Saturday, October 27, 2018

Japanese don't learn kanji meaning only readings? Does it make sense for a kanji to have a key meaning to identify it?


As I understand it works like this. By the time Japanese kids enter first grade they have more or less decent vocabulary of words they know. So when kanjis are taught I can't even imagine how to tell in Japanese that, for example, 女 means "woman"(おんな) and has a kun-reading おんな, since meaning and reading is the same word. 「女」漢字は意味が「おんな」です。くん読みが「おんな」だ。Something like this? It looks like only readings are taught and kids kind of figure out the key meaning on their own, based on the vocabulary they possess.



Note that I'm self-taught in Japanese and though I use JLPT N3 materials, I can mess up in basic things.


Another example. When person wants to explain using what kanji to write his/her name how do they explain that? How to identify exact kanji if one reading links to numerous characters?


In English I rely a lot on using key meaning to identify the kanji, but what exact wording do I use in Japanese?


Hope you can help me out. Thanks.



Answer



To answer your second question --
When I'm talking on the phone and want to say how to write someone's name or address in kanji, I often say like:




  1. 「[京子]{きょうこ}」の「きょう」は、「[京都]{きょうと}」の「[京]{きょう}」です。


  2. 「[明日香]{あすか}」の「あす」は、「[明日]{あした}」で、「[香]{か}」は、「[香]{かおり}」です。

  3. 「[聡]{さとし}」は、[耳偏]{みみへん}に「[公園]{こうえん}」の「[公]{こう}」と「[心]{こころ}」です。(or 「[聡明]{そうめい}」の「[聡]{そう}」です。)

  4. 「[本陣町]{ほんじんちょう}」は、「ブック」の「[本]{ほん}」と、こざと[偏]{へん}に「[車]{くるま}」(or 「[陣内孝則]{じんないたかのり}さん」の「[陣]{じん}」)で、「[町]{まち}」です。



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