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Is it okay to write Japanese without kanji?
The question is, can you speak Japanese without Kanji? The short answer is: yes. Japanese uses two native phonetic syllabaries, called kana, for writing most of their language. However, they also use an extensive library of Chinese symbols (kanji) to communicate some concepts, grammar, and names.
Is it OK if I dont learn kanji?
Yes you can but it is laborious to read. Even with my limited Japanese writing skills it is much easier for me to read a sentence that contains kanji rather than just hiragana. Especially since there are no gaps between the words. The large number of homonyms also complicates things.
How much Japanese can you read without kanji?
However, you don’t need a lot of kanji characters to read in Japanese. With about 100 characters, you can start reading some basic Japanese writings. With around 2,000, you are regarded as a literate Japanese speaker as stipulated by the Japanese government.
How many kanji does a Japanese person know?
Virtually every adult in Japan can recognize over 2,000 kanji. A university educated person will recognize around 3,000, and an exceptionally well-educated, well-read person, with a techincal expertise might know up to 5,000.
How many kanji should I learn a day?
How many kanji will I learn each day? Some simple math will show that you need to learn at least 23 kanji every day to complete your mission on schedule (2,042 kanji ÷ 90 days = 22.7).
Why are spaces not used in Japanese sentences?
Normally spaces are not used because the Kanji in the sentence breaks up the long row of words and spaces are not needed. However when you don’t have Kanji and spaces aren’t used it is very confusing to figure out where words end and begin, so even Japanese children books will have spaces in order to make them easier to read.
Why is there no space between the kanji and hiragana versions?
You can also find spaces in the HIRAGANA version for the same reason. They don’t need any space for the example sentence because Japanese people use KANJI and HIRAGANA together in a sentence. So it’s clear that which one is a noun or a particle. Here is the KANJI and HIRAGANA version.
Is it possible to write in Japanese without Kana?
Please see that post for a fuller discussion of the general question. As noted by Jack Kendall, this looks a lot like a Chinese-language text. Outside of newspaper headlines, modern Japanese generally cannot be written intelligibly without kana.
Why is it important to know kanji?
Even if you intend to primarily learn spoken Japanese, knowing kanji in particular will grant extra insight into the etymology, history and meaning of Japanese words. One of the reasons Japanese reading is so tricky is that there are several distinct systems all being utilized in unison.