I don’t track it, but my guess would be 2.5k? Idk I can turn kanji back on in jpdb and eventually get an answer…
And yeah, I assume there’s an implicit “compared to other students/foreigners” or something. I suspect it’s also that the kanji I know don’t necessarily map to what’s standard for a native at my reading level to know. So maybe some kanji I know are uncommon in that sense
jpdb calculates and handles kanji pretty oddly, so this won’t be a useful way to get a count… but it does seem like it will be useful study method for a lot of the more archaic kanji (some of which I recognize well enough in context, and others which are just totally ???)
2500 actually would be impressive by any measure. The jouyou kanji that are taught in schools cover a little over 2000 kanji. From what I’ve been told, a well read native would know around 2500 or maybe a little more.
Interesting - I’m probably overestimating then? I know WaniKani covers a bit over 2k (I completed 55/60 levels in July 2023, but looking at L56-60 I know like 90+% of them), which mostly overlap w/ the jouyou kanji. So that would be the bare minimum, and I’ve definitely learned a lot of kanji since then.
Also there’s a question of what counts as “knowing a kanji”? Like the extent to which I know 震える 啼く 厭だ 飽き 磨ぐ 袴 搾る etc is much less strong than their modern equivalents/similar kanji like 振るえる 鳴く嫌だ 諦める 研ぐ 絞る, etc. Or words like 掲載 I’m constantly going “wait, what’s the reading for those again?” And similar for 其の 此の (その この), etc. I’ve seen them before, enough to go “oh right”, and be frustrated if I mix them up or get them wrong again. So idk whether to say I know those or not
You may be overestimating, but even just based on the words you listed as sort of known, you definitely seem to know a lot of kanji. Unfortunately it’s really hard to measure precisely. Websites I’ve seen approximating kanji knowledge aren’t that good.
I’d like to see a website quiz kanji knowledge by asking about a word for (pretty much) every reading of each kanji, probably sourced using jpdb frequency information. But doing that exhaustively would require so many questions it could take hours to take the quiz. 
Existing websites ask too few questions, but there’s probably a middle ground.
They’re probably not the most representative sample - I only ran into them from reading pre-war material in the last few months. They just happened to be in my vocab reviews rn
Honestly I think the only good way to do it is to literally have a giant list and check off all the ones you know… Or a really comprehensive Anki deck, and suspend all the ones you know. Works fine if you do it from the very beginning, but less so later on. When I was using Satori Reader, it was easier to track this sorta thing, bc you could bulk import known kanji + add from their SRS
Otherwise I suspect which kanji people know is just too random to approximate well
That sounds brilliant, and like I’d tap out very quickly lol
I think as you get more advanced this comes up more and more.
Like I know the word 躇躊う, but I don’t ever remember which kanji goes where. Do you? Because it’s actually 躊躇う. I always forget how to pronounce its on reading synonym, but I know it if I hear it. I remember from the RTK derivative that I did that one of the two also means squat or sit or something but I don’t now which one.
To what extent do I know these kanji? They are almost always used as a pair and have very little use on their own. Depending on how you test me I might pass and I might not for either or both.
I think my true knowledge of everything but the most used ~1000 kanji are highly influenced by the context that they appear in.
I finished my first 吉屋信子 book 小さき花々 花物語 | L39 and am 41% through 花物語 上 | L39 - both of which feel like I’m accomplishing something 
It was interesting finishing my first short stories collection. I’m torn btwn わすれなぐさ | L37 and 屋根裏の二処女 吉屋信子乙女小説コレクション (吉屋信子乙女小説コレクション 2) | L30?? next - but I’ll probly go with the former. I should finish up some easier stuff first though, just as a break.
Otherwise, I’m starting up pen pal’ing with a few ppl - which should be a very pleasant challenge.
I put my jpdb definitions back to JP-JP, and that actually feels comfortable now - though I do occasionally double-check the English. For Kindle lookups, I still have it on JP-EN, b/c it’s less disruptive. I also turned on kanji reviews, which has been helpful I think. Too many reviews piled up at the moment, but what else is new. Worst case I’ll either abandon, or delete some decks… in a sense it doesn’t really matter - it’s just a number. I’ve been keeping up w/ the names deck consistently 2. Really glad I’m doing that at a slow pace (3 new cards a day)
薬屋のひとりごと is going slow and steady… I’m really thinking of asking to do conversation instead in lessons though - since most of it is really stuff I can get on my own, and I’m finding I enjoy conversation in lessons.
Made my April 2025 Listening Challenge - #2 by 暁のルナ goal, though I still have a few hours left for my sub-goal of 20 hrs of non-anime content. I might use the マリみて drama cds for that… but I’m more concerned with making a large dent in my Now Reading list at this point though - especially given current and potentially upcoming book clubs.. マリみて rewatch has been going well, but I definitely still need to check the subs at times
pen pal’ing has been kinda interesting but challenging (since my 会話力 skills are kinda weak, even in English). It’s been really great for 敬語 practice tho lol. The waiting aspect is rather annoying, but I guess that’s a sign I’m not keeping myself busy enough. I really prefer writing/talking in タメ語, but at the same time appreciate the “we’re not that close yet” aspect of 敬語.
40% through わすれなぐさ | L37 and it’s going quite well. Definitely really want to read more of Yoshiya’s works, and if this is the relative difficulty level, then I’m in a similar place to where I was with マリみて. While I sometimes have more lookups per page (Usually 6-8, but up to 15), it’s easier in terms of comprehension, and many of those are double-checks. So it hasn’t felt tiring.
Finding 赤毛のアン S1 | L29 fine with subs & jpdb. Doing a batch of 3-5 eps every week is great for SRS timing. 10 eps into 愛の若草物語 S1 | L24 (L24) and that’s been substantially easier - still some unknown words, but I can understand most of the episodes without subs.
Deleted all my Wikipedia decks to cut down on the reviews. So all my decks are per episode now, except I decided to add 若草物語 | L30?? (novel) deck - though it will be first on the chopping block, if I get overwhelmed again. Stats for that are currently: Known: 67.8%, Coverage: 92.9%, Kanji: 86.64%, Learning 64 & 11, Known 6096/9897 & 945/1092, Due 40, New 2673. I think the anime is so far all before the beginning of the novel - which is weird. Anyway the novel itself will probly be pretty slow progress, unless I pause on Yoshiya novels… but どっちでもいい。。。多分. The anime is really getting me much more interested in it now though
I need to catch up w/ last month’s & this month’s Yurihime. And I think it might be a good idea to start keeping up w/ my other weekly/monthly manga again.
Only got 7 pgs further in 薬屋のひとりごと, but I realized that’s not actually a bad thing - b/c I’m asking my teacher for definitions (and occasionally comprehension questions) more - and that’s more valuable than getting in an extra 2-3 pgs.
Started reading クラスで2番目に可愛い女の子と友だちになった7.5 | L27 - and wow what a breath of fresh air! It has a ton of pages, but with only 1-7 lookups per page (average being 1-2), and an easy writing style and light atmosphere, it kinda feels like coasting. I’ve got 334 pgs left, which Kindle thinks will take another 11 hrs (its was at 14 earlier) so about 30 pgs/hr, vs わすれなぐさ 93 pgs, which Kindle thinks will take about 5 more hours - about 18 pgs per hour. The estimate might not be perfect, but that’s about 40% faster! The other novels I’m reading are mostly in the upper range of L30-39 - except 明日の世界で星は煌めく 2 | L28 (which I need to stop procrastinating)
Anyway, I’m reading too many novels, but I don’t particularly feel like dropping any… Time remaining estimates (acc to Kindle):
| Novel | Time |
|---|---|
| クラにか 7.5 | 11hr 4 min |
| わすれなぐさ | 5hr 14 min |
| Friends | 8hr 7 min |
| 花物語 | 17hr 31 min |
| 若草物語 | 29hr 50 min |
| 薬屋のひとりごと (lessons) | 13hr 38 min |
| 明日の世界で星は煌めく(book club) | 7hr 6 min (audiobook) |
With that in mind, I should be able to finish わすれなぐさ and クラにか over the weekend. Then probably Friends next week. So I guess that’s not so bad. わすれなぐさ is kinda in a boring section rn, so I’ll probly read a small chapter, then read a few in クラにか, and alternate back and forth. I did catch up with アオのハコ and most of ルリドラゴン earlier too
I’m keeping on with 若草物語 jpdb deck, but deliberately keeping the word count very low, so I can flexibly add anime episode decks. Currently Learning 107 words, 31 kanji. Proper names Anki deck is still in easy territory, though a few of the kanji I’m less good at are starting to show up. Hopefully I’ll get them more solidly now. Off-topic, but I keep not recognizing 食料, which is funny b/c I frequently type it (in my budgeting software).
Anyway enough blabbing… back to reading!
I started another damn novel… this time a visual novel called つい・ゆり ～おかあさんにはナイショだよ (thoughts here). Thankfully it’s an easy and fun one… not quite turn my brain off level, but easier to read even than クラスで2番目に可愛い女の子と友だちになった7.5 | L27 - so “chill and read” level
Watched some of the talking parts of the トゲトゲ 2nd anniversary live, and understood what everyone was saying, yay
I felt like I read レトロゲ 2 ヤンマガ | L27 really smoothly in my lesson yesterday, with random katakana things again giving me pause, and still some kanji I misread or didn’t recognize. 距 was an interesting one. I’ve only really seen it in 距離, but on it’s own it’s describing a tubular nectary! And I finally got 茎 right (though got it wrong again just now, when I went to type it ).
My teacher again complimented me on my kanji knowledge… which like I do feel like I’ve improved a bit since 2 wks ago, so I could sort of accept a little better, I guess… I’m so glad that kanji show up in so many different places. Also it’s been nice doing jpdb and seeing vocab that I struggled with a month or few ago, and getting them right now.
I’m fairly confused on when to pronounce 間 as ま vs あいだ. I get it right often enough… but I guess I should take some time to read https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/16107/difference-between-間-あいだ-and-間-ま or similar. It’s not as bad as 触れるand whether it’s ふれる vs さわれる though. If I understand right, さわる is literally touch w/ hand/fingers, but ふる is more general? It doesn’t really matter for comprehension usually, so I’ve been lazy about working out the difference.
Finally read the prologue of 明日の世界で星は煌めく 2, with the audiobook, and that’s going just fine so far. Also considering listening to 幼なじみが絶対に負けないラブコメ | L27 when I’m not reading anything (like if I’m out or something). It seems basic/trashy enough that I don’t care if I miss parts, and listening-wise is probably pretty beneficial. I’d really love to get to a point where I can listen casually to L27+ material that I actually care about. Note sure whether I’ll mark it as Reading, if I do… Maybe I should stick to the マリみて cds instead?
It’s usually obvious enough based on whether the potential form makes sense or not. It’s almost always ふれる. In terms of difference, I understand ふれる to be lighter, shorter, or more incidental compared to さわる.
Lmk if I’m getting this right…
触れれる / 触れられる is potential of ふれる
触れる is potential of さわる
触れる is passive of ふる
So if it’s 〜れる and likely to be potential, it’s probably さわ (and that’s less common), but generally it will probably be ふ?
触れれる would be the potential of ふれる, but I’m not sure when this would be used. Like I said, I’ve often seen ふれる as an incidental or light touch, so I’m not sure how you’re able to do something incidental. I won’t claim it’s never used, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it. (I just searched 154 books for “れれる” and literally only got two hits for 入れれる (いれれる)).
触れられる is the potential or passive, but for the above reason I would generally assume passive unless there’s a good reason it would be potential.
Yep
ふれる can be the potential (not passive) of ふる, but not with that kanji.
It’s either ふれる or the potential of さわる since ふる isn’t actually an option with that kanji.
Here’s a good question on this. The first answer says duration is the difference and the second goes into other possible ways they differ. italki - 「触れる・ふれる」と「触る・さわる」の違い 「触れる」と「触る」は、「touch」という意味として、どう違いますか。 インタネットで調べると、「触れる」は「触る」より軽い感じだそうです。見つけた例文を
I realized there’s an overlap in recent stories I’ve been consuming that’s a major part of why I like them
All heavily involve family dynamics, in a more than superficial way. The parents and/or siblings feel like real people, and have actual problems and growth, and sometimes are even the centre of the story
Anyway not a particularly deep realization, but something to keep in mind when choosing stuff in the future I guess?
Me writing a letter to my 親友: I’m so glad I don’t have to bother with 敬語 - it’s so much effort, on top of writing everything in kanji
Also me writing letters: I wanna write like a fictional 1920-30s school girl (or modern お嬢様学校) character
It is kind of incentive to go through more of Tobira or Quartet. Tobira especially makes you do the different social registers… I don’t really need another thing rn tho
Writing everything in kanji is just for the sake of practice… Tho I’ve managed to avoid doing it for stuff like 一寸 (ちょっと)… Cuz that’s just kinda unnecessary (tho I like it in reading)
Thanks… That kinda helps, but honestly I think I’m gonna just have to read (or maybe even write out) a bunch of example sentences for each, until I get it
I think I will put those on my wish list then. I was recently thinking maybe to grab a novel next that features family 悩みs
Now I am also stumbling over this while reading 
Need to re-read your explanations and links once again to be able to remember it
