When do you know when to use kanji?

Question:

for instance, すてき

素敵

when do use the hiragana and when do you use the kanji. I'm guessing you just look at japanese literature, magazines, etc... and deduce when to use kanji/hiragana for what specific words

but how can jap. language students such as myself tell?

any resources or ideas?

thanks

Answer:

Use kanji whenever you want. Use depending on who your target audience is (children or people learning japanese vs adults), how formal the writing should be (essays vs message to friend), artistic effect (poetry, song lyrics, novels/stories). You might also write kanji the first time you write a word to establish the meaning then write in kana after that. You may use kanji, hiragana or katakana for a word that can be written using kanji for different emphasis.

Writing in kanji makes it easier to read when you know what they mean, so using the 1500+ most used kanji can make it easier for natives and other people who are fluent in japanese.

I think you can only figure it out from reading various texts yourself. 'Read real Japanese' are a good books for this with a selection of short stories or essays from various japanese authors with an english transcript and furigana the first time a new kanji or compound appears.

Hope that helps.