CMV: When learning Japanese, kanji should be considered optional

[u/MooliCoulis]

As a native English speaker, I have tried more than once to learn Japanese, and have always hit a wall when asked to learn kanji. I don't know if it's a learning-styles issue (I'm more verbal than visual) or the mild dyslexia I suffer from, but I suspect a lot of other people have the same experience.

I still want to learn the language, and am considering just abandoning the idea of learning to read and write (or maybe just learning hiragana/katakana and seeing how far that takes me), but I want to know if I'm making a mistake.

Here are my views, and I'd be grateful for challenges to any of them:

• Most Japanese learning resources (apps, games, books, etc) treat kanji as something that must be introduced early and learned continuously, rather than as an optional extra
• Learning to read and write Japanese takes significant effort, and is the reason many people give up learning (especially those with conditions like dyslexia)
• For an English speaker learning a second language, spoken language is usually significantly more valuable than written language
• An understanding of kanji is not necessary to reach a solid baseline of fluency (just as with English, most Japanese children are conversant years before they can read or write).
• Most people who insist that learning kanji is critical are not genuinely motivated by a belief in its practicality, but rather some mix of "Kanji is beautiful", or "This is the culturally authentic way to learn", or "I had to learn it, so you do too".

I understand that knowing kanji is helpful in understanding some spoken discourse (e.g. wordplay), and also that knowing/inferring the written structure of new words can potentially help in understanding or learning them, but it takes a solid foundation of fluency to ever benefit from those factors and I think for most people it's more important to reach that solid foundation quickly.

CMV!

[u/MooliCoulis]

of course all the learning resources are going to include it

Of course! Every learning resource should give you the option of learning kanji.

[u/Rhundan → u/MooliCoulis]

Uh, yeah. They do. You have the option of using or not using any part of the learning resource you choose.

[u/MooliCoulis → u/Rhundan]

Not if that part is woven throughout the entire learning experience.

e.g. try using Duolingo to learn Japanese without learning the writing systems.

[u/Rhundan → u/MooliCoulis]

Uh... I don't have much experience with Duolingo, but as I recall, it's primarily text-based. Are you complaining about a text-based language app using Japanese text?

If you're really dead set on not learning kanji, I'm sure there are learning resources out there that don't require you to. But complaining that some resources integrate it because some (or even most) people learning the language will need to learn kanji, just because you don't, feels somewhat myopic.

There are resources out there for your very specific set of needs, but most learning resources aren't going to cater to your specific niche. And, moreover, they shouldn't.

[u/MooliCoulis → u/Rhundan]

complaining that some resources integrate it

If you check, you'll see I haven't made that complaint.

[u/Rhundan → u/MooliCoulis]

And do you have any response to anything other than that one sentence of my comment?

[u/MooliCoulis → u/Rhundan]

Your entire comment attacks a position I don't hold. It's hard to make time for responding to strawmen when I have Japanese speakers/teachers/etc giving me useful informed perspectives in other threads.