Kanji Compounds

[loveyourfate]

Hey, thanks for taking time to read this ! :)

So I've been studying Japanese for a couple of months and I had started learning the kanji. Then I stopped when I knew about 100 kanji (Though I knew no compounds), because I didn't really know what I was doing... So I focussed on other parts of the language.

But recently I want to get back to it, though I'm really not sure how to tackle these compounds. Can anyone tell me how they study them?

What my basic problem is, is that I have my basic kanji, for example 門 , which I know is read as either kado or mon, and one of its compounds, for example 正門 , which I know is read as seimon. I know the translation as well (main entrance, main gate). However, no books or websites I know of, proceed to tell me how to write this compound character 正 . So I'm stuck with what to do with them... What do I do with the compound if I can't write it? I'm bound to forget what it looks like and what it means if I'm not able to write it.

So, can anyone tell me how they learn their kanji? Am I just supposed to be able to recognize these compounds in the beginning?? Because, as I've said, that sounds kind difficult to me.

Anyway, I hope someone can help me out ! :)

Thanks a lot!!

[LavaBug]

http://www.bibiko.de/kanji/sod/6b63.html

[loveyourfate]

http://www.bibiko.de/kanji/sod/6b63.html

Thanks for your reply, but I only used that kanji as an example.
Do you mean to say that I'm supposed to look over the internet how to write these Kanji? That still seems pretty odd to me...
They give me a book where it is not written how to write the compound character.
If you studied/study Japanese, is this how you did/do it?

Thanks

[LavaBug]

I bought a dictionary with compounds ...If I had something like that and I wanna look it up: if I it wouldn'te be under "sei" it'll be under "mon"...
I recommend this:
http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Dictionary-Mark-Spahn/dp/0804820589/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239824713&sr=8-2
I use the german version though, don't wanna miss it....
Books often give you vocabulary and no instructions on writing characters...I suppose that is your problem?
If not I have real trouble understanding what you want to know oO...

Anyway internet is not a bad way to look up stuff...

(Also next time you use an example please say so -_-")

[AzureDark]

Are you're trying to say that you need to know how to learn some kanji that don't exist on their own, or do you mean that you need to learn the stroke order and direction?

There's always a general rule for writing kanji (top to bottom, left to right) but follow that rigidly at your peril. Good Kanji books like the one I have show not only stroke order but direction, and the site LavaBug linked does indicate where you need to start writing the strokes too.

Remember that there are over 2,000 kanji. One or two (hundreds...) are bound to strike you as odd. Some don't even exist outside exactly one compound kanji. So don't worry about some kanji that looks quite menacing early on and just learn them one by one, slowly as you go, 100 will go to 300 and then 500 and so forth, along the way you'll get to use and recognise and be able to write more compounds.

[loveyourfate]

Thanks a lot, you both made things clear for me :) .
I guess I was hoping someone'd tell me it's actually really easy ;) .
Anyway, thanks for your help ! :)