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  • You might also add that sometimes you can make a determination based on expected usage in context. For example, once you learn 太陽 【たいよう】 in Japanese, it is unlikely you would write 犬陽 instead. The individual meaning of 太 vs. 犬 is not so important then, though "dog sun" would be meaningless. Also whether pronunciation follows similar character forms really depends on the language. Commented May 13, 2016 at 0:46
  • While controversial because it does not follow the standard, very rote, way of teaching the kanji, James W. Heisig's Remembering the Kanki touches upon the first 3 points here. He took great pains to learn some background on the kanjis, figure out radicals and find features that look similar and need to be distinguished, giving you his mnemonics to help you. More importantly, he teaches you how to do it yourself. This answer is the correct one in my opinion. If you need guidance on how to implement it for Japanese, look the book up. He does keep meaning and pronunciation for later studies. Commented May 28, 2020 at 13:11