Advice on Learning Kanji

[yuriyuri]

Originally Posted by Columbine

Like obsessively writing 子供　instead of 子ども

Although off topic from the OP's question, since people have already answered them, I wanted to point out that 子供 isn't nesecarily over-use of kanji.

Some people think 子供 is correct, some think 子ども, and others opt for the all hiragana こども.
I don't think either of them are incorrect, although in my opinion 子ども just looks plain wierd... Maybe because I use 子供.

Wikipedia I believe has some interesting information about the subject.
子供 - Wikipedia

Of course I am open to being corrected on this but I don't think 子供 is over-use of kanji at all, and think it all boils down to personal preference on this one

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by yuriyuri

Of course I am open to being corrected on this but I don't think 子供 is over-use of kanji at all, and think it all boils down to personal preference on this one

That's good to hear. I've had my ear bent more than once for using 子供 and I always thought it was a bit over-zealous.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Columbine

That's good to hear. I've had my ear bent more than once for using 子供 and I always thought it was a bit over-zealous.

The reason is politics and linguistics, as described in yuriyuri's link. 供 means "servant" or "attachment" or "gift to the gods" or is ateji or partially indicates plurality, so people argue the kanji should not be used, but rather the kana preferred. Others argue that aesthetically it should be in kana.

Some don't like the implication of 子供 that children are merely "attached" to adults and the implication that they aren't individuals.

There are other kanji like this as well, that are disliked in certain situations for PC reasons.

[SceptileMaster]

Yeah, what columbine said. Not so much 子供 since that seems common among native speakers (and I see it more than 子ども) but 有り難う very much so. You know, just kanji at every single opportunity no matter how inappropriate.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by SceptileMaster

Yeah, what columbine said. Not so much 子供 since that seems common among native speakers (and I see it more than 子ども) but 有り難う very much so. You know, just kanji at every single opportunity no matter how inappropriate.

My favorite "overuses" are:
有る
出来る
御座る
宝籤

The last one is because I learned the old form of another character you can use in the second position (but my Mac won't let me type for some reason) before going to Japan and used it as a side-show freak type thing, to make me look like some weird, kanji-obsessed foreigner for laughs when I was out with my friends 鬮

[Formonitrile]

Today in my Japanese class, my Sensei was talking to us level 4s about writing Kanji and she had a really good idea. She picked apart the Kanji and made a fun little phrase about it. Like 魚 for fish she said "All of the fish in Ku Field have mustaches" because it has the 'ku' katakana at the top, the kanji for 'field' and what she called a 'mustache' at the bottom.
This just clicked with me, and I am very excited about learning kanji again! Maybe you can use it, too, come up with your own!

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Formonitrile

Today in my Japanese class, my Sensei was talking to us level 4s about writing Kanji and she had a really good idea. She picked apart the Kanji and made a fun little phrase about it. Like 魚 for fish she said "All of the fish in Ku Field have mustaches" because it has the 'ku' katakana at the top, the kanji for 'field' and what she called a 'mustache' at the bottom.
This just clicked with me, and I am very excited about learning kanji again! Maybe you can use it, too, come up with your own!

It's a good way to start, but I warn you that this will become increasingly difficult as you're expected to learn 20 a week for a couple of years to hit that magical 2000.

[jesselt]

While we are on the subject,

昼ご飯

昼御飯

Which one is better? I usually see the former, but that could just be because I mostly read things geared towards younger people for practice.

[Sashimister]

Originally Posted by jesselt

While we are on the subject,

昼ご飯

昼御飯

Which one is better? I usually see the former, but that could just be because I mostly read things geared towards younger people for practice.

昼ご飯 or even 昼ごはん looks better. 昼御飯 is really a little too much even though you will see it quite frequently.

In casual writing (and speech), we often just say お昼 or おひる to mean "lunch". You will also see ランチ、to tell the truth.

We use 昼食（ちゅうしょく） quite often as well. It really depends on the situation.

[jesselt]

That is what I thought, thanks

I'm a little surprised about the ランチ thing though. I learned it a long time ago, but my book likes to obsessively use katakana words in place of Japanese words (I guess to make the material easier or something) so I always see things like ミルク over　牛乳 etc. I thought they were just doing the same thing for ランチ but I guess I was wrong.