#typically most english-speaker-centric guides describe the radical as 'building blocks' of kanji

[mochayoubi]

i was very surprised at how difficult it was to find (good) resources for learners that accurately describe how 部首 (in English we translate this to be the "radical") work in 漢字 (kanji). i pulled these from a very comprehensive guide of kanji from おじゃちゃん, a native speaker who is also a language teacher and if youre interested in learning more, you should check out her full overview here.

to a beginner this might not be as useful - but when you get deep enough into japanese i think it's worth it to understand how kanji is actually used by native speakers. understanding how the radical works can also help you guess at meanings and recognize common patterns that may make memorizing kanji easier

#mocha speaks #japanese langblr #learning japanese #japanese kanji #typically most english-speaker-centric guides describe the radical as 'building blocks' of kanji #which makes sense as a memorization tool #however if you ever went far enough in your studies you might need to unlearn all of that - the radical is actually a classification system #i'll stop there at the risk of going on a tangent in the tags #but yeah being aware of what it is at least could be helpful down the road #especially if you want to start using native resources. bc they use the radical much more differently than a learner might be used to