|
Kanji Help
|
|
Alright, I wrote this out once, but it got deleted. Poo. (Please forgive my spelling errors, I haven't spoken English in a year) Anyways, I spent my last year ( Junior in Highschool ) in Japan as an exchange student, Highly recomended for anyone who wants to learn the language. Before I went I knew no Japanese, now I tested into College level Japanese 4 (Coulda gotten into 5, but didnt wanna complete it before I acctualy start college) So, its a GREAT way to learn. Now, I hear people talk about not knowing any kanji and it being as hard as well, Chinese Algebra (or Japanese, which is hard, I can tell you that!) Well, I found Kanji to be much more easy then people say. I have some general rules 1) Look for Paterns 2) Memorize On and Kun Readings 3) Make sure to notice small differences RULE 1 Look for the patterns, It may seem like Kanji is some random assortment of scrambled lines and squares, but there IS a method to the madness. Those large scary symbols are acctualy made up from mixtures of smaller symbols. For Example;　語 (Language) is just a combination of 言(Word)ã€äº”(Five)ã€å£(Mouth)。 If you look around, you'll start to notice these small building blocks of kanji. (Known as radicals) Now, look at this; 水城高ç‰å¦æ ¡ [ã™ã„ã˜ã‚‡ã†ã“ã†ã¨ã†ãŒã£ã“ã†]　(My Japanese Highschool) These kanji's seem pretty hard? Water, Castle, High, Equal, Learn, School. Now to break down the symbols; Water [æ°´] is quite simple, Basic Kanji, should be one of the first to memorize. Castle [城] is a little harder now, it is broken down into 2 parts, [土] and [æˆ]　The left meaning "earth", and the right is "become". If you didnt know it ahead of time then it would be hard to figure out, but these little things arent ment for learning, but rather remembering. High [高] Basic Kanji. Equal [ç‰]　this one's parts make almost no relation to the meaning, prooving, that it doesnt help to figure out what is its, just to remember it. This symbol is a mix of [竹] and [寺]　The left being "Bamboo", the right being "Temple". Learn [å¦]　Now this is where the little tricky radicals come into it. This Kanji too is a combination of two particles, [å] and one other, the other has no symbol as it stands alone. The 3 dots with the roof looking thing, acctualy stand for "Head", such as in the Kanji 覚ãˆã‚‹[Oboeru]　(To see in one's head, AKA remember) There are many of these small radicals, some are the 3 dots on the left in 滑る, the 4 bottom dots on é»’, the double plus mark thing in èŠ School [æ ¡] is a mix of [木] and [交] Left being tree, right being crossing. Learn to break down Kanji into little smaller pieces and learn them that way, not so daunting. RULE 2 Now, as many know, but some don't, every Kanji has 2+ reading. On and the Kun (I always forget which is which, but thats not the main point) Long ago Japanese didn't have a writen language, looking around they saw chinese, and decided that those Chinese symbols would work for their language too. so they assigned Japanese pronunciations to Chinese letters, BUT they also kept the Chinese way too. For example, the symbol [æ°´] is pronounced ã¿ãš. It means water. Now, Some words in Japanese are a combination, such as the word for my school. [水城] which is pronounced Sui Jo. Why is it Sui and not Mizujo? Well, because when 2 kanji are combined to make a word, the Chinese pronounciation is used. For somewords, Both ways are VERY important. Such as Mizu/Sui both are used alot. Other words for example, such as 訪ãる　（ｔãšãる） you will NEVER almost see that kanji writen in a combo-word. So the Chinese pronounciation is not as important, although you should still learn it. One other thing to notice is that sometimes when combined, The èªã¿æ–¹(Way to say) of the word is changed, for example, 甘酒 (Ama Zake) is a contraction of the words Ama and Sake. BUT these are the Japanese way of saying, why not Chinese? Well, I have no REAL answer, but I would assume since Ama Zake is an Original Japanese drink, they would use the Japanese way, since its been around for a long time. Notice though the S changed to a Z? Im not sure why this happens, its just a phonetic change. Remember though, that [ã•] and [ã–] are the same letter, just with the dots. (点々)... Anyways, Rememeber to learn both ways! RULE 3 Take a look at these. 区　図　 街　術 部　都 æ‘　付 åœ°ã€€æ± ã€€ æ—　旅　 look alike ne? Well Just MAKE sure to notice the little differneces. They may look alike, but they have differnet meanings all togeather. If you do make a mistake, don't feel bad, Japanese people do it ALL the time. Now, two sites for good reference, My favorite Dictionary, and Japanese Translator, Type in a sentance in english, translate in your head, then hit translate button, see if it matches up! |
|
Re: Kanji Help
|
|
Look, buddy. If you're chinese, you'd know the words MUCH easier. Btw, ç‰ also means wait. :)
Are miracles worth believing? We'll just have to see, don't we? What you see, that is reality. What you remember, that is illusion. Ps: Why are you looking here? Coversation above!
|