100 kanji - basic signs 500 kanji - 50% of printed material 1000 kanji - 85% of printed material 1945 kanji - 97% of printed material 8000 kanji

100 kanji - basic signs 500 kanji - 50% of printed material 1000 kanji - 85% of printed material 1945 kanji - 97% of printed material 8000 kanji - 100% of anything japanese kanji in electronic form (still only about 99.99% in printed material as a lot of ancient texts have some pretty obscure one time only kanji). You can judge your kanji learning speed through the first 100 kanji benchmark. It takes one unit of time to learn the first 100 kanji, then about 14-30 units of time to learn the 800-1000, and then another 7-15 units of time to finish off the joyou list (and name kanji). So if it took you 1 month to learn your first 100 kanji it should take you another year to 3 years to learn your next 1000, and then another half a year to a year and a half to finish the list. Again, faster learners will find themselves closer to the earlier stages of the spectrum, while casual learners and slower learners towards the further end of the spectrum. http://yesjapan.com/YJ6/question/1394/how-many-kanji-does-one-have-to-know http://yesjapan.com/YJ6/question/1394/how-many-kanji-does-on...