How much kanji do I need to know to read a light novel?

[Orochimaru]

Yeah... like a typical light novel. How many/which kanji?

[MelancholicMariya]

Well, to read all of it without assistance you'll need to go through several years of Japanese classes. So, "all of it" would be a good estimation. People who've done Japanese for years still need dictionaries for some stuff.

So ideally you would have to start with basic words, terms and sentences in romaji, then learning grammar, then learning some hiragana and katakana, eventually you'll get to learning kanji, and then continuing that pace for several years.

It's not quite as easy as knowing a few bits and pieces of kanji.

[Orochimaru]

Originally Posted by MelancholicMariya

Well, to read all of it without assistance you'll need to go through several years of Japanese classes. So, "all of it" would be a good estimation. People who've done Japanese for years still need dictionaries for some stuff.

So ideally you would have to start with basic words, terms and sentences in romaji, then learning grammar, then learning some hiragana and katakana, eventually you'll get to learning kanji, and then continuing that pace for several years.

It's not quite as easy as knowing a few bits and pieces of kanji.

Yeah, I've taken Japanese classes. More than I'd care to admit actually, considering how little I still know I probably know about 400-450 kanji at the moment, though by "know" I mean I can recognize (and probably write) them, not necessarily know all the different readings, or which ones to use in a given context.

I remember hearing someone here say at some point that unlike manga, light novels don't include furigana for pretty much everything, but they still do more than, say, a newspaper. So I was wondering if I would be able to read a typical light novel if I learned up to a certain grade level of kanji, or something like that...

[kijakusai]

Originally Posted by Orochimaru

How much kanji do I need to know to read a light novel? ...How many/which kanji?

Since light novels are popular fiction mainly aimed at teenagers, if we look at the matter from this angle, probably you need know Kyōiku kanji (approx. 1000) and kanji which Japanese students learn at junior high schools (approx. 1000).

If the light novel you read has furigana, they will help you to read the text to some extent, though.


These links may be useful to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%8Diku_kanji
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C5%8Dy%C5%8D_kanji
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...Dy%C5%8D_kanji

Kanji which Japanese students learnt at junior high schools (a somewhat old list):
http://www.mercury.sannet.ne.jp/sakk...ng_data02.html