Comments on: How many kanji do you need to know?

By: Japan going the same way as Australia in Literacy? « The Dabblings of a UC Student

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:45:37 +0000

[...] Pav, R. (2008, February 18). How many Kanji do you need to know? [Web log post]. Retrieved from: http://www.herroflomjapan.com/2008/02/18/how-many-kanji-do-you-need-to-know/ [...]

By: Moe

Moe — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:36:56 +0000

Wow, thank you. This was actually mighty helpful. I'll probably reference this more than once, this is being bookmarked.
And about the last bit, I have feeling a little learning impaired by the separate readings and when to differentiate them for compound kanji readings.
Sometimes these lists just RACK MY BRAIN MAN!

By: bluedaisy

bluedaisy — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 21:39:26 +0000

I don't think they count illegal immigrants or foreigners likewise Japan. So I think it's 99%. Notice in the japanese wiki, Japan has the highest literacy rate but US doesn't even have detailed stats. I cannot read japanese but just looking at the writing pattern seems weird. Also notice the picture they inserted…very different info. Well, now I know the Japanese wiki is biased.

By: greentea

greentea — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:05:51 +0000

Typo

“large amount of Kanji to learn could result in an illiteracy problem.”
You’re absolutely wrong. Lots of Hong Kong people who are over 40 years old didn’t go to elementary school, because government didn't provide free education during colonial era. Yet, they can read and understand traditional Chinese characters newspaper, not even simplified. You are so wrong about Chinese characters.

By: greentea

greentea — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:01:35 +0000

"large amount of Kanji to learn could result in an illiteracy problem."
You're abosolutely wrong. Lots of Hong Kong people who are over 40 years old didn't even go to elementary school, but they read tradition Chinese newspaper, not even simplified.

By: mohsin

mohsin — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:53:22 +0000

I'm thirteen and i know the first 80 of the kyoiku kanji, plus a few other ones here and there i picked up, i plan to learn as amny as i can.

By: thebaba

thebaba — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:16:34 +0000

If literacy rate in USA is defined by being able to read English, that 60% is probably not as ridiculous as it seems. If the definition includes English and Spanish, then I would guess it probably would be closer to 99% than 60%. The inability to read English does not appear to be creating massive problems, as more and more of the instructions, signs, ATM machines, and even telephone messages are available in both English and Spanish. The bigger problem is workers are more and more unable to speak English. So when the crew comes to install the dishwasher, fix the roof, etc, unless you have a command of the Spanish language, you could have a problem.

The company where I used to work also had a plant in Toronto, and the workers were from many, many countries. Many could not speak English or French, but anyone I interacted with assured me that the difference in languages did not create a massive problem. The bigger problem was trying to integrate the workforce, as it was difficult to get workers from, example, Korea to work beside those from Japan, etc.

By: Rich Pav

Rich Pav — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:00:47 +0000

The literacy rate is reported to be 99% (same as US & Canada), but I think it would depend on the definition of literacy used. For example, would you say someone's literate if they know only the kyouiku kanji or a high enough percentage of the jouyou kanji to be able to read a newspaper? Since the most standard definition of literacy rate is the percentage of the population 15 or over who can read or write, I'm assuming Japan goes by the kyouiku kanji, but I haven't found any info to back up that assumption. For all I know, you could be considered literate if you simply can read and write in hiragana and katakana. The Japanese Wikipedia article on literacy rates claims that the USA is only 60%. I wonder who pulled that number out of his ass, but I wouldn't doubt if a lot of people in Japan believe it.

By: James

James — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:57:09 +0000

Out of curiosity, what is the literacy level like in Japan when compared to the western world. I'd almost assume that the large amount of Kanji to learn could result in an illiteracy problem.