JLPT: Should You Study Kanji or Vocabulary First?
Kanji and vocabulary are tested together but studied differently. Here's why vocabulary-first usually wins, and how to make kanji a byproduct of words.
A recurring JLPT debate: do you grind kanji as standalone characters, or learn vocabulary and pick up kanji along the way? For most learners, the answer is clear.
Why vocabulary-first usually wins
- The test scores words, not isolated characters — you never see a kanji on the JLPT without a word around it.
- Learning 水泳 teaches you 水, 泳, a reading, and a usable word — four wins from one card.
- Vocabulary gives kanji context, which is exactly what makes readings stick.
When kanji-first helps
There's one good reason to front-load some pure kanji: building a base of radicals and the most common 100–200 characters early makes every later vocabulary word easier to absorb. So a short kanji sprint, then vocabulary-driven study, is ideal.
The hybrid approach
- Spend your first few weeks on radicals and the top ~100 kanji.
- Switch to vocabulary-driven study: learn words, and meet kanji inside them.
- Use an SRS that quizzes whole words with their readings.
- Read constantly so both kanji and vocabulary recur in context.
Don't choose kanji OR vocabulary. Learn kanji THROUGH vocabulary, with a small radical head-start.
Learn kanji the reading-first way
Kanji 360 wraps every character with mnemonics, audio readings, stroke-order animation, and SRS scheduling — free to start on iPhone, iPad, and Android.
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