can someone explain kanji to me please

[White Rose]

from what i gather, on'yomi is the chinese reading, and kun'yomi is the japanese reading.

so what does that mean? is on'yomi how its pronounced in china, or is it just the japanese approximation of it?

ive read the wikipedia article on kanji but it goes into too much detail, and its hard to completely grasp.

if someone can explain what each reading is about in simple terms, that would be awesome.

thanks.

[twinklestar]

I know the answer to On'yomi ( several Chinese readings ),but I leave it to Japanese forumer or Japanese-fluent gaijins in explain it all to you hehe.

[JimmySeal]

On-yomi is an approximation of one of the original Chinese pronunciations. Kun-yomi is a pre-existing Japanese word (or stem of a word) that was assigned to a character with a meaning similar to that word's meaning. Both on-yomi and kun-yomi are used profusely and which one is used at which time depends on how the character is used. For example:

火山 kazan (volcano) - ka is the on-yomi for the first character (fire), and zan (san) is the on-yomi for the second character (mountain). In Mandarin this would be pronounced huoshan

火 hi (fire) - as a word on its own would be pronounced with the kun-yomi hi

山 yama (mountain) - as a word on its own would be pronounced with the kun-yomi yama

That's a broad overview.

[White Rose]

Originally Posted by JimmySeal

On-yomi is an approximation of one of the original Chinese pronunciations. Kun-yomi is a pre-existing Japanese word (or stem of a word) that was assigned to a character with a meaning similar to that word's meaning. Both on-yomi and kun-yomi are used profusely and which one is used at which time depends on how the character is used. For example:
火山 kazan (volcano) - ka is the on-yomi for the first character (fire), and zan (san) is the on-yomi for the second character (mountain). In Mandarin this would be pronounced huoshan
火 hi (fire) - as a word on its own would be pronounced with the kun-yomi hi
山 yama (mountain) - as a word on its own would be pronounced with the kun-yomi yama
That's a broad overview.

thanks man, thats awesome. i finally understand

[tanhql]

however, bear in mind at there can be several kunyomi and onyomi for a single kanji, so you really have to study the pronounciation of the kanji on a case by case basis to know the pronounciation in every case.

[White Rose]

Originally Posted by tanhql

however, bear in mind at there can be several kunyomi and onyomi for a single kanji, so you really have to study the pronounciation of the kanji on a case by case basis to know the pronounciation in every case.

*dies a little inside*

[JimmySeal]

What tanhql says is true, but I think about 2/3 of the commnly used kanji have only one kun-yomi and one on-yomi, or one on-yomi and no kun-yomi. Learning kanji is a long and arduous, but rewarding process. Don't give up hope.

[White Rose]

Originally Posted by JimmySeal

What tanhql says is true, but I think about 2/3 of the commnly used kanji have only one kun-yomi and one on-yomi, or one on-yomi and no kun-yomi. Learning kanji is a long and arduous, but rewarding process. Don't give up hope.

i'm not giving up hope ;)

ive been drumming more and more kanji in to my head for the past few days, and the ability to 'read' more and more kanji on japanese websites is keeping me going .

[Homerduff]

I started to learn kanji myself to. Im using a website with a kanji myself to. Im using a website with a nice amount of basic japanese words and I write them all down. Then I use an online kanji dictionnary to look up the right write them all down. Then I use an online kanji dictionnary to look up the right kanji and draw them. But in my oppinion you shouldnt study kanji itself but you should study the romaji together with its kanji. I dont really see the point in studying the on and kun reading, as long as you know the context of a text its not that hard to figure out what the kanji or combination wants to say.