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I have some questions that go beyond the scope of what TextFugu teaches so if this is a bit taboo, I apologize in advance. I’ve been using TextFugu as a learning tool but have also tried a few other websites and methods as well.
As I understand it, every radical an actual name. Is there any value to learning this information? Or, rather, is it analogous to learning obsolete definitions or language of origin for English dictionary words (i.e. technical grammar information that no one uses and 99% of the populace doesn’t know.) (I realize that TextFugu doesn’t use this method and probably does so for a reason but I’m still curious.)
My next question is distinguishing between Kun and On readings. I realize they’re different and that both are used. My question is whether or not I need to know which reading is which. For example, do I need to remember that “だい” and ” たい” are the On readings and that “おお” is the Kun reading or is it enough just to know that “大” can be pronounced: “だい” or ” たい” or “おお”. I ask because there are many cases where I already know the readings but I don’t know which is which. Is this a bad habit I should try to correct immediately or is it something that isn’t that big of a deal?
Thank ya’ll in advance.
Radicals or “primitives” are used to break kanji in to smaller parts for example 零 can be broken apart in to easier parts if you know the primitives and thus making it much easier to remember the kanji.
On readings are commonly used when kanji are seen in compounds (almost all the time, though there are a pretty big amount of exceptions as well)
Kun is the reading you will use when the kanji is on its own(generally)
You can learn Japanese without knowing what primitives, and you can also learn Japanese without being able to distinguish on/kun readings – any path is the right path.
I guess I wasn’t clear in my first post. I apologize for that!
I understand the value of radicals/primitives and I realize what they do. I’m working on being able to recognize and identify them. My question is, is there value in knowing that “𠆢” is technically called “ひとやね” or is it find to think of it as “hat” as TextFugu calls it. (Correct me if I’m wrong but I think a lot of the radical names are the same as the kanji readings as well.) My question is how likely will that particular knowledge come into play? Do people often cite the names of the radicals when learning kanji or is this just obscure grammar that most native speakers don’t even bother with?
Well I am soon to be done with RTK and I haven’t bothered with the official names, and didn’t even stick with many of the names that the author of the book provided. Some images are just too abstract, and I remember things much better if I can relate them to something easily. So I don’t even know the proper names for them, but I doubt that it matters once you can write the entire kanji – maybe in Japan when you learn kanji?
I would say don’t bother.
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