Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 31

As with other posts in this series, this is the results of a test I took today, Thursday, Aug 26th, 2021.

kanji test row 31

州 亡 死 湖 典 召 店 果 様 延 活 泳 着 代 増 容 発 阪 温 引 菜 絡 魚 東 植

I'm excited to finally finish Japanese 5, 21f.505 from MIT OCW from 2005 (a search of the Wayback Machine confirmed). This is the final row which means that I am now going to move on. If I had only done Japanese 5 (21f.505) I would consider this a fairly modest achievement, but as you might guess, I completed Japanese 1-4 (21f.501-21f.504) sequentially beforehand. Each row I would learn by testing myself each day reading the English ideas that went with the word and drawing the kanji that goes with that word. I also memorized a popular reading of the kanji so that I can type it into my IME so that I can communicate and search dictionaries. To ensure that I didn't just memorize the single row, I mixed in 10 kanji from previous rows -- meaning that my end score depended upon my knowledge of the entire set of kanji, not just one row. When I could complete the row (even if I got some from previous rows wrong) I would move on to the next row.

In this row I got 9 wrong (64%!), 3 of which were from this row and all 3 I cheated on. I should have gotten them, but such is memory. Note how the two I cheated on and got wrong and were just backwards. I spent a lot of time getting those the right way around and somehow lost it today. I also spent a lot of time memorizing the shape and blanked today. I didn't remember 典 as code, ceremony, law, or rule. I remember it as reference. I forgot the tree 木. I knew there was something on the left, I just couldn't visualize it. I got nearly correct, but I want to get it actually right. For , I didn't know what, so I drew the closest thing I could think of, . Not a synonym. For I remembered the top, but forgot the bottom. For I remembered the general shape, but forgot the detail. I forgot completely. Instead I kept thinking about push 押. And that is all 9 mistakes. I only forgot three hiragana which is good news.

I want to retain and improve my recognition skill and have better writing, listening, and mixing skill of the current kanji (which were important enough to be taught in 5 semesters of Japanese at MIT). This provides a clear dividing line between past and future efforts. I have plenty of kanji from Grade 2 and 3 and to learn, so I can move on eventually, but I want to improve my skill first.

I'm aware that I'm missing a lot of the value of the courses by only learning the kanji, but for reading and translation, this is a good choice. I've supplemented my kanji tests with natural listening, grammar, and even book learning in hiragana (Japanese for Busy People). While I will need to go back to the source to understand some of the finer grammar points and do a lot more than what I have already (>28 hours of listening), I feel confident that translation will be pretty easy. Luckily for me, any conversation I don't understand I can look at the English translation by a professional. Indeed I've already read the books I plan to read in English. I can play most of the visual novels I want to play in English.

31 rows of kanji is 496 kanji, so I know how to draw approximately 70% of 496 kanji, 350. My recognition rate is quite high and a recognition test will determine how many of the kanji I recognize. Any popular kanji I recognize quite well, so I feel quite confident in my knowledge. Since my goal is to read Gunnm 銃夢 Last Order in Japanese, I feel like I'm getting closer everyday. If I add a few hundred kanji to the classifier, that might become a reality even sooner. There are some pretty serious bugs in my out of order kanji classifier implementation, so I haven't been able to use it much. Instead my radical decomposer and filter are working pretty well. There are bugs, but generally it helps.

I find myself really irritated lately. I'm not feeling quite as hopeless and angry as in my recent past, but as I realize the very clear conflict in people going back to their normal lives and a virus rampaging through our community, I resent those who are doing what I cannot. I realize that it's their choice. I understand that freedom is important. I realize that mental health is as important as physical health. I don't know what other people's lives are like. Is it easy for them? I. don't. know. But I'm still a little bit upset thinking that people have given up on public health. Yes, vaccines prevent serious illness. Yes, young people are not as affected. I have not been convinced by the false narrative that the mainstream news is peddling. I'm not going to spread that misinformation about a deadly pandemic that has harmed and killed millions of people. So what is my answer? I hope that I will stop feeling anything about other people. It served me for decades, why should it fail me now?

I'm surprised I haven't mentioned 形声 kanji yet. Apparently quite a few of the kanji I have learned and will learn are set up so that left and right side of the kanji determine the idea and on-reading of the kanji. While the on-reading isn't always the most popular reading (for the most part I use the kun-readings because they are substantially more popular) one can possibly type it into an IME to get the kanji. This is a lot more useful than trying to draw a kanji into a classifier. But how common are these kanji and what is the likelihood that I'll know the on-reading of the right side? For 往 journey, a grade 5 形声 that I picked, I immediately thought of おう and that turns out to be the correct reading. What happens when I type ou in my IME? 往 is the 11th option. So not bad, not perfect either. おう has 61 options in the IME, so there are always going to be kanji that take more effort to find. As for the meaning, 彳 is really easy to understand and gets us quite close to the meaning of the word. Because 彳 is a part of 行, it's clearly a motion kanji. Can we find a kanji with 彳 that doesn't have to do with motion? Let's use kradselect1.py to find it.

Apparently quite a few don't work that way. What is 彳? According to JapanesePod101.com's big kanji guide it means walk.

循 {sequential} {follow}
衛 {defense} {protection}
径 {diameter} {path} {method}
徒 {on foot} {junior} {emptiness} {vanity} {futility} {uselessness} {ephemeral thing} {gang} {set} {party} {people}
律 {rhythm} {law} {regulation} {gauge} {control}
微 {delicate} {minuteness} {insignificance}
徴 {indications} {sign} {omen} {symptom} {collect} {seek} {refer to} {question}
衝 {collide} {brunt} {highway} {opposition (astronomy)} {thrust} {pierce} {stab} {prick}
覆 {capsize} {cover} {shade} {mantle} {be ruined}
衞 {defense}
往 {journey} {travel} {chase away} {let go} {going} {before} {formerly}
徠 {induce} {encourage to come}
後 {behind} {back} {later}
桁 {beam} {girder} {spar} {unit or column (accounting)}
復 {restore} {return to} {revert} {resume}
衡 {equilibrium} {measuring rod} {scale}
履 {perform} {complete} {footgear} {shoes} {boots} {put on (the feet)}
徽 {good} {beautiful} {badge}
徹 {penetrate} {clear} {pierce} {strike home} {sit up (all night)}
懲 {penal} {chastise} {punish} {discipline}
徳 {benevolence} {virtue} {goodness} {commanding respect}
彼 {he} {that} {the}
從 {from} {by} {since} {whence} {through}
術 {art} {technique} {skill} {means} {trick} {resources} {magic}
征 {subjugate} {attack the rebellious} {collect taxes}
得 {gain} {get} {find} {earn} {acquire} {can} {may} {able to} {profit} {advantage} {benefit}
役 {duty} {war} {campaign} {drafted labor} {office} {service} {role}
徐 {gradually} {slowly} {deliberately} {gently}
御 {honorable} {manipulate} {govern}
街 {boulevard} {street} {town}
従 {accompany} {obey} {submit to} {comply} {follow} {secondary} {incidental} {subordinate}
行 {going} {journey} {carry out} {conduct} {act} {line} {row} {bank}
縦 {vertical} {length} {height} {self-indulgent} {wayward}
待 {wait} {depend on}

The kanji they teach with that radical are: 後 得 役 待 復 従 彼 徒 徴 and 10 more including 往.

徒 feels like a really interesting kanji.

That's all I have for today. Thanks very much for reading.

I'll hopefully post all tests as I pass them. Wish me .

Previous episodes:
Learning to Read and Write Kanji
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 5
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 6
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 7
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 8
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 9
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 10
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 11
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 12
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 13
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 14
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 15
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 16
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 17
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 18
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 19
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 20
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 21
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 22
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 23
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 24
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 25
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 26
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 27
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 28
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 29
Learning to Read and Write Kanji Row 30

Javantea out.

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