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Radicals versus graphemes

charusu

先輩
23 Feb 2011
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Hi everybody,

I am beginning my journey thought kanji and am having some difficulty distinguishing and distinguishing the difference(s) between radicals and graphemes. I see that some characters are both graphemes and radicals, and that in my kanji book (Hadamitzky & Spahn's Kanji & Kana) radicals have meanings (like lid, legs, top, etc.). Can somebody please help me make the distinction and let me know how they are used in building kanji?

Thanks in advance!
 
Kanji simply don't decompose in any useful way for language learning.
If you try to study their real etymology, you will discover that it is a collection of a great many arbitrary things. Unless knowing language history is your goal, it won't give you any enlightenment regarding modern usages and meanings.


However, there is a way to decompose kanji in order to build mnemonics. I recommend a book called "remembering the kanji" by heisig. It will show you a way to break down kanji into
(nonsensical) pieces in order to memorize them easily. It worked well for me.
 
Thanks srintuar, so do the radicals have onyumi and kunyumi, or just one way to say them?
 
Thanks srintuar, so do the radicals have onyumi and kunyumi, or just one way to say them?

The whole characters have those readings, and sometimes the radicals or "components" contain hints to the onyomi.

But the kunyomi's are kindof unpredictable to me...
 
They do have readings, but I think it's more common to just refer to them by their names. For instance:

にんべん (亻)
つきへん (月)
こざと (阜/阝left side)
おおざと (邑/阝right side)
にくづき (肉 compressed to look like 月)
くさかんむり (艸艹艹艹)
うかんむり (宀)
わかんむり (冖)
やまいだれ (疒)

I doubt you'd ever have to actually read one, but you probably will have to name a few from time to time.
 
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