掲示板 Forums - Does anyone else find Kanji overwhelming to learn?

I would recommend not avoiding kanji for too long. You will find that when you learn kanji and words side by side, they reinforce each other. If you make a kanji schedule, you can learn kanji at your own pace separately from vocabulary. If you set it so unknown kanji have furigana it shows you the kana over the kanji until you learn the kanji. You can make a kanji helper schedule for your vocabulary schedule so that it only teaches you kanji that are in words you've learned.

You don't need to write notes for kanji, Renshuu quizzes you on on'yomi and kun'yomi and everything. It might seem important to write everything down now but you really don't need to unless you really want to. You don't need to learn every kanji in the words you're learning either. Learn them separately and they will catch up later.

Hi there! Thanks for posting

Kanji is definitely frustrating and you aren't alone. I do recommend learning it though since it is important. However, let's make it a fun and easier process

Start off by adding N5 Beginner Kanji to your pathways, you can find it in "Manage schedules" link on your dashboard. Find it in the renshuu recommended Kanji schedules. There are roughly 100 kanji which is perfect for starters

Once added, click settings on it and make sure only meaning questions are enabled (and writing practice if you have Pro, otherwise use a notebook and a pencil/pen, which I still recommend anyway since you're handwriting may start to suck if you use apps to do this (happened to me))

Don't worry too much about taking notes or trying hard to memorize them, just let your brain soak them up and find them interesting. Look at the different pieces and try to make a connection in your head, even if it's silly. They should show a breakdown of the pieces that make up each kanji (example: 明 bright = 日 sun and 月 moon, so try to wonder about why they decided that sun and moon would = bright.) Being curious and just keep learning until your brain feels tired.

You'll forget things, but that's 100% ok and it's totally naturally. Just keep doing "Focused Review" quizzes on it until you're getting 85% or so.

Turn on kanji display in words too if you aren't seeing it already, you don't need to memorize what kanji goes to what word too much because over time your brain will start to soak it up automatically. Example: if you look at 大きい, you'll start to remember "oh, I remember that one-it's おおきい!" Especially after learning 大 means big, it will start to feel fun seeing おおきい (big) and then the kanji makes sense!

Anyway, sorry it's a long reply. But hopefully it helps and make sure to have fun learning! You got this