Could you go very long without writing in your native language? No. If you want to learn Japanese to a high level as well, you have to know how to write.

If you really don't think it's necessary, then don't use the book.

As an aside, you can tell a lot about someone's personality through their handwriting, maybe even more so with Kanji/Hanzi than with Western manuscript.

I find my handwriting improving with practice through RtK - recently I've reached the point where the writing is legible/correct, and I can begin to focus on stylistic elements now - the fun part!!!  The funky thing is, I can be more "creative" with Kanji than with kana.  Maybe because Kanji is more complex, you can add more of your style without losing the recognition value.

People aren't gonna use a computer to type up, say, a little yellow sticky note.  Or a CD label, or notes in the margin of a book, or writing on a cardboard box, or....

People write all the time. 

Even if you're sure that you're never going to write Japanese yourself (for instance, if you're never going to go to Japan, and even in that case there are many reasons why it could be useful), it's necessary to learn to write in order to learn to read well, if you just train recognition, sooner or later you're going to run into problems with similar looking characters.

In the process of learning the kanji via the component method, you know how to write it.  Now, you don't "have" to write down the kanji during the review. Heck, you don't even have to pretend to write it down (finger on palm for example).

Now, if you never go to Japan, you'll probably never "need" to write kanji. Since I'm in Japan, I find the ability to write Kanji useful in some cases. Should I work at a Japanese company, the ability to write would become mandatory.

YMMV depending on your situation.

I love writing Japanese.

In the future, when I'm hopefully fluent in writing Japanese, I want a dream log, diary and many other secretive things in Japanese.

I may even put writing above my speaking in terms of priority. Don't really see many oppurtunities to be using my speaking really...

Another vote for writing. The beauty of the kanji and hiragana is what first drew me to Japanese.

I did RTK even though I don't see myself needing to write a lot of kanji.  I don't get to write much English by hand either these days... mainly I write in word processors, presentation slides, email, etc.

Anyhow, RTK is still very useful because it really helped to get the kanji clearly in my head & make a lot fewer reading mistakes.

Even before using RTK, I used to write the kanji out a lot to help memorise them.  I wrote them over & over by hand many times.  With RTK, I didn't have to write them out many times because I learned them much faster than writing them out over & over.

So, RTK = learn kanji writing with LESS hand writing.

Since I have become accustomed to using Anki recently for studying, I have been writing a lot less. I still do my daily reviews on this site and write out the kanji, but other than that I haven't been writing so much.. I'm doing RTK2 now, mostly with Anki and I think I might start writing out the kanji to help me remember their readings better.

I was talking to a Japanese girl a while ago and she said because people have become so accustomed to using their cellphones and emailing so much, more and more are starting to forget how to write some of the kanji. However, I think writing will never become something that can just be set aside and never learned, especially if you are wanting a decent job. When I'm in the mood for it I love to take my time writing kanji as best I can but other times I can't be bothered and just scribble it.

Doesn't matter, the looks. Making it mean something to you, more than a picture and a keyword, is what matters.

Though I've been known to take my kanji with a side of chicken scratch from time to time.

Last edited by kazelee (2008 November 03, 3:23 pm)

My original post has generated quite a reaction. I asked my question mainly in relation to RTKII when you are trying to learn the Japanese reading of the kanji. At this stage I believe that typing (using hiragana/romaji phonetics) and then being able to corrrectly select the kanji with the desired meaning from a lookup table is a more effective way of learning than continuing to write kanji.

So far as initially associating an English meaning with a kanji is concerned I think writing the kanji probably serves as an effective means of reinforcement. That said however, alternatives to writing are very new and I do not know of any research which has compared modern computer based writing methods with the traditional pen, pencil or brush.

alyks wrote:

I don't know what it is about scribbled kanji, but they're quite pleasing to write. Have a hell of a time reading them, though.

I hadn't thought about it, but I really enjoy writing kanji.  Somehow it's more like you're making something than writing.  Of course, maybe I just haven't done it enough.