leonmarino
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- 19 May 2006
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Hello all!!
Today I started practising my Kanji again. I have finished the Japanese elementary school here in Holland many moons ago, but since then I've never really come to using it a lot and as a result, my Kanji proficiency has worsened considerably..![Oops! :oops: :oops:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
So I went to the JLPT Kanji Project site(GREAT site!!), and started at level 4. I still pretty much knew all the Kanji of that level (thank God!), but still found some interesting things I had totally forgotten about, like the subtle differences between 牛 (うし=cow) and 午 (うま=horse) and between 辛い(つらい=hard, bitter) and 幸い(さいわい=fortunately).
Also, I started making up easy ways to remember the Kanji, like I always did as a kid. For example, the Kanji 親(おや=Parent) can easily be memorized as 「木の上に立って見る」 (Standing on a tree and looking), the Kanji in blue making up the particles of the whole Kanji. I found a new one today for 辞書(じしょ=Dictionary), or at least for 辞: "because your tongue (舌) has a hard time (辛), you have to use the dictionary". I think it is a wonderful and funny way to learn Kanji, and the fact that Kanji's are many times made up of particles, each with separate meanings, is amazing I think.![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I did use the "search thread" option before starting this thread (keyword="kanji"), but only found topics such as "Should Kanji be abolished?", "Kanji are driving me insane" and a lot of "Help me with.."-threads.. I didn't find one thread about the beauty of Kanji (I went all the way back to 2004), and I think that should be changed!!
So ladies and gentlemen!! What are your -positive- thoughts on Kanji? Are you as fascinated as I am? Have you encountered anything funny? Maybe interesting differences with the Chinese language? Are you also using funny ways to memorize them? What is your favourite Kanji? Is there anything else you like about Kanji?
Of the Kanji I studied today, I found 一緒(いっしょ=together) to be an interesting combo.. 「一つの糸によってつながれる者」, which roughly translates to: "those people that are connected by one thread".. Man, it's so beautifully poetic it makes me cry!!![Crying :cry: :cry:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I'm interested in hearing your opinion on this. Although I meant this to be a "positive" thread, constructive criticism is always we come, there's always room for friendly discussions!! So start posting!!![Thumbs up :thumbsup: 👍](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f44d.png)
Today I started practising my Kanji again. I have finished the Japanese elementary school here in Holland many moons ago, but since then I've never really come to using it a lot and as a result, my Kanji proficiency has worsened considerably..
So I went to the JLPT Kanji Project site(GREAT site!!), and started at level 4. I still pretty much knew all the Kanji of that level (thank God!), but still found some interesting things I had totally forgotten about, like the subtle differences between 牛 (うし=cow) and 午 (うま=horse) and between 辛い(つらい=hard, bitter) and 幸い(さいわい=fortunately).
Also, I started making up easy ways to remember the Kanji, like I always did as a kid. For example, the Kanji 親(おや=Parent) can easily be memorized as 「木の上に立って見る」 (Standing on a tree and looking), the Kanji in blue making up the particles of the whole Kanji. I found a new one today for 辞書(じしょ=Dictionary), or at least for 辞: "because your tongue (舌) has a hard time (辛), you have to use the dictionary". I think it is a wonderful and funny way to learn Kanji, and the fact that Kanji's are many times made up of particles, each with separate meanings, is amazing I think.
I did use the "search thread" option before starting this thread (keyword="kanji"), but only found topics such as "Should Kanji be abolished?", "Kanji are driving me insane" and a lot of "Help me with.."-threads.. I didn't find one thread about the beauty of Kanji (I went all the way back to 2004), and I think that should be changed!!
So ladies and gentlemen!! What are your -positive- thoughts on Kanji? Are you as fascinated as I am? Have you encountered anything funny? Maybe interesting differences with the Chinese language? Are you also using funny ways to memorize them? What is your favourite Kanji? Is there anything else you like about Kanji?
Of the Kanji I studied today, I found 一緒(いっしょ=together) to be an interesting combo.. 「一つの糸によってつながれる者」, which roughly translates to: "those people that are connected by one thread".. Man, it's so beautifully poetic it makes me cry!!
I'm interested in hearing your opinion on this. Although I meant this to be a "positive" thread, constructive criticism is always we come, there's always room for friendly discussions!! So start posting!!
![Thumbs up :thumbsup: 👍](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f44d.png)