Do you need to learn these kanji? Photo by Alex Knight on Unsplash
Originally posted on Medium here.
Kanji, hiragana, katakana, romaji. The Japanese language uses four writing systems. (Five if you count emoji, a Japanese invention.)
Hiragana and katakana are syllabaries — each character represents a phoneme rather than a word or semantic unit. They are relatively easy to learn; both syllabaries contain about 50 characters, and the character-to-phoneme mapping is consistent.
Romaji is the Japanese name for the Latin alphabet. The issue of whether beginner Japanese learners should learn in hiragana or in romaji is a perennial and nuanced one.
In this article I’m going to explore the same issue, but in the case of kanji.
What are kanji?
Kanji are complex characters which represent words and semantic units. Each character has a separate meaning, and they can combine to create other meanings. They were imported into Japan from China, adapted to fit the Japanese language, and in many cases altered and simplified along the way.
You can see how kanji, hiragana and katakana are used in written Japanese here.
Unsurprisingly, learning to read and write kanji is tough. They are composed of many lines (called “strokes”), and each one has a specific stroke order. To be considered literate you need to know all 2,000 or so of the officially designated “daily use” kanji, which typically takes Japanese students until they are about 16 years old. In addition to this there are other kanji which are not on the list of “daily use” kanji, but which are used in common words and are therefore useful to know. On top of this there are kanji which occur frequently in place names and personal names.
With this in mind, when should Japanese learners start learning kanji? And if you’re just learning for a short trip to Japan, do you even need to bother at all?
Kanji, holistically
I propose approaching kanji from a different angle.
Kanji are not just some fancy add-on to Japanese. Rather, they are an integral part of the Japanese language; their use intersects both semantics and phonetics. This means that understanding kanji (and more crucially, understanding how kanji work and their role within the Japanese language), can provide meaningful insights to aid comprehension.
If you approach kanji study in the right way, it is not some meaningless never-ending chore. Instead, it can greatly help with vocabulary and pronunciation memorisation, as well as understanding everyday Japanese, both written and spoken.
Even for those who are learning just a little Japanese for a short trip to Japan, a little relevant kanji knowledge, applied in the right context, can go a long way to increasing your understanding, and thus increasing your enjoyment of your time in Japan.
In this article I’m going to focus soley on kanji’s role in understanding written Japanese. In a future article I will examine kanji’s connection toJapanese pronunciation.
“Tourist” kanji
For even a short stay in Japan, some kanji are useful to know.
- Place names
You’ll often see the same kanji appearing in place names. They’re often relatively simple, such as 山 (mountain) and 川 (river). It’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the kanji of the main places you’ll be travelling to.
You can find out more about kanji in Japanese place names here.
2. Numbers
Japan uses Arabic numerals but sometimes you will see prices written in kanji.
O = 0, ー = 1, 二 = 2, 三 = 3, 四 = 4, 五 = 5, 六 = 6, 七 = 7, 八 = 8, 九 = 9, 十 = 10, 百 = 100, 千 = 1,000, 万 = 10,000
“Yen” is sometimes written in kanji (円) rather than ¥.
3. Toilet kanji
Public toilets are referred to as お手洗い, トイレ, or 化粧室.
男 = men, 女 = women
Toilets get their own section because many Japanese public toilets come with numerous features to make your experience more pleasant. These include a bidet, a heated toilet seat, and music to disguise any unpleasant sounds. You can find more information, including a list of the kanji for the various features here.
4. Other useful kanji
入口 = entrance, 出口 = exit
駅 = train station, 電車 = train, 地下鉄 = underground train
押 = push, 引 = pull
会計 = please pay here (sometimes “¥” is used instead)
受付 = reception
開 = open, 閉 = close
呼 = call (for service, etc)
税込 = tax included, 税別 = tax not included
営業中 = open for business, 休業 = closed, 準備中 = closed but will open later
〒 = post office (technically not a kanji, but a very common symbol)
現地 = this location (used on maps)
水 water (cold), 湯 hot water
Kanji — not just “scribbles”
In his TEDx talk, polyglot Sid Efromovich recommends that language learners should “scrap the foreign alphabet” and focus on speaking and listening. For languages with writing systems different from that of your native language, just forget it. The mere sight of these foreign “scribbles” will send your brain into a melt-down, thus rendering you incapable of learning anything.
Aside from doing a great disservice to the many intelligent people who study Japanese, this assessment overlooks one of the fundamental features of kanji: their structure.
Anyone who has taken more than a cursory glance can see that kanji are not just “scribbles”. They are made of smaller component parts (called “radicals”) which are organised in a regular way.
1. 木
Imagine you’re in the izakaya (Japanese style pub — a must on any trip to Japan) and you see this on the menu:
梅酒
If you examine the first kanji you can see that on the left side is a thin version of the kanji for tree: 木. This is the “tree radical” and is common in kanji for trees and (most crucially for izakaya customers) fruit.
On the left side of the second kanji there are three short lines. This is the “water radical”, and is often used in kanji for liquids, such as drinks.
We can deduce that this is probably a fruit-based drink, and we would be right: it’s umeshu, often translated as “plum liqueur”, and is a must-try for those who enjoy sweet alcohol.
As you have probably guessed, the first kanji is ume, a plum-like fruit. The second kanji is saké, which refers to any type of alcohol, and I suggest learning this kanji because you are going to encounter it a lot in bars and restaurants.
2. 魚
Let’s look at another example. You’re still in the izakaya and you see this on the menu:
鰻
On the left side is a thin version of the fish kanji: 魚. So even without knowing the whole kanji, we know it’s a kind of seafood. (It’s an eel.)
3. 火
One further example is the kanji below, which means “grilled”.
焼
You’ll see it a lot on restaurant signs for お好み焼き (okonomiyaki, a pancake-like dish containing many ingredients), たこ焼き (takoyaki, grilled octopus dumplings), たい焼き (taiyaki, grilled fish-shaped cakes, usually containing sweet bean paste), 焼きそば (yakisoba, fried soba noodles), and many others.
If you look at the left side of this kanji, you can see that it contains the radical version of this kanji: 火, meaning “fire”. This radical appears in a lot of words connected with food:
炒 = stir-fried, 炊 = boiled (used for rice), 炭 = charcoal (often used to describe barbecue-style cooking).
There are many other kanji radicals, which often provide strong hints to the meaning.
To learn more about radicals and how they combine to form kanji, The Kanji Map has fantastic pictorial explanations.
Kanji combos
Many Japanese nouns are made of a combination of more than one kanji.
As kanji radicals can give you a hint to the meaning of the whole kanji, individual kanji can give you a hint to the meaning of the word:
入 = come in, 出 = go out, 口 = mouth
入口 = entrance
出口 = exit
Sometimes it’s more than a hint; it is very obvious:
女 = female 子 = child
女子 = girl
火 = fire 山 = mountain
火山 = volcano
金 = gold (or money) 玉 = ball(s)
金玉 is a slang word for testicles 😉
Even the Japanese name for “Japan”:
日 = sun 本 = origin
日本 = the origin of the sun, or “Land of the Rising Sun”
Studying kanji
I’m not suggesting that all Japanese learners learn to read and write every single kanji, or every single radical. In fact, I strongly suggest not doing that.
Instead I suggest thinking clearly about your language goals, deciding exactly what you want to do in Japanese, and considering if or how kanji can help you with this. This will give you an idea of where you need to apply your study efforts.
Maybe you’re planning a trip to Japan and you know that you’ll be dining out most nights. Check out some Japanese restaurant menus online, identify the most common kanji, and you’ll be well prepared.
Perhaps you want to be able to recognise and read kanji in context. Reading articles in Japanese is excellent practice. News Web Easy on the NHK website has short articles specially designed for Japanese learners, with all the kanji plus a pronunciation guide.
If you really want to get to grips with kanji and study them individually, WaniKani is a great resource which teaches and tests your recognition of kanji and kanji compounds.
If you’re in it for the long haul and it’s important to be able to both read andwrite kanji, try Skritter. It’s an app which checks your kanji writing ability, including stroke order.
In conclusion
Kanji are complex, fascinating, and intersect with many other aspects of Japanese culture such as art, literature, spirituality and history. There is no way that I can do justice to this beautiful writing system in just one article.
Hence, this article is intended merely as a very brief introduction to the features of kanji and how a little kanji knowledge can aid in understanding written Japanese.
What are your thoughts?
How has studying kanji helped your Japanese language learning?
Do you have any favourite kanji study methods?
Calligraphy by Vicky 