Quote:
Originally posted by irateplatypus
hey, i've got 2 months before i leave for japan...
i know some kana and am still learning fairly rapidly on that front, but i know little to no kanji.
when i look at all the "learn kanji" sort of books, they are divided into different grades. while i'm sure that learning them in that order is best for mastering the written language over time, i doubt it would be most effective for someone just spending a month over there.
question: is learning kanji worthwhile for such a trip, or would that time be better spent augmenting my verbal vocabulary? also, if there are kanji that are essential to my experience... which are the ones i would find the most helpful?
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I can think of few scenarios in which not knowing kanji is going to be a big problem. I think verbal vocabulary would be more helpful.
Knowing kana, however, could be more useful. I would also recommend knowing what the kanji for the names of places you will go to look like (or bring a cheat sheet)
If you have access to a kanji dictionary you could bring that. Place names sometimes have nonconventional readings so this is no substitute for the cheat sheet.
Where are you going to go? The more rural you go, the more important language will be.