Big in Japan: 15 Japanese characters that you can learn today

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10-18-2008 @ 5:54AM

Mark Gilbert said...

Why do you give two Japanese words for each Kanji character? Like kai and umi?
Cheers,
Mark Gilbert

10-18-2008 @ 1:19AM

Japanese Kanji have different readings: on'yomi and kun'yomi. On'yomi are the Chinese readings, while kun'yomi are the Japanese. Kanji can have multiple readings, and which one you use is dependent on the context of the word and sentence. Usually it's the kun'yomi for proper names and for words with a single character, while the on'yomi is used for compound words, but there aren't any set rules. Like the word for Sunday is 日曜日-nichi yo bi where the same kanji is pronounced two different ways in the same word!

10-18-2008 @ 5:57AM

Matthew Firestone said...

Francesca is absolutely correct!!

In the case of Kai and Umi, here are two examples:

1) 海 - This character is read as 'umi,' which by itself means simply 'sea.'

2) 東海 - These characters are read as 'toukai,' which means 'East Sea.'

If this is confusing, don't worry as even Japanese people have problems sometimes with knowing which way to read the characters!!

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