Kanji, anyone?

[Galaktika Evrika]

大切なものは目に見えないんだよ。^^; Without 漢字, reading 日本語 would be annoying. 失礼なことを言うつもりはないのですが…それはさほど理解し難いことではない。とにかく練習をしなよ。=^ ___^= どう思う？

[MazzieEowyn]

O.O プーキさん、ありがとうございます！
I am so dumb... I've been using that language bar for months and never noticed the IME pad. Thank you for pointing it out to me, although I think I'll need some practice getting the strokes right.

Also - I was thinking about going on the JET scheme... though I'm still considering it. I'm still a bit nervous about doing something like that, for a few reasons... I'd welcome it if you could tell me about your experiences. My e-mail's [email protected] if you'd like to mail me

[Akihiko Yamamoto Hozagaki]

While were on the subject of the matter, I'd like to know the "difference" between katakana and hiragana. I mean, I understand katakana is the Chinese reading... but do we use it in the same sentence with hiragana characters, and when do we use it?

[conformiste]

I don't know what you mean by chinese reading, but it's basically the same as hiragana except for the symbol and context. That is, they have an entire set of katakana that corresponds directly to the set of hiragana: for example 'ma' is in ま hiragana and マ in katakana. Same pronunciation, different symbol.

They're also used in different contexts: hiragana is used for original Japanese words and grammar while katakana is only used for foreign words that (mostly) don't have a Japanese counterpart (there are exceptions.) For example, the word 'tennis', which is pronounced 'tenisu' in japanese and written in katakana because it is a foreign concept. The word 'soba' (a kind of noodle) is a Japanese food, and so is written in hiragana. Most times though, Japanese things have names in kanji (chinese characters) and in that case you use those ^_^.

And yes, you can use them in the same sentence.

...and i realised something. Perhaps, by 'chinese reading' you mean Kanji and not katakana? (Which would make sense, seeing as this is a kanji thread after all.)

-feels dumb- ._.

[Akihiko Yamamoto Hozagaki]

I don't know what you mean by chinese reading, but it's basically the same as hiragana except for the symbol and context. That is, they have an entire set of katakana that corresponds directly to the set of hiragana: for example 'ma' is in ま hiragana and マ in katakana. Same pronunciation, different symbol.

I know what katakana is, silly XD!

Well... maybe I do mean kanji XD! Though I must've forgotten, because what you just said reminded me of something a book said a while back o.o.

[akiko_kalla]

I know what katakana is, silly XD!

Well... maybe I do mean kanji XD! Though I must've forgotten, because what you just said reminded me of something a book said a while back o.o.

Are you referring to the kun vs. on readings for kanji? If so typically the kun (hiragana reading) is used if the kanji is by itself and while the on reading is used for certain combinations of kanji. (Like 山　yama vs. san) However there are many exceptions so you do have to have an idea what the word is. From what my teacher has said part of the kanji combination will carry the pronunciation while the other the meaning, so perhaps it is most useful to know in those cases. Of course I could be misunderstanding something too. :P

[Mokuren]

Explanation: I'm just really excited that something this easy is workin'. Ignore the overenthusiasm.

First off, for kanji learning and reference you can't beat this book.
Armed with that, a great Japanese dictionary, and also this book on verbs, you will be completely prepared...

...NO! Not to start learning a few kanji in order from your handbook, day after day, trudging through, writing and rewriting, and wondering if you'll ever get it. You are absolutely prepared...to buy a couple of manga from your favorite writer/artist in the original Japanese, grab on to your Nintendo DS (no, no, never mind if you don't have one...you can get one eventually, right? Save $10 a day for ten days and you own one), and set the language to Japanese. Every time you hit a phrase or kanji you don't know, look it up in the books; if this fails, google it; failing this, animeforum.com! Write the new info down in a notebook and review it at the end of the day.
You'd be surprised how quickly you pick up kanji this way and the INCREDIBLE amount more interesting they seem. It's the next best thing to learning by being forced to decipher actual spoken language in Japan.

PS I recommend Animal Crossing for the DS; the slow movement of the game and large amount of simple speech make it ideal for translation.

[Mokuren]

Super-Fun Ways to Learn Kanji & Japanese
Explanation: I'm just really excited that something this easy is workin'. Ignore the overenthusiasm.

And: The first step to learning Japanese is always to get down the few basic phrases listed EVERYWHERE like ohayou, hajimemashite, gomenasai, etc., along with basic verb conjugation. The hiragana and katakana are also essential. (This site is AWESOME for that.) After THAT though...

First off, for kanji learning and reference you can't beat this book.
Armed with that, a great Japanese dictionary, and also this book on verbs, you will be completely prepared...

...NO! Not to start learning a few kanji in order from your handbook, day after day, trudging through, writing and rewriting, and wondering if you'll ever get it. You are absolutely prepared...to buy a couple of manga from your favorite writer/artist in the original Japanese, grab on to your Nintendo DS (no, no, never mind if you don't have one...you can get one eventually, right? Save $10 a day for ten days and you own one), and set the language to Japanese. Every time you hit a phrase or kanji you don't know, look it up in the books; if this fails, google it; failing this, animeforum.com! Write the new info down in a notebook and review it at the end of the day.
You'd be surprised how quickly you pick up kanji this way and the INCREDIBLE amount more interesting they seem. It's the next best thing to learning by being forced to decipher actual spoken language in Japan.

[royal_ken]

I'm Japanese myself but I'm constantly learning new kanji. There's just so much variety. I've heard that you'd need to know at least 1000 different kanji to be able to read a Japanese newspaper fairly well. Meh, I still struggle reading the newspaper.

Either way, the useful thing about having kanji is that similar shaped kanji tend to have similar meanings, so you can manage to have a vague understanding of what it could mean even if you've never seen that particular kanji before. I always have fun when I go to places like Hong Kong because Chinese is written everywhere but I could always vaguely understand what they're referring to hehe

Kanji can also keep sentences compact and shorter.
A word like "higuma" (brown bear) can be compacted into one 「羆」

It'll definitely be useful to learn kanji (you'd need to know it to read in Japan anyway lol)

[Keithsnyder]

ya i agree but sometimes even though they look similar they have a totally different meaning .I think that's why sometimes one would find himself having birds on top of his head while reading kanji .