What is the best way to learn Japanese Kanji's Pronunciations?

Question

It's almost 90% easy to learn how to write a Kanji or know its meaning, at least for me. But, sometimes a Kanji may have 10 readings like the Kanji下(down). So, it's hard to learn them. That's not all. Some are Kun-yumi and others are On-yumi. What shall I do? Through Answers Pls.

I am a 6 grader. I started learning about 2 months ago. I', trying to get to G7's Kanji quickly to be like Japanese people or more. I mean isn't there any way to take them as "blocks," not one by one. I appreiciate any answer though.

Answer 1

I'm kind of a beginner in learning Japanese and I've been having loads of problems with kanji. Not that it's difficult, I just avoided it. But the reason of why I'm learning Japanese is - I love Japanese literature and I want to read my favorites in the original. So kanji learning is essential. So, what I started doing is, I bought two books by Giles Murray "Breaking Into Japanese Literature" and "Exploring Japanese Literature". These books have famous Japanese literature works that provide bilingual texts of English and Japanese plus it has each kanji translated sentence by sentence on the same page. So, as you read, you don't need to look up at the dictionary coz the words are just there. I have read the first novel and I feel that when you learn kanji in context (which is reading a book/article etc), you tend to remember it a lot better. It's better not only to learn compounds but sentences so it gives you clue about their usage too. I would advise to write it down several times too, until you can recognize the kanji. It's really cool to learn compounds as it will teach you how to read them. I also want to recommend my Kanji dictionary which also has kanji arranged according to frequency used (its joyou kanji). The name is:"Essential Kanji" by P.G. O'Neil. I kind of just love this book because it tells you some tricks about learning the kanji and they say that learning compounds is essential. So each Kanji pictured there has at least 2 sample words going with it.

Answer 2

you can't just learn the reading for a kanji one by one. a lot of them, you'll rarely even come across. the best way to learn individual pronunciations is to learn them word for word. in kanji compounds. that way, if you come across a compound, you'll know which pronunciation to use. there are some general rules, with many exceptions. such as, if it's two kanji in a row, normally go with the onyomi. if it's just one kanji, go with the kunyomi. another thing is that if it's a compund word with the first being a kunyomi, the second one will almost always be kunyomi, vise versa with onyomi. you'll almost never get a compund word where you mix kun and on yomi.

Answer 3

mmm, I think you just have to learn one by one simply, cos there's not any rule unfortunately. Reading Children's books will help you. Many of those books have ruby (agate) beside each Kanji.

Answer 4

Have you tried thejapanesepage.com?