Learning necessary for writing Japanese and reading of Recent Article

Japanese kanji's pronunciation isn't often one, and further it has onyomi and kunyomi.

 

There are 音読み[onyomi ] and 訓読み[kunyomi] in a Japanese kanji.

Two kinds of pronunciations "音読み(onyomi) and 訓読み(kunyomi) of a Japanese kanji" are very important for you who is learning Japanese.

 

Reason why Japan kanji has ONYOMI and KUNYOMI.

A kanji is a character introduced into Japan from ancient China, and onyomi is the pronunciation of the China form.
But, those kanji are used with Japan style pronunciation.

Therefore, please don't forget "The pronunciation of Chinese and Japanese is quite different."

Well, often the one kanji has many pronunciations.
The onyomi, the Sino-Japanese reading, is the modern descendent of the Japanese approximation of the Chinese pronunciation of the character at the time it was introduced. Some kanji were introduced from different parts of China at different times, and so have multiple on'yomi, and often multiple meanings.

In a word, most of a Japanese kanji is to have two or more onyomi and two or more kunyomi.

Look at the kanji as a example, please.
This kanji is "納[nou]".

<Kanji of Japan with the most a lot of onyomi >

This is the Japanese kanji that has most a lot of onyomi.

• 音読み(Onyomi) : nou, tou, na, nat, nan,
• 訓読み(Kunyomi) : osa(meru), osa(maru),

Please see the example of the word for which this kanji is used as onyomi kanji.

Kanji	Pronunciation	Meaning
納税	nou zei	Payment of taxes
納豆	nattou	Natto
結納	yui nou	a ceremonial exchange of engagement gifts
納得	nattoku	understanding, consent, satisfaction, conviction
納期	nou ki	Delivery date
納品	nou hin	Delivery of goods

These are a part of only idioms as the example.
Kanji with a lot of Onyomi; It shows that there are a lot of words for which that kanji is used.

 

When is ONYOMI used?

Onyomi is mainly used on a kanji idiom.

Japanese is a language of mixed writing of kanji and kana.
Kunyomi makes sense by accompanying the hiragana though Onyomi hardly needs the hiragana.

The meaning of the word is understood by reading the compounded kanji symbols aloud by Onyomi.
But , the Onyomi idiom kanji has the troublesome problem.

It means that there is many "idioms of the same pronunciation."
"The troublesome problem" is that quite a lot of kanji idioms with "Same pronunciation by Onyomi" exists in Japanese.

Look at the following examples, please.
The meaning is quite different though these have the same pronunciation.

Kanji	Pronunciation	Meaning
移動	idou	movement, transfer.
異同	idou	difference
異動	idou	a change
監視	kanshi	watch, keep, guard,
看視	kanshi	on the lookout
冠詞	kanshi	article
漢詩	kanshi	Chinese poem
期間	kikan	a period
機関	kikan	an engine, a means, an agency
器官	kikan	an organ
帰還	kikan	return, repatriation
基幹	kikan	a foundation
奇観	kikan	a spectacular sight
季刊	kikan	quarterly

 

Next, this is a kanji idiom where it has a different meaning though it has the most a lot of same pronunciations, in Japan.

交渉、高尚、公証、考証、厚相、公称、公傷、公証、鉱床、口承、哄笑、工廠、工商、興商、公娼、好尚、康正、工匠、高唱、校章、口証
(I omit the explanation about the meaning of these kanji idioms because there are quite a lot of numbers.)

Pronunciations: こうしょう[koushou]

The pronunciations of these kanji idiom are all "koushou."
(But, the idiom not so used is included in these kanji.)

 

Well, did you understand Onyomi?

To tell the truth, I feel that Japanese is very difficult language for the Japanese, too.
It is natural that you feel Japanese difficult.

Keep up your effort, please!

 

By Hararie

 

 

The reason why there is Kunyomi

kanji imported about 1500 years ago by China was the letter which was difficult for a Japanese.

The countries around China imported Chinese kanji as it is, but only Japan changed it into "way of reading in accord with Japan" and imported kanji.

The race which took in and used the Chinese character for the language of own country in this way is not other than a Japanese.

Therefore, Japanese may be a difficult language.

 

Kunyomi is a Japanese original reading.

But there is the case that "kanji that becomes an origin" has various meanings for 1 character.
Therefore, kunyomi isn't one in many cases.

As the example, let's see kanji of Japan with much kunyomi.

 

Look at left kanji.

It is said that this is "kanji having most Kunyomi" in Japan.

 

On-yomi

Pronunciation	Word as example
生[しょう] : sho	一生 : issho　　[one's] lifetime
生[じょう] : jo	誕生日 : tanjo-bi　　Birthday
生[せい] : sei	先生 : sensei　　Teacher

 

Kun-yomi

Pronunciation	Word as meaning or example
生きる : i-kikru	live / be living / be alive
生かす : i-kasu	keep...alive
生ける : i-keru	arrange set roses in a vase.
生む : u-mu	cause / lead to / give rise to
生まれる :u-mareru	be born / come into existence / be formed / arise
生える : ha-eru	grow / sprout / spring up / come in
生やす : ha-yasu	grow
生る : a-ru	Appearance of the sacred one.
生る : na-ru	bear fruit / grow
生 : nama	生野菜 : nama-yasai　　Raw vegetable/Fresh vegetables
生 : ki	生真面目 : ki-majime　　Earnest / Seriousness
生 : o	生い立ち : o-i-ta-chi　　One's background
生 : fu	芝生 : shiba-fu　　Lawn
生 : ou	to grow/ to spring up/ to cut teeth
生 : ubu	Prefix of noun
生 : inochi	[one's] lifetime / Life

It is said that there is various pronunciation of this kanji besides these.

Besides, It is reported that this is kanji with 150 kinds of reading.

A lot of pronunciations are not used too much in present Japan.
But, most of the pronunciation that I wrote here is daily used in Japan.

 

Easy method of identifying Kunyomi

I teach the method that is good for you.

"Declensional kana ending is accompanied, and the meaning is comprehensible" is Kunyomi.

Though there is an exception, this method is a method of recognizing Kunyomi most quickly.

 

"Conversation" is the best learning method for studying Japanese.

The child before entering school learns language in "conversation."

Japanese is also so.

Japanese grammar is very difficult.
You will surely come to hate Japanese if you begin to study Japanese from the grammar.

Therefore, you had better study "Japanese grammar" shallowly.

And I think that study of a "daily conversation subject" is "a shortcut of your Japanese study."

 

 

 

By　Hararie

 

 

The form that pronunciation of kanji is described by "a hiragana letter or katakana" is called "Furigana or Yomogana".

Kanji with two or more pronunciations is numerous in Japan.
"What is the pronunciation of this name?"
"What is the pronunciation of this name of a place?"
The Japanese is often annoyed by such a problem.

The "Furigana(or Yomigana) custom" exists in Japan for that.

If we do not investigate voluntarily, it doesn't often turn out concerning the name of a place.

Well, "Furigana" and "Yomigana" are used by the same purpose.

You will surely think like this.
"If so, why are there two names?"

These difference points are little.

<ふりがな/フリガナ[Furigana]>:
Furigana is a character that affixes to kanji etc. and is written in a small character.
It is called, "Ruby" in printed matter.

<よみがな[Yomigana]>:
Yomigana is a character for pronunciation to be shown.
It need not be written like the ruby.
Therefore, even if it is a large character, Yomogana is OK.

Notation	Hiragana notation	Katakana notation	Kanji mixed notation
Furigana	ふりがな	フリガナ	振り仮名
Yomigana	よみがな	ヨミガナ	読み仮名

 

Furugana is used in cases like the following.

1. The pronunciation of kanji for the personal name which is entered to the document [Official document chiefly.]

In Japan, a lot of kanji with several kinds of pronunciations exists.
Therefore, in the case of the name without Furigana, misreading sometimes occurs.
The existence of Furugana is a Japan's custom to evade such a mistake.

Look at the image of the right side.

This is a common Japanese resume.
<The image expands when clicked.>

The part enclosed with red yen is space for "Furigana".
Pronunciation of each kanji is described here.

Furigana is generally described by the Hiragana or Katakana.

But, there is the case that a description form of Furigana is appointed.

This is my full name.
My first name is Rie, and the last name is Hara.

You should write Furigana right above kanji.

Thus, when the character of "Furigana" is written with Hiragana, you should write Furigana by the hiragana.

And, when the character of "Furigana" is written by the katakana, you should write Furigana by the katakana.

These are Japanese rules.

2. Furigana used for "Publication" of book and textbook, etc.

Japanese has quite a lot of kanji.
Moreover, kanji of Japan has Onyomi and Kunyomi.
The idiom with which those kanji is combined exists innumerably.
Therefore, a lot of kanji that even the Japanese cannot read exists.
Therefore, Furugana is used for the textbook of books, a publication, and a school so that all people can read.

 

3. Furigana used for the purpose which emphasizes the word.

Left image is a name of the Japanese canned beer.
<The image expands when clicked.>

Furigana is put on the kanji of "GOKU-UMA".

"Goku-Uma" is new word expression of Japan with the meaning of "being very nice."

By using Furigana, this is effective in collecting a consumer's eyes.

There is a case where Furigana is used like this.

 

 

Reason why "Furigana" is necessary for Japanese name.

Kanji of Japan has "Onyomi" and "Kunyomi".

Therefore, a lot of Japanese names with the pronunciation of some kinds exist.

Look at the image below.

As for a Japanese name, a first name is located behind a family name. Well, "A" is a Japanese woman's full name. The case of A is a name in which a first name and a last name have two kinds of pronunciation, respectively. Therefore, judging from the combination of the pronunciations, this is a name with four kinds of pronunciations. Others don't know which pronunciation the pronunciation of her full name has. From such reasons, "Furigana" has a very important role.

Next, let's see B. This is a Japanese male's full name. In the case of his name, it has two kinds of pronunciation of a last name, and three kinds of pronunciation of a first name. When others call him by the full name, the probability that is called by a true pronunciation of his name might be very low. His "Hardship in the name" might be serious. Because it is "Name with six kinds of pronunciations". The Japanese should use "Name with a little difficulty" for own child. But, the Japanese these days tends to give a difficult name to own child.

Well, the last C is my full name. To tell the truth, my full name also has two kinds of pronunciation. My first name has two kinds of pronunciations of "Rie and Toshie". A correct pronunciation of my name is "rie". Others don't know it. In a public place like the hospital, I had a lot of unpleasant experiences that had been called "Hara Toshie". But, many of Japanese might have its experience. These are the reasons to which "Furigana" is indispensable for Japan and Japanese people.

 

Thank you for reading till the last.

 

By Hararie

 

 

Role of Okurigana.

 

What is Okurigana?

Okurigana indicates the Hiragana appended to kanji in Japanese written words.
Present Okurigana is universally almost written by the katakana though Okurigana had been written by katakana in the past.

And, generally okurigana used to inflect an adjective or verb.
"Affirmative or negative meaning, or grammatical politeness" in the Japanese sentence is shown by Okurigana.

Look at the image, please.
A red character is the Okurigana.

Okurigna changes when object of act is different even if it is a verb for which same kanji is used.

 

 

Example for which Okurigana is used.

Then, please look at the example.
I use left Japanese sentence as an example.

The meaning of the verb changes variously by okurigna.
You see these sentences, the importance of okurigana will be able to be understood.

[I delimited each part of speech of the Japanese sentence so that you can easily understand the pronunciation of words in Japanese.]

English	Japanese
He learns English.	彼 は 英語 を 学ぶ。 kare wa eigo wo mana-bu.
He learned English.	彼 は 英語 を 学んだ。 kare wa eigo wo mana-nda.
He has learned English.
He had learned English.
He may learns English.	彼 は 英語 を 学ぶ かもしれない。 kare wa eigo wo mana-bu kamoshirenai.
He will learns English.	彼 は 英語 を 学ぶ だろう。 kare wa eigo wo mana-bu darou.
He will be learning English.
He is learning English.	彼 は 英語 を 学んで いる。 kare wa eigo wo mana-nde iru.
He has been learning English.
He was learning English.	彼 は 英語 を 学んで いた。 kare wa eigo wo mana-nde ita.
He had been learning English.	彼 は 英語 を 学び 続けて いた。 kare wa eigo wo mana-bi tsudukete ita.
He will have been learning English.	彼 は 英語 を 学び続ける だろう。 kare wa eigo wo mana-bi tsudukeru darou.

Thus, tense and result by kanji of the verb changes by Okurigana.

[Part of speech that is not okurigna is included in an orange-character if it says strictly.
But, I gave priority to your easy understanding of the change in the verb by Okurigana.]

An additional use of okurigana are to disambiguate kanji that may have multiple readings.
In addition, okurigana accompanies Kunyomi-kanji in many cases.

 

By Hararie

 

 

Role of Onyomi

The two most important words to know about Japanese kanji pronunciation are 音読み(onyomi) and 訓読み(kunyomi).
The Onyomi kanji idiom plays a very wonderful role in sentences of the newspaper and the book.
It is because the Onyomi kanji idiom can adequately express the atmosphere of the scene and hero's feelings by only two characters.

喝望(Katsubou):
The idiom by these two kanji has a deep meaning.
You aspire after water when very thirsty, don't you?
This is kanji idiom where "Someone aspire after something seriously" is expressed.

It is very troublesome in the conversation though the Onyomi kanji idiom can demonstrate the power on the sentence.
There are only a few dozen syllables in the Japanese language, so there can be dozens or hundreds of different kanji that have the same onyomi, which can be really confusing at times.

Demerit of Onyomi kanji idiom.

A Japanese kanji has some kunyomi and a lot of different onyomi.
It means the idiom that consists of only two kanji has the idiom with many different meanings.

信念(shin-nen)[=New year] and 信念(shin-nen)[=Belief].
The pronunciation of these two words in Japanese is quite identical.
But, these meanings are quite different.

Look at a lower table, please.
Each meaning is different though these kanji idioms have some same pronunciations respectively.
Such a kanji idiom exists innumerably in Japanese.

The pronunciation of Japanese people family name is also very confusing.

Onyomi kanji	Pronunciation	Meaning
新年	shinnen	new year
信念	shinnen	belief, faith, conviction, confidence
The pronunciations of these five kanji idioms are all "こうかい(kou-kai)". But, of each has a quite different meaning.
後悔	koukai	regret, repentance, remorse
更改	koukai	renewal, change, reform
紅海	koukai	the Red Sea
黄海	koukai	Huang Hai
公開	koukai	en, public, exhibit, be on display, release
航海	koukai	a voyage, a cruise, a passage
Four kanji idioms of the following are the pronunciations of all of "こうえん(kou-en)". The 2nd and the 4th are kanji idioms with the meaning that looks like but they are different meanings. Perhaps, many Japanese will make a mistake in writing this kanji idiom.
公園	kouen	a park, a square
講演	kouen	a lecture, a speech, a talk
好演	kouen	good acting, an excellent performance
公演	kouen	a public performance, a presentation
A young Japanese might not be able to write these with kanji though four kanji idioms of the following have respectively a quite different meaning. The kanji idiom the 1st and 2 is "Kanji idiom that the Japanese sometimes forgets." And, the kanji idiom the 3rd and 4 is kanji idiom not frequently used in daily life.
紹介	shoukai	introduction
照会	shoukai	an inquiry, a reference
詳解	shoukai	a detailed explanation
商会	shoukai	a firm, a company
All except the fifth kanji idiom are kanji idioms frequently used in daily life. But, most Japanese people will not be able to write these all with kanji immediately. There are many Japanese who cannot write kanji because the sentence making on PC and the cellular phone has increased.
完成	kansei	completion, perfection
歓声	kansei	a cheer, a shout of joy
官製	kansei	government manufactured
閑静	kansei	quiet
管制	kansei	control, censorship
慣性	kansei	inertia
感性	kansei	sensibility, sensibilities

But.

When we do not write kanji for a long term, we forget kanji.
But, it was not deleted from the memory and is "State that has been temporarily forgotten."
The memory returns when we see that kanji.
The memory returns when we hear the pronunciation of that kanji.

 

 

How is the Japanese listening to the kanji idiom with the same pronunciation?

Such a question might have arisen to you.
The answer is this.

• The Japanese is guessing it from the content of the conversation.
• The Japanese judges and guesses by the accent of the word.
  

Therefore, if you say only the Onyomi kanji idiom, the Japanese can't understand the meaning.
There is sometimes a case where the meaning of the Onyomi kanji idiom cannot be understood even if the Japanese talks mutually.
In that case, the Japanese questions that person on the meaning of the word.

Please examine the meaning carefully if you do Kanji TATTOO.

 

 

Bytalk about Japanese Kanji of Hararie

After World War II, the Japanese language moved to a simpler type of reading system, called shinjitai.
Kanji that the penmanship was very complex and difficult was used in Japan of pre World War II.
Some of the original characters were made a little simpler, but most important was that kanji became used somewhat less, and the simpler and easier hiragana syllables were used more.
That simplification took a lot of the blunt memorization and practice out of being able to read words properly.
More recently, some people have wanted to get rid of kanji completely and just use the simpler syllables of hiragana.
Your ardent study might exceed a Japanese kanji ability because the Japanese who cannot write kanji is in the increasing tendency recently.
(This is true. )

 

 

By Hararie

 

 

Japanese has three kinds of characters.

The Japanese alphabet is usually referred to as kana, specifically hiragana and katakana.
And, there is also Kanji.

It's these two writing scripts that comprise the some 100 kana characters that are used to write and pronounce every sound in the Japanese language.
The character resembles a wave that is curved.

This is an infantile education teaching material of "Shichida Institute for Educational Research" of Japan.

A photograph is expanded by click.

 

 

 

 

 

 

hiragana syllabary is used to write word endings and japanese words, replacing the kanji if the kanji is not widely known or the readers are children.
It can also be used alongside kanji to indicate its pronunciation.

Japanese children study this "hiragana and katakana" first.

This photograph is the lesson scenery of the "Tanihara elementary school" of Tokyo.

A photograph is expanded by click.

Well, the topic is returned to the hiragana.

Thus any Japanese word can be written in a way that can be read without having to remember how the word is pronounced.

 

Kanji has thousands of kind of characters.

This system of writing is quite complex as it consists of many thousands of characters, and thus a mastery of it would involve a mastery of Japanese itself.

One thing is for certain is that learning the kana becomes easier the more you associate mnemonics with each character.
In time, learning both the alphabets will become an easy task that you can easily fulfill.