The following chapter summarizes the challenges faced by Japanese language learners who are trying to learn the Japanese writing system. It begins with an examination the notion of reform of the Japanese writing system, which is a common yearning of any foreign language learner that is struggling with the learning of kanji. The chapter explores the pros and cons of reducing kanji or getting rid of them entirely. We end this chapter with advice for Japanese as a foreign language learners based on the research presented in the first three parts of this book, with the aim of suggesting ways people can become better learners of written Japanese.

Challenges Faced by Japanese Language Learners

The previous chapters have outlined the major challenges that the Japanese writing system poses for the second language learner. First, there is an inherent linguistic challenge in the way that the Japanese writing system represents language: kanji – the backbone of the Japanese writing system – are a morphographic script that for the most part represents language at the morpheme level, where one kanji represents a single meaning. Kana – the writing system developed from kanji – are a syllabic script that for the most part represents the syllabic structure of the Japanese language. Romaji – the borrowed Roman script – is a full alphabet that represents phonemes or single units of sound. Currently, the Japanese writing system is the only writing system to fully integrate these three script types into a single writing system. The challenges faced by a reader in moving fluidly from decoding morphemes, syllables and phonemes is, therefore, an inherent challenge for any learner who is accustomed to reading within one type of writing system.

For alphabetic language background speakers, such as speakers of English, reading and writing kanji require a substantial adjustment due to a shift in decoding writing for meaning, rather than sound.