The Kanji Appreciation Thread

[Glenn]

I think I can still write that traditional one from memory. Haven't tried it in a while, though. The others mostly look like ink blots.

 

[Supervin]

IThe others mostly look like ink blots.

Haha, yeah. That's what happens when every single character is squashed, flattened and distorted into one arbitrary square in printed text.

 

[Glenn]

I have to imagine, though, that should they be handwritten they would be disproportionately large. Reminds me of my own handwriting, except that I make much less complex characters look ugly.

 

[leonmarino]

Well I did some Googling and it indeed seems like 一日一善 is right, and 一日一膳 is sometimes used as a joke.

The weird thing is my laptop changes 「いちぜん」 to 「一膳」, and if I want 「一善」, I have to change 「いち」 and 「ぜん」 one by one if you know what I mean!! The weird world of 変換キー..

 

[leonmarino]

淼
So I borrowed a Chinese writing and pronunciation course from a friend and I found this character yesterday. Doesn't it look.. "Weird"? That might sound negative, but that's not what I mean; it's just the fact the fact that I'm not used to seeing it.
The meaning of it is "insignificant" and it is pronounced as "miao" (a = third tone pinyin, so tone goes down and up)(it's my own pronounciation so it mightn't be 100% accurate). It sounds very much like an old drunk cat to me!!
While typing 淼 with the aid of the wonderful IME-pad, I also found these two:
焱
惢
I have no idea what these mean but it sure looks wonderful.

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

To anyone who likes Kanji, I recommend this book very highly!

Amazon product ASIN 4062691019

 

[Glenn]

焱 -- エン １）ひばな（火花）。ほのお。２）火が盛んに燃 え上がるさま。

惢 -- サ／ズイ 一：１）疑う。惑う。２）良い。二：しべ＝ 蕊
心にあれこれ疑い惑う意味を表す。

出典： 新漢語林

By the way, it's a shame that Japanese book companies don't allow us to see inside the books on amazon (at least I've never seen one that I could look inside).

 

[leonmarino]

焱 -- エン １）ひばな（火花）。ほのお。２）火が盛んに燃 え上がるさま。

惢 -- サ／ズイ 一：１）疑う。惑う。２）良い。二：しべ＝ 蕊
心にあれこれ疑い惑う意味を表す。

出典： 新漢語林

By the way, it's a shame that Japanese book companies don't allow us to see inside the books on amazon (at least I've never seen one that I could look inside).

ふむふむ！Thank you very much!

Glenn, are you one of those people frequently engaging in 立ち読み（たちよみ）?

Off-topic, but I never quite understood how that is tolerated in Japan. Some people literally spend hours a day reading magazines in convenience stores and book stores!! [/quote]

 

[Glenn]

No, not that frequently.

I've actually seen signs saying that it's an inconvenience to other shoppers and asking for people to not do it in a Lawson.

 

[leonmarino]

I've actually seen signs saying that it's an inconvenience to other shoppers and asking for people to not do it in a Lawson.

Yeah I also saw sings in combini's stating they're not giving away chopsticks anymore, and that usage of plastic bags will be decreased.. Have you ever seen someone taking notice of those signs?

My favorite sign I saw in Japan was a road sign along the highway: (sorry for being off-topic but I thought it was pretty funny)
「よそ見注意」

It'd be pretty tragic if you caused an accident while trying to read that sign.

 

[Glenn]

And ironic!

--------------------------------------

 

[undrentide]

My favorite sign I saw in Japan was a road sign along the highway: (sorry for being off-topic but I thought it was pretty funny)
「よそ見注意」
It'd be pretty tragic if you caused an accident while trying to read that sign.

If one sees the sign, that means the person is already doing よそ見... hahaha

 

[Glenn]

Reminds me of the billboard that says "Learn to read."

 

[JimmySeal]

I learned something yesterday about the kanji 姦. The majority of kun-yomi for kanji are Japanese words that are similar in meaning to the original Chinese meaning. However, the reading かしましい (noisy) for 姦しい arose from the form of the character itself (three women), not the Chinese meaning. The character actually means adultery or rape originally.

BTW, if nobody answered leonmarino's question from earlier, the best English term to describe remembering kanji by using little stories and memory tricks is "mnemonics."

 

[JimmySeal]

Wow!! That's great. I wonder how the Chinese write 匂い, if the Japanese invented this Kanji.. And I didn't expect 笹 to be a Japanese one either, as it is the main food of the Panda's I believe, which are typically Chinese!!

It seems that characters used to talk about smell in Chinese are 味, 聞, 臭, and 嗅.

According to Infoseekマルチ翻訳, the Chinese word for 笹 is 小竹 and the Chinese word for 匂い is 味.

 

[leonmarino]

I learned something yesterday about the kanji 姦. The majority of kun-yomi for kanji are Japanese words that are similar in meaning to the original Chinese meaning. However, the reading かしましい (noisy) for 姦しい arose from the form of the character itself (three women), not the Chinese meaning. The character actually means adultery or rape originally.

So you're saying the Chinese meaning is "rape", or have I misunderstood you? That would be two very different meanings for the same Kanji.. The first time I saw that Kanji I thought "that's a nice situation to be in!"

BTW, if nobody answered leonmarino's question from earlier, the best English term to describe remembering kanji by using little stories and memory tricks is "mnemonics."

Ah, that sounds a bit familiar indeed. Thank you JimmySeal!!

It seems that characters used to talk about smell in Chinese are 味, 聞, 臭, and 嗅.

Yeah I forgot to say but I asked my Chinese friend how they write "smell", and they use a completely different character for it: 闻, pronounced wen2. [EDIT:Can you read it? 'cos it doesn't show on my computer after I posted it!!]

According to Infoseekマルチ翻訳, the Chinese word for 笹 is 小竹 and the Chinese word for 匂い is 味.

My friend said the word for 笹 (what's the English word for it anyway?) is 竹子, zhu2 zi.
I also showed her some native Japanese Kanji, like 峠 and 凧. She was pleasantly amused.. "That one just reads mountain, up, down!", kinda like my reaction when I first saw 淼 I guess.

 

[JimmySeal]

So you're saying the Chinese meaning is "rape", or have I misunderstood you? That would be two very different meanings for the same Kanji..

Yes, that's right and that's the point - that the Japanese assigned a reading to it that was completely unrelated to the original meaning, but related to the shape of the character itself. When pronounced with its on-yomi it still does mean rape, adultery, or wickedness as in:
強姦 - ごうかん rape
姦淫 - かんいん adultery
姦計 - かんけい trick
and a whole bunch of other unsavory words.

Yeah I forgot to say but I asked my Chinese friend how they write "smell", and they use a completely different character for it: 闻, pronounced wen2. [EDIT:Can you read it? 'cos it doesn't show on my computer after I posted it!!]

I can see it. It's the simplified version of 聞.

笹 is "bamboo grass" in English.

 

[Gaijinian]

Well, they say 味道 for 匂い most of the time
but learning Chinese sort of took a bit of the fun out of Kanji
Cuz you realize how many kanji are for sound
which is somehow less fun

but still fun
just a bit less

 

[undrentide]

Yeah I forgot to say but I asked my Chinese friend how they write "smell", and they use a completely different character for it: 闻, pronounced wen2.

I can see it. It's the simplified version of 聞.

Oh, that's interesting!
There is 香道 (to appreciate the smell of incense), and one say 香を聞く which means to "smell" the incense.

 

[yukio_michael]

焱 -- エン １）ひばな（火花）。ほのお。２）火が盛んに燃 え上がるさま。

惢 -- サ／ズイ 一：１）疑う。惑う。２）良い。二：しべ＝ 蕊
心にあれこれ疑い惑う意味を表す。

出典： 新漢語林

By the way, it's a shame that Japanese book companies don't allow us to see inside the books on amazon (at least I've never seen one that I could look inside).

Kanji Learner's dictionary seems to... I don't know about the others...

Kanji (and grammar) is all that I study at the moment, due to the fact that I have no formal textbook, and don't really like online-learning... I like to have a book in my hand that I can curl up with on the bed or at work or wherever I'm at...

That said, right now, I'm fascinated by Kanji, and have been even surprised at my limited skill allowing me to ascertain certain chinese phrases that I see here and there... I love kanji.... or rather, I've come to love it.

 

[Glenn]

Kanji Learner's dictionary seems to... I don't know about the others...

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I meant on amazon.co.jp there are hardly ever books that you can see the contents of.

 

[Qutiepie]

(Sometimes Chinese/Taiwaneese use very complicated kanji ,or so I heard.)

Haha ... haha ... You left out Hong Kong,it has created own set of Cantonized Kanji,those words are only readable and understandable by Cantonese-speaking Chinese not other dialects-speaking Chinese folks.Cantonized Kanji appear mostly in entertainment tabloids and magazines,can't be found in formal Chinese dictionary.


I will link one URL of a Hong Kong based Cantonized-Chinese ( Kanji ) language website for your review at a later time.

 

[JimmySeal]

There are a few characters used in Japan that don't seem to be kanji per se, but can be used in place of kanji in certain situations. I know that 〆 is sometimes used in plase of 締 in 締切 (〆切), and I know that there's an abbreviated version of 第 that looks kind of like ヤ, but with a few extra strokes (I can't find it in the character map). Does anyone know what 仝 is?

 

[undrentide]

There are a few characters used in Japan that don't seem to be kanji per se, but can be used in place of kanji in certain situations. I know that 〆 is sometimes used in plase of 締 in 締切 (〆切), and I know that there's an abbreviated version of 第 that looks kind of like ヤ, but with a few extra strokes (I can't find it in the character map). Does anyone know what 仝 is?

仝 is 異字体 for 同, according to 漢字袋.
Kanjibukuro
(With MS IME I found out the 音読み for 仝 - which is どう, then input どう at 漢字袋, and found this answer.)

 

[leonmarino]

I can see it. It's the simplified version of 聞.

Oh, that's interesting!
There is 香道 (to appreciate the smell of incense), and one say 香を聞く which means to "smell" the incense.

I checked out this Wiki-page was 香道 is, and it seems like a very interesting phenomenon. But still, I couldn't find a explanation as to why they call it 聞く instead of 嗅ぐ or 匂う.. I guess it is because of the negative connotations; 嗅ぐ involves the Kanji 臭い（くさい）, and I was taught that 匂い is the less pleasant version of 香り.

笹 is "bamboo grass" in English.

Thanks!

That said, right now, I'm fascinated by Kanji, and have been even surprised at my limited skill allowing me to ascertain certain chinese phrases that I see here and there... I love kanji.... or rather, I've come to love it.

I'm glad you do! To say the truth, I was kind of worried by the limited reactions from people on this thread. I am pretty sure there are quite a few people studying Japanese and Kanji out there, but it seems just a handful of people see Kanji as something beautiful, while many others seem to see it as a necessary evil.. A compulsary set of characters they have to memorize in order to pass whatever test.. So yeah, I'm glad you're "coming out" with your love for Kanji!!

I will link one URL of a Hong Kong based Cantonized-Chinese ( Kanji ) language website for your review at a later time.

Wow, so even in China there are different kinds of Kanji.. I'm looking forward to seeing your link!!