LogFAQs > #885728879

Peterass posted...

I've started with Hiragana and it's slow going..

A lot of good kana guides also have mnemonics to help you remember them (like hiragana "shi" looking like a SHIeld, for instance). That helps, but a lot of it is just brute force memorization at that point. I used to take them one set of five at a time and just carry a notebook with me and write them down over and over whenever I was waiting for something (I live on an island, so I spend a lot of time waiting for or riding on ferries, which makes for a perfect practice opportunity). As soon as I felt comfortable with one set, I'd add in another. I would guess it took me about a month of off-and-on practice to completely memorize both kana sets (probably could have done it in less if I'd really knuckled down on it).

Peterass posted...

Kanji looks scary as hell. Seems to me that they are essentially emoji's, but other than memorization, I can't find a logical way to interpret the characters that I can recognize.

It's not as intimidating as it first appears. Learn the simple ones first, like the days of the week - that will give you sun/moon (nichi and getsu) and the five elements (kai, sui, moku, kin, and do - respectively fire, water, wood, gold, and earth) - and slowly work your way up (using a grade syllabus helps). A lot of the time more complex kanji are mostly just amalgamations of more simple kanji put together, or will contain radicals (parts, basically) of other kanji you've learned before.
---

Kill 1 man: You are a murderer. Kill 10 men: You are a monster.
Kill 100 men: You are a hero. Kill 10,000 men, you are a conqueror!