-dimension to watching our usual shows.  I wonder if one day I’ll be able to read manga in Japanese?

But, more practically, I have no end goal.  I just don’t want the pressure.  Mostly I just say, “what is the next fun thing to do in Japanese?” ad do that.  Although I would like to hit that 2000 kanji.  Doing that is such a proscribed picture, much more defined than “learn Japanese.”  We’ll see.

Oh, and it’s my birthday today.  42!  My life is passing before my eyes.