Free Kanji Course – lesson eight

Welcome to the eight lesson of our free online kanji course! With the help of carefully selected teaching materials that are freely available online, we are going to remember all the kanji you need for JLPT level 5. Before we start with this lesson, let’s review all the kanji from the previous lessons! Do you still remember all of them? You can use our flash cards to help you in your learning journey.

We are already at lesson eight! You guys are doing great!

Lesson 1: 一, 二, 三 , 四 , 五 , 六 , 七 , 八 , 九 , 十 , 百 , 千 , 万 , and 円 .
Lesson 2: 日、月、火、水、木、金、土、川、and 田 .
Lesson 3: 人, 私, 上,下 , 左 , 右 , 中, and 山 .
Lesson 4: 雨 , 大 , 本 , 今 , 何 , 母 , 父 , 男 , 女 , and 子 .
Lesson 5: 友, 出 , 年 , 国 , 会 , 名 , 天 and 休.
Lesson 6: 小 , 先 , 入 , 分 , 前 , 半 , 学 and 多 .
Lesson 7: 後, 午 , 時 , 行 , 見 , 生 , and 口 .

All good? Then let’s start with a nice (inspirational?) Ted Talk about Kanji before we go to the short set for this week:  間 , 東 , 高 ,  外 , 来 and 話 .

(don’t forget to turn on your subtitles)

 間

Meaning: Time, Time span
Onyomi: Kan/Ken [かん/けん]
Kunyomi: Aida [あいだ]
Vocabulary: 週間 – しࠀうかん – shuukan – a week time

間- Wiktionary
The stroke order for  間

NB: be careful, because there is a false friend! 間 is not the same as 聞 (to listen).

This video offers some great example sentences with 間 in context.

Meaning: East
Onyomi: Tou [とう]
Kunyomi: Higashi [ひがし]
Vocabulary: 東京 – とうきࠂう – toukyou – Tokyo

File:東-bw.png - Wikimedia Commons
The stroke order for 東

Meaning: High, expensive, increase
Onyomi: Kou [こう]
Kunyomi: Taka(i)/Taka(maru)/Taka(meru)
Vocabulary: 高速 – こうそく – kousoku – high speed

高- Wikiwand
The stroke order of 高

 外

Meaning: Outside/Other/Foreign
Onyomi: Gai/Ge[がい/げ]
Kunyomi: Soto/Hoka [そと/ほか]
Vocabulary: 外国人 – がいこくじん – gaikokujin – A foreigner

File:外-bw.png - Wikimedia Commons
The stroke order of 外 .

Meaning: To come
Onyomi: Rai
Kunyomi: Ku(ru)/Kita(ru)/Kita(su)
Vocabulary: 来年 – ࠄいねん – rainen – Next year

File:来-bw.png - Wikimedia Commons
The stroke order for 来 .

 話

Meaning: Speech, to talk, conversation
Onyomi: Wa [わ]
Kunyomi: hanashi/Hana(su) [はなし/はな(す)]
Vocabulary: 会話 – かいわ – kaiwa – Conversation

File:話-bw.png - Wikimedia Commons
The stroke order for 話 .

And it’s a wrap! If you like to do some more repetition, you can watch the video below, that discusses 日、月、火、水、木、金、土、川、and 田 – yup, all kanji that we already learned! 🥳 (With some new compound words.)


How do you find learning kanji? Which ones are difficult for you? And do you have any questions? Discuss it in our Facebook group. Native speakers as well as professional Japanese teachers are happy to help you in you learning journey.

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