Should I learn Japanese kanji by the JLPT level or by the grade level Japanese kids learn at?

Question

I'm taking a break from grammar and have decided to work on some kanji. Now, should I learn the JLPT kanji first of the 1,945 Jooyoo kanji? (I'm guessing I should learn the Jooyoo kanji first?) Thanks.

Answer 1

The JLPT kanji and the jouyou kanji are the same thing...

Jouyou kanji is just "commonly used kanji" that the Japanese government has decreed most important for everyone to know to read Japanese.
The JLPT takes those kanji and just separates them by order of difficulty and when they are learned by a regular Japanese student (example, the ones in JLPT 4 are just basic ones first graders learn).
There is no difference between the kanji on those lists because it would be silly if a test covering Japanese proficiency required you to learn nearly two thousand kanji that are not used, according to the Japanese, daily.

Answer 2

The JLPT divides its kanji according to grade level, so unless your sole intention for learning kanji is to pass the JLPT, there's no reason not to learn it the same way the Japanese do.
I personally would recommend studying it based on necessity, but if you're going to choose between the two, might as well just go by grade level.

Answer 3

Either one, it doesn't matter, because they are both have the same kanji. The question is, what pace do you want to learn these kanjis at? When do you want to have learned all these the kanji contained within these lists? This one guy said he learned it in 6 months!!!!! Though I could never possibly do that, with all the other stuff I have to do....x.x, though I wish I could..... I only know how to write about 65 or so, and can read about 100+.... I have a LONG way to go....