Language Barrier

Konnichi'wa everyone! I'm 17 yrs old and my dream is to live in Japan. But i'm worried if i know how to speak basicly without the kanji, would i put my self in a struggle?

If you want to live in Japan it's helpful to know Kanji. Most things are written in a mix of Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana so reading can be really difficult unless you're willing to learn at least some Kanji. Many people survive in Japan without knowing much of the language but I think your experience will be much more fruitful if you try to learn as much as you can before you arrive and after you get here.

Thank you so much! I hope i make it some day!

I used to live in Japan (for 3 years) and never learnt to read Kanji. As such, it's not a must but it would help your ability to fully transition into Japanese lifestyle.

As someone above stated, the mix Kanji with Hiragana and Katakana.

So, my suggestion is to keep on learning it but remember it takes time. From memory, I think you need 2-4000 Katakana letters memorised to be able to read a newspaper (out of a possible 8000+).

If my numbers are wrong - feel free to confirm anyone else and I'll be much appreciative.

Lol Thanx man and no worries this helps me alot!

Well people have survived in Japan without knowing any Japanese at all, only a few phrases which they picked up before or after coming to Japan. Although it is possible to live without knowing Japanese, it would be helpful to learn Japanese.

I am 18 years old and I am also planning to live in Japan in about 6-8 years from now and I also believe that my time spent their would be much pleasant if I knew the language. I am learning Japanese Myself but since I am alone so I take really long brakes.

Plus I know no one in Japan and I have zero connections there. I will truly be a gaijin if I move there.

Before planning anything, try to make a plan about moving to Japan so you don't fail. If you do make plans and get a job before moving to Japan, remember that you would get your paycheck of say like January in the end of February so taking about 500,000 yen on a budget living is required.

I forgot to mention. If you do learn Japanese, you could make Japanese friends and it would help a lot in future like you want a new job and you have to give a job interview.

Plus don't you think it would be tough for a person to live in your country not knowing the language.

Thank you so much man! :D

Japanese language is mainly written with kanji and hiragana.
Katakana is for words from foreign languages.

Hiragana and katakana have similar numbers: an order of 100.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiragana
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katakana
and likely learned in kindergarten.

In elementary school, we learn 1006 kanji characters.
In total, 2136 kanjis are used on newspapers and magazines.
Additional 983 kanjis are allowed to be used for names.

So, hiragana, katakana and 2000-3000 kanjis are an ideal goal for Japanese.