Do I have to memorize both on-reading and kun-reading for kanji?

Question

I started learning kanji today on this website

http://japanese.about.com/library/blkod1.htm

there is kun reading and on reading.

Answer 1

Of course you must. On-reading and Kun-reading is kind of coin's both sides. Few kanji have only one side of those though.

Answer 2

Most certainly!  That's the fun of the language!!  Good luck!

Answer 3

Only the very basic words you'd need to memorize correctly, like morning, afternoon, rain, lunch, dinner, train, etc., etc.

I would suggest using your common sense and narrowing down the range of words you think you need to take efforts to memorize. That's because the greater part of two-kanji words are rarely spoken in everyday life. So once you got their meaning, that's it. No need to go to great lengths to be perfect as far as kanji reading goes. It's like I don't know how to pronounce many of the English words out there, though I know what they mean. I would say maximizing your economy in terms of time and effort is the key to learning Japanese successfully....

Answer 4

Yes. Both are used. The on reading is necessary for jukugo.

Answer 5

of course you have to memorize words. just like you memorize the meaning and how to spell english words.