I'm curious about the thought process used by others. Here's an example of what I naturally do.

I know that the kanji for "doctor" is 医者. I also know that it is pronounced "isya".

Whenever I have to think about how it's pronounced, I picture the letters "isya" in my mind.

When you need to visualize the sounds of particular kanji, how do you visualize the pronunciation in your mind? Do you use some form of romanization or would you in the case above visualize the pronunciation as "いしゃ" notwithstanding that the Japanese do not normally write it as いしゃ?

Another example: I was practicing learning the kanji/sound of "air". So as I write the kanji "空気" I at the same time think in my head the roman letters "kuuki" as I learn the pronunciation.

In the end, it probably doesn't matter how I end up knowing that 空気 is pronounced kuuki but I'm just curious how other people think.

I just hear the sound in my mind, why would I visualize a sound? When I think of a word, its kanji (plus associated okurigana, if any) come to mind, but you're asking the reverse.

Agreed, "visualize a sound" is the exact opposite of what you need to do. Learn the sound through extensive and intensive listening and mimicking of native speakers speaking naturally. The kanji and kana are simply a visual reminder/representative of a spoken word. You can't get from a few letters (or kana) to an authentic, correct pronunciation of a word any more than you can turn a stick figure into a living man, because you're going the wrong direction. The writing is an abstraction of the word (speech) just like the stick figure is an abstraction of the man.

This is the reason why I learned kana using srs, completely romaji free. On one side I'd put the kana, and on the "answer" section there would be a sound file of the kana being pronounced by a native speaker.

As a result, I don't really visualize anything when I see a kanji - the sound comes pretty naturally. Though sometimes, when I have to think hard to remember the reading of a kanji, I can see the kanas in my mind.

I do tend to visualize the readings in a way.

For example, I tend to see しゅう as a sort of smooth scooping motion through the middle of the kanji, きょう as a diagonal slash, こう as parallel lines, etc.

Just learn the sound. In any case, forget about Romaji.

It's not correct to say Japanese don't ever use いしゃ. In a dictionary the word would be under い. The spoken word is いしゃ; kids learn to use いしゃ before they learn the 医者 kanji in 3rd grade.

vosmiura Wrote:Just learn the sound. In any case, forget about Romaji.

It's not correct to say Japanese don't ever use いしゃ. In a dictionary the word would be under い. The spoken word is いしゃ; kids learn to use いしゃ before they learn the 医者 kanji in 3rd grade.

I think he meant that writing the word in all kana is never done, which is mostly true (outside of children's books and old video games). The spoken word isn't いしゃ, it's a sequence of sounds which can be represented in writing as 医者, いしゃ, isya, isha, etc. ｆ