As I was adding words from the textbook Minna no Nihongo to my Anki deck, I wondered, "Why doesn't the word for bank contain the kanji for gold? Wouldn't that be more logical? Why is there some other kanji in it?"
The thing is I haven't actually been learning kanji properly. I've just been going through a premade Anki vocabulary deck, staring at those words while trying to memorize them. I thought it was working until I started getting words that looked alike. I mistook to wait (待つ) for to have (持つ) and vice versa so many times... I tried writing them down, looking up stroke order and direction online. That helped a little. A while later, when I made the same mistake yet again, I looked up those kanji in the dictionary a second time and realized that 持 contains the radical 手, albeit distorted, which means hand — a word I got in my deck months after to have! How helpful would it be to learn those basic kanji first!
Later, when I was reviewing those words I added from the textbook, I looked at the word bank, and something clicked. It does actually contain the gold (金) kanji! It's just hidden inside this one 銀, which means silver. It suddenly made so much sense. I felt like I had actually assimilated a knowledge of how this character looked, instead of relying on intuition for recognition. I knew how it looked in its entirety, and didn't just rely on my brain to figure it out based on some part of it. So when I reviewed the word galaxy (銀河), which I've "known" since May, I instantly recognized that it contains the same radical, even though I wasn't aware of it before. It's like pieces of a puzzle coming together.
A few days ago, I read about a website called WaniKani that teaches you the radicals first and then the kanji themselves — along with their names and some readings — and only then does it teach you vocabulary using those kanji. I've started using it, and it looks promising. Maybe if I had used this approach from the get-go, I would've been miles ahead by now. But it is what it is. At least now I know what to do moving forward.
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Wow, you're improving very fast! 流石（さすが）ですね。≈ As expected of you.
In Japan, when students study kanji in school, they also learn the radicals. So, I think the approach you're using with WaniKani is a great method. One of my language exchange partners also uses that site to study kanji. Keep it up!
title: My Mistakes Learning Kanji
@Akiko Thank you. You're very kind. But I learned kana at the end of 2021 and have barely made progress since, more than once giving up on learning for months because it was so hard for me to memorize vocabulary. But I'll do my best now!
@yumiyumayume Thanks! It's too early to judge, but it makes so much sense to start with the basics and progress upward, and the process is more enjoyable that way.
@CocoPop As always, thanks for the corrections. I'll be forever grateful.
Always a pleasure!