>Also excluding names, there are less than two thousand kanji in modern Japanese. Still a lot but not some insurmountable task. The problem with these kanji is

>Also excluding names, there are less than two thousand kanji in modern Japanese. Still a lot but not some insurmountable task. The problem with these kanji is that each one has several possible pronunciations/sounds. That, and writing without spaces, increases the difficulty to the maximum. You cannot read a word without previously knowing it, only sightly guess if you have a high level of knowledge and try good luck. Japanese people can not read old texts in their own language due this.