{"id":3736,"date":"2019-03-28T21:49:59","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T21:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/?p=3736"},"modified":"2021-12-30T07:11:27","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T07:11:27","slug":"japanese-kanji-easy-guess-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/japanese-kanji-easy-guess-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Reasons Why Kanji is Easier than English Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"japanese-kanji-words\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you think Japanese Kanji(\u6f22\u5b57) is too complicated and hard to memorise?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that there are uncountable Kanjis and each Kanji has multiple pronunciations, but there are also numerous English vocabulary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Kanji is easier to understand the meaning than English vocabulary. You cannot believe it?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Continue to read the post!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Basic Vocabulary and Advanced Vocabulary<\/h3>\n

In each language, there are always easy basic vocabulary and advanced vocabulary like technical terms which are difficult to understand for ordinary people.<\/p>\n

For example, many medical terms are used only by the doctor or other specialists on medical field.<\/p>\n

In English, the origin of advanced vocabulary is often Latin or Greek.<\/p>\n

If you hear or see these words for the first time, you have no idea of the meanings normally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Japanese, Kanji has two types of pronunciation, Japanese origin pronunciation and Chinese origin pronunciation.<\/p>\n

In general, Chinese origin pronunciation is used for the advanced vocabulary.<\/p>\n

So if Japanese people HEAR these words for the first time, it\u2019s had for them to guess the meaning as it’s Chinese origin pronunciation. It’s like Latin origin English.<\/p>\n

However, if they SEE the words, they can get the basic meaning roughly even if they don\u2019t know how to read them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Here are the examples of advanced vocabulary.<\/p>\n

apivorous \/ \u8702\u98df\u6027 (h\u014dshokusei)<\/p>\n

ornithology \/ \u9ce5\u985e\u5b66 (ch\u014druigaku)<\/p>\n

hydrophobia \/ \u6050\u6c34\u75c5 (ky\u014dsuiby\u014d)<\/p>\n

pithecanthropus \/ \u733f\u4eba (enjin)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you understand the meaning of any words in English?<\/p>\n

Try to ask the meaning to your Japanese friends by reading Romaji inside brackets! Probably they cannot answer them.<\/p>\n

After that, show them Kanji above and ask it again. Normally they can explain you the meaning roughly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. Two Ways of Pronunciation Helps to Guess the Meaning<\/h3>\n

Why Japanese can guess the meaning of advanced vocabulary by seeing Kanji?<\/p>\n

The point is Kanji has two ways of pronunciation as explained above.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chinese origin pronunciation is used in advanced vocabulary, and Japanese origin pronunciation is used in daily life for the same Kanji.<\/p>\n

So people know the meaning of each Kanji and they can describe the meaning in Japanese origin pronunciation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see the examples again.<\/p>\n

<apivorous: feeding on bees, as some birds.><\/p>\n

If you see each character of Kanji of \u201c\u8702\u98df\u6027\u201d,<\/p>\n

\u8702(h\u014d) = bee \u00a0> \u8702(hachi)<\/p>\n

\u98df(shoku) = eat > \u98df\u3079\u308b(ta-beru)<\/p>\n

\u6027(sei) = nature > \u6027\u8cea(seishitsu)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All three characters are used often in daly life although they are pronounced in Japanese way most of the time. They are all basic vocabulary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Same for other three examples.<\/p>\n

<ornithology: the scientific study of birds.><\/p>\n

\u201c\u9ce5\u985e\u5b66\u201d<\/p>\n

\u9ce5(ch\u014d) = bird > \u9ce5(tori)<\/p>\n

\u985e(rui) = group > \u985e(tagui)<\/p>\n

\u5b66(gaku) = study > \u5b66\u3076(mana-bu)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<hydrophobia: extreme or irrational fear of water, especially as a symptom of rabies in humans.><\/p>\n

\u201c\u6050\u6c34\u75c5\u201d<\/p>\n

\u6050(ky\u014d) = fear > \u6050\u308b(osore-ru)<\/p>\n

\u6c34(sui) = water > \u6c34(mizu)<\/p>\n

\u75c5(by\u014d) = sickness > \u75c5(yamai) or \u75c5\u6c17(by\u014dki)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<pithecanthropus: a former genus name applied to some fossil hominids found in Java in 1891.><\/p>\n

\u201c\u733f\u4eba\u201d<\/p>\n

\u733f(en) = monkey, ape > \u733f(saru)<\/p>\n

\u4eba(jin) = human > \u4eba(hito)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it easy to guess the meanings in Japanese?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. Bushu(\u90e8\u9996) Helps to Guess the Meaning<\/h3>\n

When you see the complicated Kanji for the first time, don\u2019t be depressed!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Complicated Kanjis consist of some small parts and one of them is a smallest unit called Bushu(\u90e8\u9996) which is radial of Kanji.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bushu shows the concept (important element) of that word.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, if the Kanji has the Bushu of \u6c35(sanzui), the wold is related to water most of the time. Similarly, Bushu of \u9b5a for fish, and \u706b for fire.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Examples:<\/p>\n

\u6c35\uff1a\u6c60 \u6d77 \u6cb3 \u6e56 \u6cf3 \u6f5c \u6c57 \u6d99 \u6edd \u6c5f \u6d2a \u6e2f > All related to WATER<\/p>\n

\u9b5a\uff1a\u9bad \u9baa \u9bd6 \u9c48 \u9c2f \u9bc9 \u9bdb \u9c3b \u9c52 \u9c39 \u9ba8 \u9c57 > All related to FISH<\/p>\n

\u706b\uff1a\u7159 \u713c \u7092 \u71c3 \u708a \u706f \u707c \u71ed \u7089 \u70ac \u7119 \u71fb > All related to FIRE<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So even if you see the Kanji for the first time, you can guess the meaning roughly.<\/p>\n

When Bushu is \u9b5a, maybe it\u2019s a name of fish.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. Combination of Words Helps to Guess the Meaning<\/h3>\n

Another type of words which you can guess the meaning is vocabulary consist of \u201ccombination of words.<\/p>\n

For example, \u201c\u8840\u201d means \u201cblood\u201d and all vocabulary below includes \u201c\u8840\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u8840\u6813\u3001\u51fa\u8840\u3001\u6b62\u8840\u3001\u5145\u8840\u3001\u8ca7\u8840\u3001\u00a0\u767d\u8840\u75c5\u3001\u767d\u8840\u7403\u3001\u8d64\u8840\u7403\u3001\u00a0\u9020\u8840\u3001\u8840\u5c0f\u677f\u3001\u8840\u6e05\u3001\u8840\u9905<\/p>\n

(meaning: thrombus,\u00a0 <\/span>hemorrhage, homeostasis, hyperemia, anemia, leukemia, leucocyte, erythrocyte, sangufication, platelet, serum, cruor)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even if you don\u2019t know the whole meaning of vocabulary, you can guess the meaning in Japanese.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, it\u2019s hard to know the meaning of all these vocabulary in English if you are not doctor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now you start to believe that the advanced vocabulary in Japanese is easier than the one in English?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to learn Kanji!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s learn a new language today! Join us at LingoCards<\/a>!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

reference: \u9234\u6728\u5b5d\u592b\u300c\u65e5\u672c\u8a9e\u3068\u5916\u56fd\u8a9e\u300d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you think Japanese Kan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[432,428,31],"tags":[314],"class_list":["post-3736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alphabet-scripts-characters-writing","category-easy-language-learning-tips-technique","category-japanese","tag-characters","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3736"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3745,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3736\/revisions\/3745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lingo-apps.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}