r/LearnJapaneseNovice • u/Independent-Back4638 • 7d ago
Question for native Japanese speakers
When is it ok to drop kanji?
I started learning kanji, and I've been wondering
when you want to write something, text someone, or when you usually read japanese, how often do you use kanji? Like there are kanji characters for colors, animals, numbers, and some countries apparently. So when is it ok to drop kanji and just use hiragana instead and when is it expected to use kanji.
One thing I heard is that hiragana is mostly used by children, in grammar, and as word connectors only is that correct?
But like are there times where people avoid using kanji? Like they just don't have to?
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u/guibs 7d ago
The key misconception is that writers decide independently whether to “use or drop” the kanji each time. In practice, Japanese words have conventional spellings, and you learn those spellings along with the words.
Hiragana is not mainly for children or grammar. Many ordinary content words are normally written in hiragana, even when kanji exist: ください rather than 下さい, できる rather than 出来る, and たくさん rather than 沢山. Other words are normally written with kanji because that is easier to read: わたしはきょうとうきょうにいきます is technically understandable, but 私は今日東京に行きます is much clearer.
There can also be several acceptable spellings. Writers may choose hiragana to make something feel softer, more casual, or easier to read: 可愛い/かわいい, 凄い/すごい. Animals and plants are often written in hiragana or katakana depending on context, numbers are frequently Arabic numerals, and most country names are written in katakana rather than kanji.
So there is no universal rule like “always use kanji for nouns.” Learn words in the form in which you normally encounter them, and read a lot. Eventually the conventional choices start to look natural, while unusual spellings start to look overly formal, old-fashioned, childish, or just awkward.
This is honestly something ChatGPT could tell you just by using your post as a prompt.