Hi,
Just a quick question about Kanji in Japanese. Can you guys give me some tips aboutlearning Kanji? I’m trying to improve my Japanese and just want to know how do you approach it back in Japan or what is the best plan to learn it. Thanks

Since most, if not all, people who come to this site are native Japanese speakers, i think u should ask this in other forums where people who’ve studied Japanese chat.

anyway, i’ve heard of a kanji dictionary? listing by its parts
like 草(grass) and 花(flower) both have the same top part which indicate it has something to do with plant(i think)

and, i think there are drill books you can practice with, in many levels, where they tell you the kanjis’ pronounciation(on and kun),meanings, example words, and example sentences.

annnnnnd, cant think of any other way than to practice, practice and practive, read. write. type.

i hope this helps, but you should really ask someone who has studied Japanese as a second language :P 　

Yeah, I know it is hard to learn Japanese Kanji characters since there are so many to memorize.I’m now teaching japanese Kanji characters to a Japanese kid, and he also has a difficulty to remember them.

Every Kanji character has a meaning. Let’s take a close look at 花 and 草. Do you realize that both characters have the same part on the top? This is called "くさかんむり(kusakanmuri)" that means something relating to "plant".芋(potato), 茎(stem), 苺(strawberry), 葱(green onion) and 葉(leaf) are some examples of this.

One more example: "さんずい(sanzui)." This part means something relating to "water." 海(sea)波(wave)河(river)沼(pond)泣(cry) are the examples. The left-hand side of each character is "さんずい."

I hope this link below can help you to learn more.
http://www.kanji-a-day.com/level1/index.php 　

That’s a lot of help guys. Appreciate it. 　

Well, as a Japanese, I was reading and writing in many many times at school and finaly I memorized it.

Now I am living in Canada for a long time...there is not many chances to read/write Japanese. I am forgetting Kanji day by day...
I think it is important to continue practice.

Good luck! 　

I see." Practice makes it perfect" here as well,right? 　

I was about to give you a tip too but 2 other people beat me to the punch. What they are describing is what is known in English as radicals. Unfortunately there really is not secret to learning them because even in Chinese it’s essentially pure memorization (with a bit of phonetics if you know where to look). Add to the fact that the Japanese language itself used these characters in the most inappropriate way possible by giving monosyllabic characters more than one syllable. Don’t know what that means? Don’t worry about it, what it boils down to is the Japanese way of using Kanji is more difficult to learn than Chinese.
　

My best tip is to learn Kanji using your own methods. The Japanese way of teaching kanji will not work well for you. The big difference is that kanji is learned from childhood in Japan. As an adult, your learning methods have changed. Sure, you can use the same method, but the Japanese used that method as a process that involved constant use and repetition all through school. I assume you don’t want to spend that many years. But it isn’t that hard. Kanji are systematic, and can actually be learned quite quickly. As an adult you don’t have to just rely on visual memory (I mean look at the kanji and write it over and over again, so when you see it you know it). Use your imagination. Find the meanings of the pieces, and from them create a mnemonic that you won’t forget. I recommend James Heisig’s "Remembering the Kanji."
I learned how to write 2000 kanji in 2 months. Granted, I use them everyday at work still, but I still remember them all. Good luck. If you’re gonna study a language, go all the way.