How many kanjis in total?

Index » RtK Volume 1

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Reply #1 - 2008 March 24, 10:36 am
phate1313 New member
From: london Registered: 2008-02-15 Posts: 2

I just wondered how many kanjis there are in total. I'm half way through RTK1 but I've noticed the book holds 2042 and this website goes further to 3000. Can anyone clarify?
Many thanks

Reply #2 - 2008 March 24, 10:48 am
Ryuujin27 Member
Registered: 2006-12-14 Posts: 824

Well, there are various answers depending on what you mean. 

In Japanese, for example, there are 2042 "general use" kanji. These are the kanji that are deemed the most important  to know by the Board of Education. These kanji are necessary to read newspapers and the like.

The 3007 number is the number of kanji Heisig chooses to expand upon the 2042 general use kanji. These kanji frequently appear and are commonly used in novels. etc.

Now, as you may or may not know, kanji come from China. There are thought to be a surplus of more than 80,000 hanzi (the chinese word for kanji).

So that's the short answer. I'm sure someone will elaborate for me.

Reply #3 - 2008 March 24, 10:55 am
meolox Member
Registered: 2007-08-31 Posts: 386

Aghhh!!!! It's "Kanji" you do not pluralize the word kanji, "kanjis" sounds horrible and unnatural.

Sorry smile

Actually there are 1,945 "general use" characters, though this has recently been revised. The number in RTK1 is 2042 because Heisig includes some characters used in names.

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Reply #4 - 2008 March 24, 11:02 am
Bruce_Lee Member
From: Germany Registered: 2008-01-31 Posts: 10

phate1313, I think you just want to know why there is a discrepancy between this site and RtK Vol1. In case you didn't know, 2043-3007 are covered in RtK Volume 3.

Reply #5 - 2008 March 26, 2:34 pm
Thora Member
From: Canada Registered: 2007-02-23 Posts: 1691

meolox wrote:

Aghhh!!!! It's "Kanji" you do not pluralize the word kanji, "kanjis" sounds horrible and unnatural. Sorry smile

"Kanjis" always sounds odd to me too. But I guess once a foreign word becomes part of the English language, it's OK for English to apply its own rules to it (or let its usage evolve). At least one dictionary indicates that either form is OK for the plural!:

kanji    (k?n'jē) pronunciation

n., pl. kanji or -jis.

   1. A Japanese system of writing based on borrowed or modified Chinese characters.
   2. A character used in this system of writing.

I hope this will help to lessen your seemingly severe discomfort in the future. smile

Last edited by Thora (2008 March 26, 10:23 pm)

Reply #6 - 2008 March 26, 3:42 pm
vosmiura Member
From: SF Bay Area Registered: 2006-08-24 Posts: 1085

Kan-ken level 1 requires knowledge of about 6000 kanji.  If you reach this level, you will know more kanji than the vast majority of Japanese people do.

Reply #7 - 2008 March 26, 10:02 pm
ivantolearnkanji Member
From: NJ Registered: 2007-12-23 Posts: 15

You and your pals can go out for hamburgers, but you probably wouldn't go out for sushis.
Unless you were all gaijins.

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