Introduction

As a student enrolled in Texas Tech University's Japanese language courses, you'll regularly be tested on kanji, the Chinese characters used by the Japanese writing system. Kanji can be overwhelming, especially when first learning them and studying for your kanji assessments. However, learning kanji doesn't have to be a struggle. With the right strategies, you can learn to see kanji as structured, meaningful characters instead of just random marks.

This strategy guide offers practical kanji learning strategies to supplement your existing methods in a way that'll help you develop a deeper understanding of how kanji worke and prepare you for your kanji assessments.

How to use this guide

This strategy guide is organized to be read from start to finish, but you can use this guide however you want. Each section can be read independently, so you can jump to whatever section is most relevant to you. Some sections require more Japanese knowledge than others, so it's fine if some don't click right away—you can always return to that section later.