i have been learning japanese for last 2 month constently but before that i used to study on my own with texbook. and before when i was learning vocab i always tried to learn it via writing it down and i felt like knowing how to write kanji was so important but is it?i burnt out twice because of that i was forgetting how to write kanji. after a week i completely forgot how to write around 300-400 vocab (written in kanji) and now i stopped writing completely. my goal is passing jlpt N2 exam in 3 years and wanna go to college in japan, school requires jlpt n2 at least. i have no idea if i am doing it wrong. currently my study materials are; Wanikani for kanji, Bunpro for grammer and vocab(n5 desks) right now i dont practice reading and listening tbh, is there anything that i am doing wrong or any better way or advice for me?
There is no perfect answer here, but what I have to offer is a potential reframing of your mindset.
You say your goals are to pass N2 and go to college in Japan. You need to ask yourself what those goals demand of you.
For N2, the focus is on being able to understand - can you read the questions / listen to them and interpret them correctly? Can you understand the correct answer based on what you read? These are receptive skills. If your only focus was N2, you technically do not have to worry about writing anything on paper.
However, you also want to go to college in Japan. Depending on the program this includes not only receptive skills but productive skills. You will almost certainly need to be able to hand write in Japanese, you will need to be able to produce comprehensible answers orally, in short you will need, at the very least, an intermediate all-around understanding of Japanese.
Goal 1 is easier than goal 2, and what I’ve described for goal 2 is perhaps only true if you intend to do a Japanese language program. There are maybe programs taught in English that would require less of you, but I am not familiar enough with the system.
Basically, you need to take some time to understand what your goals actually entail, and then you can ask yourself if you’re studying effectively.
In my opinion, based on what you’ve described, I would study to pass the N4 exam and then reexamine my study habits/ability level after I’d passed it.
actually the program that i wanna follow is washoku which is traditional japanese culinary art program and in first years the lessons are 70% practice and i am not sure about writing i mean it would be much easier if i just use laptop but yeah idk if while living in japan i encounter with a situation and i must write things down. but tbh right now my only focus is passing exam and saving money( a bit expensive) XD. and could you be more spesific about this part? “I would study to pass the N4 exam and then reexamine my study habits/ability level after I’d passed it.”
I would say yes, writing is important. Especially if you say you want to stay in Japan long term (college, etc.) You will most certainly need to know how to write for the kanji kentei exams if you choose to do them in addition to the JLPT. I dont believe the kanji kentai is required for any program I know if but it would certainly not hurt anything. Also, for college, and general life you will be expected to write to a certain degree for things like filling out medical forms, paying bills, signing up for classes, etc. I lived there for a time and was expected to fill out these exact things. I was able to use my phone to help me out but it was a huge inconvenience for myself and those around me.
That said, I have been doing things such as picking a random sentence and translating it to Japanese (by hand) to the best of my ability, to include kanji. I have a spouse who is a native speaker so I can have them check my handwriting out, but you may benefit from posting in various threads or downloading kanji apps do use on your phone so you dont forget. I have had luck with ringotan on android.
thank you. are you still living in japan? and what level of writing are we talking about? tha all 2200 joyo kanji/ then kill me but if its like most common words etc. i think you are right living in japan isnt all about school. can you be more spesific about what level am expected to able to write?
I lived there from early 2014 to late 2015. I had my spouse but if I didnt have her, I would have needed things like my Japanese address, work address, Japanese telephone, guarantor info if you need one for things like a loan or a lease. If you have certain medical conditions that would be beneficial to know as well. I remember a ton of things were incredibly analog and paper based, and from my friends who still live there, many things are still that way. But your phone will be able to help you a ton. If you can afford it, I would recommend getting a 電子辞書。They are geared toward Japanese people learning English, but they are perfectly fine the other way around as well. Using dictionary apps like, Imiwa, Takoboto, or the website jisho.org to learn the stroke order and stuff is extremely helpful.
wel i dont really have any problem with stroke orders en writing i used to practice my writing a lot but the problem is i dont remember the kanji unless i see it i can use in while speaking and read, understand it but i can not write them from memory because there is so much similar kanji that i ended up mix them.