Read The Kanji is a web based application designed to help those studying Japanese to learn kanji reading patterns through context. In other words, it helps you learn to read kanji by asking you to read actual Japanese sentences and type in the correct answer (no multiple choice).

Many students of Japanese often complain that learning kanji is the most difficult part of studying Japanese. I've never really understood this, however. It's not as though kanji requires a special skill set or secret method. Absolutely anyone can learn it. The only thing that differentiates a seasoned Japanese speaker/reader from a beginner is sheer practice and exposure within the language.

Getting that exposure, however, is not as easy as it could be. I remember when I began learning, trying to read even a children's book was a real pain. This is because every time I came across a word in kanji I didn't recognize, I would have to look up each individual kanji through radicals, record their readings, then try to figure out what the correct reading of the kanji compound is. This, together with trying to comprehend grammar and vocabulary at the same time, made reading slow, tedious, and just not very fun.

So I wrote Read The Kanji to give myself a fun, easy way to drill myself on kanji readings to improve my reading abilities. Now, with consistent practice, I find that my reading speed has not only dramatically improved, but I made reading and studying kanji the most enjoyable part of my study.

Disclaimer

We just want to add a note that neither we nor this site make any special claims that using this site will guarantee passing the JLPT test or becoming fluent in Japanese. That's entirely up to you and how much effort you put into it. There are no magical solutions. We're just trying to make a helpful study tool that we believe in to help all Japanese students along in their paths.

Also, as this program is still in active development, we are still in the middle of some big changes. Some word definitions /sentences are not always as good as they could be, miscellaneous bugs, etc, but we're always working hard to improve that. If you have any problems, feel free to send me an email directly at info@squarefour.net :)

Special Thanks To:

• Andrew Slater, for helping me through some tricky bugs and database errors
• Scott Rothrock, a word reporting machine!
• Koichi of Tofugu, a japanese language blog, for his help in spreading the news about Read The Kanji!
• Mary Sisk Noguchi from the Kanji Clinic, for all her support!
• Brian McCloud, for helping me come up with the Javascript IME pad!
• mps from japaneselearningtools.com, much of my vocabulary data is based on data from his excel program.
• Jim Breen's Tanaka Corpus, for a large number of example sentences we use
• Jonathan Waller, for compiling really detailed kanji per JLPT level, really helpful!
• Jan Moren, for helping me figure out the statistical math behind calculating accurate averages
• Stephen Christenson, Richard VanHouten, Sean Perkins, for their everlasting vigilance in making the database as accurate as possible.