Using only Kanji and Katakana (new to this forum)

[Speedy9199]

Hello I'm new here.

I have been fimilar with Japanese for about 3 years, however no matter how hard I try I just can't fully understand Japanese words written in Hiragana. I know all of the hiragana characters(even the W's) and know what sound they make and I know how to use them in sentence structure but I just don't understand them if they are used to spell words. I only know and remember very little hiragana words. Very strangely my kanji is much better(mostly because I have a good memory and they are not phonetic) and I know about 90% of all katakana words. How easy will a Japanese literate person understand something if I only write it in these two forms of writting? I know that the PS3 Japanese Playstation Network Store writes in this way, using mostly Kanji and Katakana and mostly only uses hiragana for sentence structure and on that store I can understand a lot of things of what's written. Can I write this way without spelling out hiragana words? The problem writing this way is that Japan only uses 2000 kanji and for a nonphonetic writing system this is not a lot compared to chinese, so I know I do have to write SOME hiragana words. Also I am aware that some kanji has to have hiragana after it, however I can remember hiragana when it comes to something like that.

Can someone that knows better than me clear things up for me and help me?

Thank you.

 

[Toritoribe]

If you can compose a sentence correctly with katakana and kanji, there's no problem to read it. It's a writing style used before WWⅡ, so it would seem as if it's an old document, though.

 

[Mike Cash]

You can see it in old military communications, telegrams, statutes, prison diaries, etc.

I must say that your problem strikes me as being like the problem I have in English: I can't pronounce the letter "c"; it always comes out sounding like "k" or "s".

 

[Speedy9199]

If you can compose a sentence correctly with katakana and kanji, there's no problem to read it. It's a writing style used before WWⅡ, so it would seem as if it's an old document, though.

Yeah I had a question about that. I heard that around 1981 Japan used around 10,000 kanji characters but they changed their language and now only use 2000. Is this true? Also the Japanese today can't read old Japanese very well, is that true also?

 

[Toritoribe]

I heard that around 1981 Japan used around 10,000 kanji characters but they changed their language and now only use 2000. Is this true?

What's your source about 10,000 in 1981???

Probably 2,000 refers to the number of Jōyō kanji.

Also the Japanese today can't read old Japanese very well, is that true also?

It totally depends on how old the sentence is and how it's written. I mean, most Japanese people can't read original text in edo period for instance, but it could be understandable if it's written in Modern kana usage. See this post. I can relatively easily read 端的只今の一念より外はこれなく候, but the original text in the picture is a bit hard to read.

 

[eeky]

What's your source about 10,000 in 1981???

Probably 2,000 refers to the number of Jōyō kanji.

I have never heard any mention of such a dramatic reduction, but I would be interested to know your general perceptions of how this number has moved over recent decades. Do you feel that the number of kanji in regular use is increasing, decreasing, or remaining about the same?

 

[Speedy9199]

I have never heard any mention of such a dramatic reduction, but I would be interested to know your general perceptions of how this number has moved over recent decades. Do you feel that the number of kanji in regular use is increasing, decreasing, or remaining about the same?

IMO I believe one day the Japanese Kanji will become completely obsolete. I mean there is no use for it really. The original Chinese language has to use non-phonetic characters because there are hundreds of different languages in China and there is no way any phonetic way to work even if the main language is Madarin. Using nonphonetic characters is a great way to communicate no matter what you speak. I mean, I have written things in "mostly" English with Chinese characters and believe it or not a chinese literate person can still understand it, even though it sounds a bit weird to them but over all it's understandable. The problem with Kanji is that it has different meanings, different combinations, not as many characters, written a bit differently at times, and there are some kanji characters not in Chinese itself. If the kanji was more like how the Chinese write it I would understand the use for it because then a Japanese person could understand a Chinese person through the writting. But because of the changes they can't. I am aware that reading nothing but hiragana and katakana is not good on the eyes but that's what spaces in writting are for...

I really want to know why Japan still uses kanji.

 

[Mike Cash]

So you think somebody sat down in China and consciously and purposely developed a non-phonetic writing system to accommodate often mutually unintelligible dialects of Chinese?

Kanji facilitate reading and clarity when communicating. So much so that people sometimes have to verbally clarify which kanji goes with what they're speaking about. Just a few minutes ago on the telephone with my wife we were discussing a particular college. I asked her if it was しりつ or こうりつ. As it turned out, it was both. But it was 市立 (しりつ) and not 私立 (しりつ). Kanji clarified it.

Japanese is absolutely loaded to the gunwales with homophones. My most favorite pair is かんちょう / かんちょう. One is 灌頂 and one is 浣腸. The former refers to anointing one's head; the latter refers to an enema. And there are lots of other かんちょう in the vocabulary besides those two.

 

[undrentide]

I really want to know why Japan still uses kanji.

We need to use kanji for its practicality and efficiency.
As Mike said, there are so many homonyms in Japanese language.

Here's the good example - it's a word play but shows how essential kanji is in the language.

うらにわにはにわにわにはにわにわとりがいる。
(Uraniwaniwaniwaniwaniwaniwaniwaniwatorigairu.)

When written in kana, it is hard to figure out what's written.

裏庭には二羽庭には二羽鶏がいる。

With kanji, we can see what's written literally at a glance.
Also with kanji it becomes much shorter.

 

[Toritoribe]

I have never heard any mention of such a dramatic reduction, but I would be interested to know your general perceptions of how this number has moved over recent decades. Do you feel that the number of kanji in regular use is increasing, decreasing, or remaining about the same?

The number of regularly-used kanji definitely had been decreasing until word proccessers or PCs became widely used. I feel that the number is increasing in these days, since to choose the correct kanji in the list of candidates when converting kana into kanji on a software is far easier than to handwrite kanji on a paper.

 

[Mike Cash]

Remember when ワープロバカ was a 流行言葉?