これは漢字なにですか。

Hope the title was correct for 'What Kanji is this?'

Anyway, after correcting my poor Japanese on that,
What are the possible readings for the Kanji attatched? I got it on a candle that came in the mail all the way from my Penpal! It is a poor imitation, but you should get the idea of what it looks like. I tried to keep it proportional to the actual kanji on the front of the candle.

My graphics skills are poor.

[Glenn]

Looks like you're missing a 心 in there, and it should be 愛. Anyway, it's read アイ and means "love."

ありがとうグレンせんぱい。
How I've drawn it is how it is on the candle. The top is the same, and so is the bottom, but the middle bit on the candle is joined up and there is a [ turned 90 degrees under the top bit. Is this just differences between computer and hand drawn symbols?

Thanks!
ありがとう。じゃまた
ジョー

[Elizabeth]

Anyway, after correcting my poor Japanese on that,

これはなんという漢字ですか？What is that kanji ? Or just これ、何？What is this ?
これは何の漢字ですか？この漢字はなに？（この漢字は なんですか？） may have been what you were trying to get at...


この漢字が読めますか。 Can you read this kanji ?
この漢字はどう意味ですか What is the meaning of this kanji ?

There are more but I don't want to be responsible for overwhelming anyone with a bunch of related phrases they weren't looking for.

I forgot that you would use 'kono' instead of kore for this circumstance!
I should have put:
この漢字はなんですか。kono kanji wa nan desu ka.

'bunch of related phrases they weren't looking for.'
Whilst learning this language, you have to take as much information and learn how to express phrases in different ways! Please, Elizabeth, go on and put the others Pretty Please

Anything to further my understanding of the Japanese language!

Thanks, Joe

[Mikawa Ossan]

Incidentally, that is a valid way to write "ai" or "love", although it isn't in the Japanese language.

I remember someone linking to a humongous online dictionary from Taiwan about this very character some time ago.

[Glenn]

Ah, yes -- the simplified Chinese variant.

爱

Incidentally the lack of 心 isn't the only difference.

[JimmySeal]

Yeesh, those communists had to bastardize that character too? Nothing's sacred to them.

读书东药么扫!

[Elizabeth]

Originally Posted by dark_secrester

I forgot that you would use 'kono' instead of kore for this circumstance!
I should have put:
この漢字はなんですか。kono kanji wa nan desu ka.

I understand what you're saying but this is a very blunt way to express it. Like I answered earlier, the recognized preference I think is for これはなんという漢字ですか？

Ah, sorry, I was feeling ill, so I was a bit light headed. I didn't take in the post full.

I really should cut down on the booze!

Thanks for the help everyone!

I'm going to sleep now, I need an early night for work tomorrow.

おやすみなさい。
ジョー

[Glenn]

Originally Posted by JimmySeal

Yeesh, those communists had to bastardize that character too? Nothing's sacred to them.

读书东药么扫!

车兰险战导专过龙 (Just see if you can guess what the traditional form of that second one is, if you don't already know)

But hey, the Japanese did some interesting things when they simplified too, like 隣 and 党 and, my favorite (to complain about, that is), 氷.

[JimmySeal]

Originally Posted by Glenn

车兰险战导专过龙 (Just see if you can guess what the traditional form of that second one is, if you don't already know)

But hey, the Japanese did some interesting things when they simplified too, like 隣 and 党 and, my favorite (to complain about, that is), 氷.

Yeah, I know Japanese has many simplifications of its own. They drastically changed 龍, an old favorite for a lot of people, without successfully eliminating it, and for some reason left it completely intact in 襲. I didn't know about the 3 you mentioned. The simplification on 隣 is just plain weird.

I have no idea what any of those simplified Chinese characters are, though I'm pretty sure I've confused 车 with 东 a few times already because I didn't know that a character like 车 existed.

[Glenn]

Originally Posted by JimmySeal

Yeah, I know Japanese has many simplifications of its own. They drastically changed 龍, an old favorite for a lot of people, without successfully eliminating it, and for some reason left it completely intact in 襲. I didn't know about the 3 you mentioned. The simplification on 隣 is just plain weird.

Funny you should bring up 龍. It'll become clear why in a second. And I find it interesting that it's intact in 襲 as well, but not 灯篭 (sometimes).

Originally Posted by JimmySeal

I have no idea what any of those simplified Chinese characters are, though I'm pretty sure I've confused 车 with 东 a few times already because I didn't know that a character like 车 existed.

The difference is that the former (车) is 車 (公共汽车; JPN バス) and the latter (东) is 東 (东京; JPN... well, it's obvious, isn't it?). Here you go, the same list with the traditional Chinese variants underneath:

车兰险战导专过龙
車蘭險戰導專過龍

Of course in Japanese numbers 3, 4, and 6 are 険, 戦, and 専, respectively. Isn't kanji fun?

[JimmySeal]

I see. 兰 was quite a shocker. A Singaporean friend of mine thought 竜 was a funny simplification because it looks so much like turtle. But so many of those simplified Chinese characters are so bizarre they almost don't look like real hanzi.

Another dragon kanji that to some degree still resists simplification is the 瀧-滝 pair.

[Glenn]

I guess 竜 looks like turtle for Singaporeans, because they use 龟 (simp. Chinese). I'll agree with that, but hey, they're close enough semantically, right?

One thing that is nice, though, since you already have a more than passing familiarity with kanji, and I'm guessing know at least some of the traditional forms too, learning the Chinese simplifications won't be too painful, I think. They tend to follow a structure of simplified components, so that if you know the component's variant it greatly minimizes the job of memory. Of course, there are exceptions, but, for example, 龙 is always written like that in the characters it's in, and the right side of 险 is the same in all characters where it acts as a phonetic. 兰 I hear was based on a highly stylized calligraphers' variant, which sort of explains its departure from its traditional counterpart.