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    Learning the pronunciations
Kanji often have two (or more) different pronunciations: the on yomi , or Chinese reading, and the kun yomi , or Japanese reading.
A single kanji can have more than one on yomi and/or kun yomi .
     
Single kanji followed by hiragana ( okurigana ) are usually read as their kun yomi .
     
Two kanji words are usually read “ on on ” but sometimes “ kun kun ”
     
Knowing the radical of a kanji can often give you a clue as to the on yomi .
     
The same word can often be expressed with more than one kanji , sometimes with subtle differences in meaning. The verb hakaru , to measure, can be written with six different kanji !
    James Heisig’s second book, Remembering the Kanji 2 , offers short cuts to mastery of kanji pronunciation by organising the kanji into logical groups that can be quickly learned together. The book can be used with his first book or in conjunction with other methods.
    The Kanji Study Cards mentioned above can also be used to memorise kanji pronunciations. When learning to write the kanji , you will go from the English keyword that best describes the kanji to the writing. When learning to read and pronounce the kanji you will start on the other side of the card and go from a picture of the kanji to its reading.
    Kanji town
Kanji town refers to a sophisticated method of learning kanji pronunciations. Students create for themselves an imaginary town comprised of different locations. Each location corresponds to a particular on-yomi . Each location will have its own story, dreamt up by the student, which includes all the kanji that share that particular on-yomi .
    Let's take the on-yomi “shuu ”. Kanji that share this reading include collection, week, protect, hand, bad smell and many more. Say I select the shoe ( shuu ) store in my kanji town as the location for this reading my story might go something like this:
Every week a large collection of shoes is brought to the store. The shoes replace the bad smelling shoes which must be kept under protection so that no-one touches them with their hands.
    This is just a very brief example of the learning method. With different locations for characters with very similar pronunciation e.g. s huu and shu even these can be easily differentiated. Learning these via brute memory is difficult. Hopefully, you can see how kanji town makes learning kanji pronunciations a lot of fun. You are really only limited by your imagination.
    Kanji game
A neat game to test your kanji knowledge with a friend or Japanese person is to choose a radical and write as many kanji as possible using that radical. Once you get good at this, you can start to hustle Japanese people (some of them will not be amused to lose to a foreigner).
    Buying a kanji dictionary
A good kanji dictionary will help your study a great deal. I personally like Hadamitzky and Spahn’s The Learner's Kanji Dictionary which should last you throughout your kanji learning career.
    There are numerous electronic dictionaries available on the market in Japan; however, most are aimed at Japanese people and thus could be quite tricky for a beginner student to use. When looking up the Japanese for an English word, the explanations will be entirely in Japanese. Most dictionaries have a jump function which allows you to quickly find the meaning of any unknown kanji which helps somewhat. Once I bought an electronic dictionary I wondered how I’d ever managed without one.
One great function most dictionaries have is a notebook that allows you to store and review interesting words. Mine holds up to 1,000 words and soon gets filled up.
    Prices for electronic dictionaries vary depending on the features. More expensive is not necessarily better. I have seen expensive dictionaries that give very strange and convoluted examples. It’s worth trying them out or at least reading online reviews before you buy one. One tip: don’t spill your drink on your dictionary,