144     2480    2624    2336    4960    5509    10469   4535    15004   4297    19301   3074    22375   5869    28244   4170    32414   2846    <!DOCTYPE html>
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        <div class="chapter_number">Chapter 42</div>
        <div class="chapter_name">Kanji</div>
        <div class="blurb">Kanji are, without
a doubt, the most feared and revered part of the Japanese language. Unlike the
straightforward syllabaries, kanji do
not work according to a simple pattern. It takes years of careful study and
practice to learn them. And even when you know many hundreds of them, you will
still encounter new ones regularly.</div>
        <div><img src="divider@2x.png" class="divider" /></div>

<p class="bodycopy">If you&rsquo;re an English speaker, however, there is reason for
hope. English has its own equivalent of kanji
in its arbitrary spelling system. For example, consider the words &ldquo;vague,&rdquo;
&ldquo;indict,&rdquo; and &ldquo;colonel.&rdquo; The spelling of these words doesn&rsquo;t tell you very much
about the correct pronunciation. In fact, it actually leads you
astray.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">We English speakers have learned hundreds or thousands of
odd spellings, which we must simply commit to memory. So the fact that you&rsquo;re
able to muddle your way through English spelling should help persuade you that
it&rsquo;s possible to learn kanji, too,
because essentially kanji are just
&ldquo;spellings&rdquo; for words that you must memorize.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">When we talk about kanji,
we are, of course, talking about Chinese characters that have been imported
into the Japanese language. Recall from my introduction to the Japanese writing
system that the Chinese brought their characters to Japan roughly 1600 years
ago, and that the Japanese were so enthralled by the concept that they adopted
them into their own language.</p>


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<p class="bodycopy">Eventually, kanji
        formed the basis for hiragana and katakana, but not before becoming firmly
        entrenched into the hearts and minds of the Japanese (at least the people in
        power). Today, Japanese is written using a mixture of hiragana, katakana, and kanji.</p>

        <div class="illustration_box_full_width">
            <div class="illustration_stroke_nocaption"><img id="figures_kanji_highlighted" src="figures_kanji_highlighted@2x.png" class="illustration_image_nocaption" /></div>
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<p class="bodycopy">To be fully literate and understand newspaper articles about
        politics and the economy, the knowledge of about 2000 characters is required.
        However, the first 1000 characters will grant you access to a lot of reading
        material, including manga and magazines. So although the challenge is daunting,
        it is not insurmountable.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">It should be clear from the foregoing that an introductory
        textbook on Japanese is not the place to attack kanji. However, I would like to show you how they work so that if
        and when you&rsquo;re ready to tackle them, you&rsquo;ll know what to expect.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">The simplest way to start out is to learn a few characters

and talk through how they work. Let&rsquo;s start out with the easiest character of

all, the character for the number one, <i>ichi</i>.</p>


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                <div class="kanji_character_box">
                    <video id="player" ontouchend="toggleVideoPlayback();" class="kanji_character" playsinline="" webkit-playsinline="">
                        <source src="1.mp4" type='video/mp4; codecs="avc1.4D401E, mp4a.40.2"'/>
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                <div class="kanji_strokes">1 stroke</div>
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                    <div class="kanji_divider">&nbsp;</div>
                    <div class="kanji_info">
                        <div class="kanji_heading">Meaning</div>
                        <div class="kanji_copy">One</div>

                        <div class="kanji_heading">On-yomi</div>
                        <div class="kanji_copy"><span class="nw">いち</span></div>
                        <div class="kanji_heading">Kun-yomi</div>
                        <div class="kanji_copy"><span class="nw">ひと<span class="kanji_okurigana"><span class="kanji_okurigana_parenthesis">(</span>つ<span class="kanji_okurigana_parenthesis">)</span></span></span></div>
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        <p style="clear:both;height:0px;"></p>



<p class="bodycopy">This one character, all by itself, represents the word <i>ichi</i>. If you were writing a sentence and
        needed the word <i>ichi</i>, you could write
        this character instead of the hiragana
        characters you would normally use. Here&rsquo;s an example:</p>

        <div class="example">
            <div class="example_bar_and_copy">
                <div class="example_icon" onclick="showIngredients('ingredients-kanji-100');"><img class="example_icon_image" src="ingredients@2x.png" /></div>
                <div class="example_copy">
                    <div class="example_japanese correct_japanese" id="s765" onclick="playSound('Kanji_raigetsu-wa-ichigatsu-desu');" ontouchstart="turnOn('s765');" ontouchend="turnOff('s765');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('s765');"><span class="nw">らいげつは　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw">一がつ　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw">です。</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"></span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /></div>
                    
                    <div class="example_translation"><span class="example_translation_show" id="b765" onclick="showTranslation('b765', 't765');" ontouchstart="turnOn('b765');" ontouchend="turnOff('b765');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('b765');">(show translation)</span><span id="t765" style="display:none;">Next month is January.</span></div>
                </div>
            </div>

        </div>
        <p style="clear:both;height:0px;"></p>


<p class="bodycopy">Since not everyone in Japan can read kanji, sometimes written material intended for younger audiences
        will have the readings written above the kanji.
        This is called <i>furigana</i>, and it looks
        something like this:</p>

        <div class="example">
            <div class="example_bar_and_copy">
                <div class="example_icon" onclick="showIngredients('ingredients-kanji-110');"><img class="example_icon_image" src="ingredients@2x.png" /></div>
                <div class="example_copy">
                    <div class="example_japanese correct_japanese" id="s766" onclick="playSound('Kanji_raigetsu-wa-ichigatsu-desu');" ontouchstart="turnOn('s766');" ontouchend="turnOff('s766');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('s766');"><span class="nw">らいげつは　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"><ruby>一<rt><img src="spacer@2x.png" />いち</rt></ruby>がつ　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw">です。</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"></span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /></div>
                    
                    <div class="example_translation"><span class="example_translation_show" id="b766" onclick="showTranslation('b766', 't766');" ontouchstart="turnOn('b766');" ontouchend="turnOff('b766');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('b766');">(show translation)</span><span id="t766" style="display:none;">Next month is January.</span></div>
                </div>
            </div>

        </div>
        <p style="clear:both;height:0px;"></p>



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<p class="bodycopy">Now, as you can see, the kanji
        
for <i>ichi</i> appears to simply be a more
        
efficient way of representing the word. It looks pretty cost-effective, right?
        
Why waste two characters when you can write something in only one? 
If kanji worked in this way, they would be
        
cumbersome, but at least straightforward. Unfortunately, Japanese has another
        
curveball in store for us.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Most kanji have
        
multiple pronunciations. This is a result of the fact that when the Chinese
        
brought their characters over, they all originally had Chinese pronunciations.
        
So the Japanese decided to keep the Chinese pronunciation (or as close an
        
approximation as they could muster) and then add a Japanese one. In Japanese,
        
these two readings are called the <i>on-yomi</i>
        
and the <i>kun-yomi</i>, respectively.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Let&rsquo;s see it at work in our friend <i>ichi</i>.</p>

        <div class="example">
            <div class="example_bar_and_copy">
                <div class="example_icon" onclick="showIngredients('ingredients-kanji-120');"><img class="example_icon_image" src="ingredients@2x.png" /></div>
                <div class="example_copy">
                    <div class="example_japanese correct_japanese" id="s767" onclick="playSound('Kanji_ringo-ga-hitotsu-arimasu');" ontouchstart="turnOn('s767');" ontouchend="turnOff('s767');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('s767');"><span class="nw">りんごが　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"><ruby>一<rt><img src="spacer@2x.png" />ひと</rt></ruby>つ　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw">あります。</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"></span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /></div>
                    
                    <div class="example_translation"><span class="example_translation_show" id="b767" onclick="showTranslation('b767', 't767');" ontouchstart="turnOn('b767');" ontouchend="turnOff('b767');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('b767');">(show translation)</span><span id="t767" style="display:none;">There is one apple.</span></div>
                </div>
            </div>

        </div>
        <p style="clear:both;height:0px;"></p>


<p class="bodycopy">Since <i>hitotsu</i> is
        the <i>tsu</i>-number for &ldquo;one thing,&rdquo; it
        makes sense that this kanji is used
        to represent this word. Notice that the kanji
        doesn&rsquo;t &ldquo;contain&rdquo; the entire word, but only part of it, requiring hiragana at the end to complete the
        word. The hiragana that comes out of
        the end of a kanji character to
        complete the <i>kun-yomi</i> is called <i>okurigana</i>. The presence of <i>okurigana</i> is a tip-off that you need to
        use the <i>kun-yomi</i> (<i>hitotsu</i>) instead of the <i>on-yomi</i> (<i>ichi</i>).</p>

<p class="bodycopy">So for each kanji
        
you learn, you must learn two readings. As a general rule, the <i>on-yomi</i> is used when the character is a
        
part of a compound, and the <i>kun-yomi</i>
        
is used when the character is forming a word all on its own. For example, the
        
word for January, <i>ichi-gatsu</i>, is a
        
compound made up of two characters: <i>ichi</i>
        
and <i>gatsu</i> (<i>gatsu</i> is the <i>on-yomi</i> for
        
a character that means &ldquo;moon&rdquo; or &ldquo;month&rdquo;). On the other hand, <i>hitotsu</i> is a stand-alone word that means
        
something all on its own. There are exceptions to this, but it is true 90%
        
of the time.</p>

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<p class="bodycopy">Let&rsquo;s learn another character to continue to explore how
        
this multiple pronunciation thing works. Here&rsquo;s the character for &ldquo;moon.&rdquo;</p>

        <div class="kanji_container">
            <div class="kanji_container_left">
                <div class="kanji_character_box">
                    <video id="player" ontouchend="toggleVideoPlayback();" class="kanji_character" playsinline="" webkit-playsinline="">
                        <source src="moon-getsu.mp4" type='video/mp4; codecs="avc1.4D401E, mp4a.40.2"'/>
                    </video>
                </div>
                <div class="kanji_strokes">4 strokes</div>
            </div>
            <div class="kanji_container_right">
                <div class="kanji_divider_copy">
                    <div class="kanji_divider">&nbsp;</div>
                    <div class="kanji_info">
                        <div class="kanji_heading">Meaning</div>
                        <div class="kanji_copy">Moon, month</div>

                        <div class="kanji_heading">On-yomi</div>
                        <div class="kanji_copy"><span class="nw">げつ</span>、 <span class="nw">がつ</span></div>
                        <div class="kanji_heading">Kun-yomi</div>
                        <div class="kanji_copy"><span class="nw">つき</span></div>
                    </div>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
        <p style="clear:both;height:0px;"></p>

<p class="bodycopy">All on its own, to mean the word &ldquo;moon,&rdquo; this character is
        pronounced <i>tsuki</i>. That is the <i>kun-yomi</i>. In compounds such as <i>ichi-gatsu</i>, its <i>on-yomi</i> is used. This character happens to have two very similar <i>on-yomi</i>, <i>getsu</i> and <i>gatsu</i>. In order
        to determine the right pronunciation, you have to determine what word it is
        appearing in. Here is an example:</p>

        <div class="example">
            <div class="example_bar_and_copy">
                <div class="example_icon" onclick="showIngredients('ingredients-kanji-130');"><img class="example_icon_image" src="ingredients@2x.png" /></div>
                <div class="example_copy">
                    <div class="example_japanese correct_japanese" id="s768" onclick="playSound('Kanji_raigetsu-wa-ichigatsu-desu');" ontouchstart="turnOn('s768');" ontouchend="turnOff('s768');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('s768');"><span class="nw"><ruby>来月<rt><img src="spacer@2x.png" />らいげつ</rt></ruby>は　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"><ruby>一月<rt><img src="spacer@2x.png" />いちがつ</rt></ruby>　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw">です。</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"></span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /></div>
                    
                    <div class="example_translation"><span class="example_translation_show" id="b768" onclick="showTranslation('b768', 't768');" ontouchstart="turnOn('b768');" ontouchend="turnOff('b768');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('b768');">(show translation)</span><span id="t768" style="display:none;">Next month is January.</span></div>
                </div>
            </div>

        </div>
        <p style="clear:both;height:0px;"></p>



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<p class="bodycopy">Notice that the same character is read two different ways in
        two different places. That&rsquo;s because in the first instance, it&rsquo;s appearing as a
        part of the word &ldquo;next month,&rdquo; which is <i>raigetsu</i>.
        In the second instance, it is clearly part of the compound for &ldquo;January,&rdquo; which
        is <i>ichigatsu</i>. Ultimately, the kanji is just a coded way of indicating
        a word, and the word dictates the pronunciation.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Let&rsquo;s see an example with the <i>kun-yomi</i>.</p>

        <div class="example">
            <div class="example_bar_and_copy">
                <div class="example_icon" onclick="showIngredients('ingredients-kanji-140');"><img class="example_icon_image" src="ingredients@2x.png" /></div>
                <div class="example_copy">
                    <div class="example_japanese correct_japanese" id="s769" onclick="playSound('Kanji_raigetsu-tsuki-wa-kirei-deshou');" ontouchstart="turnOn('s769');" ontouchend="turnOff('s769');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('s769');"><span class="nw"><ruby>来月<rt><img src="spacer@2x.png" />らいげつ</rt></ruby>、</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"><ruby>月<rt><img src="spacer@2x.png" />つき</rt></ruby>は　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw">きれい　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw">でしょう。</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"></span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /></div>
                    
                    <div class="example_translation"><span class="example_translation_show" id="b769" onclick="showTranslation('b769', 't769');" ontouchstart="turnOn('b769');" ontouchend="turnOff('b769');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('b769');">(show translation)</span><span id="t769" style="display:none;">Next month, the moon will be pretty.</span></div>
                </div>
            </div>

        </div>
        <p style="clear:both;height:0px;"></p>


<p class="bodycopy">Here, the second instance of the character stands alone. It
        is indicating the word &ldquo;moon,&rdquo; so it gets the <i>kun-yomi</i> pronunciation.</p>


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        <div class="kanji_container">
            <div class="kanji_container_left">
                <div class="kanji_character_box">
                    <video id="player" ontouchend="toggleVideoPlayback();" class="kanji_character" playsinline="" webkit-playsinline="">
                        <source src="go-iku.mp4" type='video/mp4; codecs="avc1.4D401E, mp4a.40.2"'/>
                    </video>
                </div>
                <div class="kanji_strokes">6 strokes</div>
            </div>
            <div class="kanji_container_right">
                <div class="kanji_divider_copy">
                    <div class="kanji_divider">&nbsp;</div>
                    <div class="kanji_info">
                        <div class="kanji_heading">Meaning</div>
                        <div class="kanji_copy">To go</div>

                        <div class="kanji_heading">On-yomi</div>
                        <div class="kanji_copy"><span class="nw">こう</span></div>
                        <div class="kanji_heading">Kun-yomi</div>
                        <div class="kanji_copy"><span class="nw">い<span class="kanji_okurigana"><span class="kanji_okurigana_parenthesis">(</span>きます<span class="kanji_okurigana_parenthesis">)</span></span></span></div>
                    </div>
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
        <p style="clear:both;height:0px;"></p>

<p class="bodycopy">One more type of kanji
        
is the kind for verbs. Let&rsquo;s look at the character for <i>ikimasu</i>.	
        
When used as a verb, this character requires a great deal of
        
<i>okurigana</i>. Here is an example
 sentence:</p>

        <div class="example">
            <div class="example_bar_and_copy">
                <div class="example_icon" onclick="showIngredients('ingredients-kanji-1500');"><img class="example_icon_image" src="ingredients@2x.png" /></div>
                <div class="example_copy">
                    <div class="example_japanese correct_japanese" id="s770" onclick="playSound('Kanji_raigetsu-nihon-ni-ikimasu');" ontouchstart="turnOn('s770');" ontouchend="turnOff('s770');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('s770');"><span class="nw"><ruby>来月<rt><img src="spacer@2x.png" />らいげつ</rt></ruby>、</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw">にほんに　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"><ruby>行<rt><img src="spacer@2x.png" />い</rt></ruby>きます。</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"></span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /></div>
                    
                    <div class="example_translation"><span class="example_translation_show" id="b770" onclick="showTranslation('b770', 't770');" ontouchstart="turnOn('b770');" ontouchend="turnOff('b770');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('b770');">(show translation)</span><span id="t770" style="display:none;">Next month, I will go to Japan.</span></div>
                </div>
            </div>

        </div>
        <p style="clear:both;height:0px;"></p>


<p class="bodycopy">As you can see, the kanji
        
doesn&rsquo;t save you any characters this time, since it &ldquo;contains&rdquo; only the <i>i</i> from <i>ikimasu</i>.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Here&rsquo;s a sentence showcasing both readings:</p>

        <div class="example">
            <div class="example_bar_and_copy">
                <div class="example_icon" onclick="showIngredients('ingredients-kanji-1600');"><img class="example_icon_image" src="ingredients@2x.png" /></div>
                <div class="example_copy">
                    <div class="example_japanese correct_japanese" id="s771" onclick="playSound('Kanji_hikouki-de-ikimashita');" ontouchstart="turnOn('s771');" ontouchend="turnOff('s771');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('s771');"><span class="nw"><ruby>飛行機<rt><img src="spacer@2x.png" />ひこうき</rt></ruby>で　</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"><ruby>行<rt><img src="spacer@2x.png" />い</rt></ruby>きました。</span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /><span class="nw"></span><img src="spacer@2x.png" width="0" /></div>
                    
                    <div class="example_translation"><span class="example_translation_show" id="b771" onclick="showTranslation('b771', 't771');" ontouchstart="turnOn('b771');" ontouchend="turnOff('b771');" ontouchcancel="turnOff('b771');">(show translation)</span><span id="t771" style="display:none;">I went by plane.</span></div>
                </div>
            </div>

        </div>
        <p style="clear:both;height:0px;"></p>


<p class="bodycopy"><i>Hikouki</i> is, you&rsquo;ll
        recall, the word for &ldquo;airplane.&rdquo; It is a three-character compound, of which the
        second character is the one for &ldquo;go.&rdquo; (The three characters mean, in order,
        &ldquo;fly-go-machine.&rdquo;)</p>


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        <div class="subheading_level_2">Next steps</div>

<p class="bodycopy">And that is, in a nutshell, how kanji work. But how does one go about learning them?</p>

<p class="bodycopy">
        When I was studying kanji as a high school student in Japan, I did it the old fashioned way.
        I bought a book that contained all of the <i>jouyou</i> (&ldquo;daily use&rdquo;) kanji and simply worked through it, one character at a time.
        I would study each character, filling up several lines in a ruled notebook writing it dozens of times while repeating its readings out loud.
       These notebooks became my pencil lead-smudged trophies, tattered evidence of a hard-fought battle. 
       Every day, I would also review the kanji I had learned the previous day, week, and month.
</p>

<p class="bodycopy">This is the hard way of learning kanji. And it only addresses part of the problem.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">
The real challenge with kanji is the chicken-and-egg aspect. In order to make kanji your own, you can&rsquo;t merely memorize them
in the vaccuum of a kanji dictionary. You need to start reading them
in actual sentences. But in the beginning, almost every sentence you encounter will contain lots of kanji you don&rsquo;t yet know! 
When I was first starting, it would take me an hour or more to slog through a single paragraph of text, 
laboriously looking up each character I hadn&rsquo;t yet learned, and hoping that I could make sense of the grammar once I had looked them all up.
As crazy as this sounds, it&rsquo;s actually pretty effective because after you look up the same character a few times,
you start to remember it, even before you&rsquo;ve formally met it. But surely in this day and age, there must be a better way.
</p>

<p class="bodycopy">
The approach we take in 

    
                <a href="hj://internal/?method=buttonPress&code=launch_human_japanese_intermediate_app_store">Human Japanese Intermediate</a>,
            
 
the sequel to this app, is to present five characters at a time
at the end of each chapter, a bit like we learned hiragana and katakana in this one. For each character, there are animations, writing tips, 
example sentences, and lots of discussion. Then, critically, once you&rsquo;ve learned a character, 
it starts showing up in future example sentences instead of the hiragana equivalent.
</p> 

<p class="bodycopy">
This approach solves the chicken-and-egg problem because the app chooses to represent each word
in either kanji or hiragana <em>based on which characters you&rsquo;ve learned at that point in the text</em>.
Since the lessons are integrated with grammar and vocab, we can ensure that <em>every sentence uses 
only grammar, vocab, and kanji that you already know</em>.
The idea is to give you a gently gradated ramp as you get started with your studies. 
If this sounds interesting to you, please check out the app.
</p>

<p class="bodycopy">
I won&rsquo;t lie to you. Gaining a mastery of kanji is challenging. But as one foreigner
to another, I can assure you that it is possible. I started studying in earnest
in my late teens, and I can now comfortably read Japanese intended for adults, including the newspaper and novels. 
So, should you decide to start the journey, know that victory is attainable, and good luck!
</p>



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        <div class="subheading_level_1">Summary</div>


<p class="bodycopy">In this chapter, we learned about how kanji are used in Japanese.
We learned that each character has two main readings, a Chinese reading, called the <i>on-yomi</i>,
and a Japanese reading, called the <i>kun-yomi</i>.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">The Chinese reading is a best-effort attempt to
reproduce the original Chinese pronunciation of the character. Since some characters were 
imported multiple times from different parts of China, some characters have multiple <i>on-yomi</i>.
For example, we saw that the character for &ldquo;moon&rdquo; has both <i>getsu</i> and <i>gatsu</i> readings.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">We learned that the Japanese reading, or <i>kun-yomi</i>, is the native Japanese word that 
means the same thing as the character. So, for example, in the case of the character for &ldquo;moon,&rdquo;
the Japanese reading is <i>tsuki</i>, which is the word that the Japanese already were using when
the character was imported.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">Because of this history, the <i>on-yomi</i> tends to be used in compounds,
whereas the <i>kun-yomi</i> tends to be used when the character is freestanding and represents 
a whole word on its own.</p>

<p class="bodycopy">We also learned about <i>okurigana</i>, which are hiragana characters used to
&ldquo;complete&rdquo; a word. Usually, this is necessary for words that conjugate. For example, the word <i>ikimasu</i>
is written 行きます. The <i>okurigana</i> is what allows us to change the ending to 行きました, for example. </p>

<p class="bodycopy">Make sense? Double-check that you understand the concepts in this chapter with the quiz below.</p>

        <div class="button_container"><div class="button" onclick="handleButtonPress('grammar_kanji');"><img src="button_chapter_review@2x.png" /></div></div>


<p class="bodycopy">Next, we&rsquo;ll learn how to create adverbs in Japanese, which is a really, truly, incredibly useful thing to know. </p>
    
          
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