How Hard Is Japanese to Learn? A Complete Guide for English Speakers

Kanji is where the real work begins. Kanji are logographic characters borrowed from Chinese, each carrying meaning as well as one or more readings. The Japanese Ministry of Education recognises 2,136 jōyō kanji (everyday-use characters) — and a Japanese high school graduate is expected to know all of them. A newspaper uses around 2,000. Kanji can have multiple readings depending on context, and many words are written using combinations of two or more characters.