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Forums - Gaming Discussion - How many Kanji's, (Japanese words ) should i learn if i want comfortably play Japanese import games or non English translated games.

I am starting to learn Japanese this month, hopping to get schoolarship in Japan and also i want to enjoy games like Super Robot Taisen games other imported games, so i need some advice for people who already familiar with Kanji, or Japanese people on VG chartz.

Some people say I need 1000 more or less, but   for now i just want focusing on Kanjis word that essential for playing games, or that always have on games like Super Robot Wars Games. So how many words should i learn or remember ?

Thanks



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Hard to say. Depending on the game, the text can be more complex or easier. Though yeah, you`ll need to learn a lot of kanji, and the different meanings they can have when put with other kanji... 1000 seems like a good estimate. To read a newspaper, you need to know at least 2000... Good luck bud. Just study them kanji hard and try easier stuff to get used to them. Maybe get a denshi jisho if you can. I tried playing a pokemon game and learned a bit from it. Writing the stuff you see in game may be good for studying too.



 

              

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Yeah, 2000 is the number I've commonly seen quoted for reading and to be honest I can't see video games being significantly easier (than newspapers) in this regard.



Well, if the "changyong hanzi", or whatever the Japanese spelling of it, is smth about 2000, representing bare minimum of the knowledge of every educated person, you'd be ok with the half of it I guess. Though the whole premise -- learn kanzi -- is stupid. I'd suggest to learn language, d'oh! Otherwise you'd be in tough position if, say, you want to play some Famicom game that doesn't use kanzi ;)



better get your grammar on lock too. Japanese is a very confusing language.



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Full Stop. Do not learn just Kanjis. Even if you learn every of the 2000 important kanjis and know all their meanings and pronunciations you will not be able to properly read japanese. Because their meanings and pronunciations change based on the word and context.

I've been learning for some years now with some off times and setbacks but what you need to learn is vocabulary. Vocabulary meaning not thousands but tens of thousands words. You will learn the Kanjis while learning the words.
My advice: Learn Hiragana and Katakana, then jump right into learning vocabulary with Anki flash cards. Depending how fast you can learn 5-10 new words per day should suffice. Learn every day.

Meanwhile have a look at Tae Kim's Guide to get at least the basics of grammar. You don't need everything to get the gists but a solid base is better than nothing. Grammar is probably the least important aspect of that language.

Believe me, I know the meanings and pronunciations of about 1000 Kanjis and maybe 3000 words but I still have a very hard time getting through any Japanese game. Like, maybe a few meanings per paragraph. Dialogues are a lot easier if you're used to anime. But as soon as the first scroll of reading text comes along you will be stunned.



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The Joyo kanji list of about 2100 kanji's is a good start, complemented with the 48 hiragana and 48 katakana.



bare minimun 1000 kanjis to not be completely iliterate and the 3000 words and basic grammar.



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As vivster said just "learning the Kanji" is not enough.
It's a good starting point to learn to differentiate and have a basic understanding of the main meaning of each of the ~2000 Jouyou Kanji and the ~600 Jinmeiyou Kanji (intricate games like many RPGs do use pretty much all of those), but that won't give you the ability to read the language, as most of the words are compositions of 2 or more Kanji and it's impossible to learn all the relevant meanings/readings by just looking at the individual Kanji.

Ofcouse knowing Hiragana/Katakana is a given, those are easily learnable within a few days/a week and some games "for kids" like Ni no Kuni have Furigana (Kanji readings in Hiragana above each Kanji) that makes them faaar easier to play in japanese.



Depends on whether you're playing modern, child friendly games like Yokai Watch, with furigana, the little kana characters over the kanji, that help with the pronunciation.

Without those, you will probably need about the same roster as you need to read a newspaper, which is somewhere between 2000 and 3000.