日Kunyomi and Onyomi

Okay, I just pulled out this 500 basic Kanji book I have, and figured I would learn one Kanji a day.

The thing is, I'm so confused...

We will use this one for example. 日

So its a 4 stroke count, I get that, I know how to draw it, but the Kunyomi and Onyomi get me confused.

From my understanding Kunyomi is Japanese way to read it, Onyomi is Chinese way to read it.

According to this book, The Kunyomi for this Kanji is

ひ/-び
-か

What does that mean??? Hi? Bi? or Ka? Why are there dashes beside bi and ka? I don't get it.

Then according to this site called Kanji Alive, its Kunyomi is

ひ、か

I'm lost.

Okay now onto the Onyomi according to the book.

ニチ/ニ
（-ジツ）

Okay, so why is the bottom part jitsu, in parenthesis? And why is there a dash to the left of it?

Now, according to Kanji Alive, the Onyomi is...

ニチ、ジツ

Again, I'm lost.

I'm just using the site Kanji Alive as an example. Other sites seem to have different Onyomi and Kunyomi too.

Now, another thing. 日本語

The character in that one is pronounced at ni, right? Nihongo?

Can you guys please clear this up for me...

Thanks

The multiple readings of kanji is one of the hardest things about learning written Japanese, and it's something that can only come by practice, otherwise you're just guessing which reading is appropriate.

I would recommend another strategy: instead of learning one kanji a day and just memorizing the different readings, pick a character and focus on the compounds, so you get to see how it acts in context, and will begin to learn other characters as well. The more you study kanji compounds, the more you'll learn about the individual characters.

hey what does this character means? 日? and this one 中?

nice gaijin said:

The multiple readings of kanji is one of the hardest things about learning written Japanese, and it's something that can only come by practice, otherwise you're just guessing which reading is appropriate.

I would recommend another strategy: instead of learning one kanji a day and just memorizing the different readings, pick a character and focus on the compounds, so you get to see how it acts in context, and will begin to learn other characters as well. The more you study kanji compounds, the more you'll learn about the individual characters.

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Yes, nice gaijin's right.

Johnnymushio's way sounds easy at the start but will turn out confusing.
Nice gaijin's way appears difficult at first, but it is the shortest way to understanding kanji use in Japanese.

what exactly are radicals?

Johnnymushio said:

what exactly are radicals?

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Parts of kanji that can sometimes give an idea of the meaning of the character.

If you could you could also avail some of online resources that help 'train' in remembering kanjis. 'Train' in the sense that after you memorize, you can quiz youself multiple times until it sticks in your head. For instance, currently I have a PDA wherein you could find the ff:

1) Padict
Padict is a Japanese dictionary. In it you could search kanjis through english translations, romanji, hiragana, katakana, kanji strokes and radicals. Also, there is a trainer function wherein you could quiz yourself with the meanings of the kanjis. It's like a multiple choice kind of thing.

2) KingKanji
This one is a kanji workbook of sorts. You are given the meaning (its your call to either take the english or japanese reading) and you should write in the kanji with the correct strokes. This program comes in a lot of lessons (Yookoso, Genki Lessonsm JWL, and RTK.)

I believe I have encountered similar programs for desktop PC but I can't remember where they are. *eep!* When I do, I'll post them here. You could also try to search on the net for similar programs.

Johnnymushio said:

Okay, I just pulled out this 500 basic Kanji book I have, and figured I would learn one Kanji a day.
The thing is, I'm so confused...
We will use this one for example. 日
So its a 4 stroke count, I get that, I know how to draw it, but the Kunyomi and Onyomi get me confused.
From my understanding Kunyomi is Japanese way to read it, Onyomi is Chinese way to read it.
According to this book, The Kunyomi for this Kanji is
ひ/-び
-か
What does that mean??? Hi? Bi? or Ka? Why are there dashes beside bi and ka? I don't get it.
Then according to this site called Kanji Alive, its Kunyomi is
ひ、か
I'm lost.

Click to expand...

I don't know the linguistic terms (my apologies), but many sounds in Japanese change when they are preceded by a different sound. While it may be read 'hi' when it's alone, when talking about the days of the week, it becomes 'bi' because it's preceded by 'you'. Since 'youhi' is hard to say, it morphs to 'youbi' which is why there's a dash -- if it's preceded by certain sounds, it becomes 'bi', but it won't be pronounced 'bi' if it's on its own.

When it's in certain words, it can pronounced 'ka' as in the 4th of the month (四日) or the like.

Basic kanji tend to be used a lot, and have a lot of readings. As suggested, you should really look into what words they're used in and how rather than trying to memorize what they can be and trying to guess. Especially for basic kanji.

Johnnymushio said:

Okay now onto the Onyomi according to the book.
ニチ/ニ
（-ジツ）
Okay, so why is the bottom part jitsu, in parenthesis? And why is there a dash to the left of it?
Now, according to Kanji Alive, the Onyomi is...
ニチ、ジツ
Again, I'm lost.
I'm just using the site Kanji Alive as an example. Other sites seem to have different Onyomi and Kunyomi too.
Now, another thing. 日本語
The character in that one is pronounced at ni, right? Nihongo?
Can you guys please clear this up for me...
Thanks

Click to expand...

As for the first entry, it's saying it can be read 'nichi' or 'ni', and when preceded by something is sometimes pronounced as 'jitsu'. For instance, 休日 (holiday) is said 'kyuu jitsu' rather than 'kyuu nichi' or 'kyuu bi', while 定休日 (planned holiday/day off) is pronounced 'tei kyuu bi'.

At first it won't make much sense. Learning vocab (even without kanji) will help, as you will know the sounds, and know the meaning, and then the kanji will make more sense rather than having to worry about the 'why' when many times there just isn't one.