Is learning Kunyomi really important? Cause I barley ever see it and they never ask for it on the… - Feed Post by Myles223
Is learning Kunyomi really important? Cause I barley ever see it and they never ask for it on the quizes
posted by Myles223
Comments 6
It is important depending on the level you're taking. But it's better if you know it in advance than prepare for it when they give it to you.
hello again myles, it is important.this might be tldr...but ill try to wrap it based on my experience......
if later you are aiming to be good at this japanese skill, there are a test that you can take which is JLPT(Japanese-Language Proficiency Test). this jlpt have somekind of level ranged from N5 up to N1 where N5 is the lowest.
at N5 you will eventually encounter paired kanjis... like 外国 it consist of 外（そと、soto)kanji and 国（くに,kuni) kanji. soto mean outside and kuni mean country if i am not mistaken. put it together you get overseas.. mean that outside of the country right.... but because of this is paired kanji you need to read it not as soto kuni. but using its kunyomi. 外kunyomi is gai, meanwhile kuni kunyomi is koku. fusing it and you will get gaikoku. at the advanced level if you could recognized the kanji you will know the meaning without even know how to read it..
ill put the same example using my example above...
外国人
外 outside
国 country
人 people person
you can tell it is a people that reside outside our country. it could be tourist,visitor or etc.
see?you dont even need to know how to read it to know it. it reads as gaikokujin btw if you re curious. the point is, it is important if you are trying to take a test and get serious...
idk if im helping or getting you more confused but if you had any question i might be able to help....
keep learn, pal
overseas is actually 海外. and your example mainly talks about the importance of onyomi not kunyomi.
I recently made a post about kun / on in the chat you might wanna read that one first if you haven't already.
Now, talking specifically on the topic of Kunyomi. With the exception of them being used in names, they really only map mostly onto one thing / word
猫 = ねこ
国 = こく
食べる = たべる
書く = かく
(there are some more pesky ones out there such as 生, 着, 行 but those are the exception and not the rule)
comparing that with onyomi that really gets thrown into all sorts of stuff:
中学 = ちゅうがく = middle school
中古 = ちゅうこ = second hand
途中 = とちゅう = in the middle of
中国 = ちゅうごく = China
So with that in mind it is a valid strategy to learn the kun's along with the word instead of the kanji itself. But i wouldn't flat out skip them.
A better question would probably be: Oh god do i really need to learn ALL of those kun / on's? and the answer to that is, no probably not. There are a fair amount of readings that simply aren't used all that often, and probably wont give you much mileages if learned. It bugs me a bit that the dictionary on this site doesn't have a way of showing that ( i am really fan of the kanji dictionary they use over at renshuu.org). Alternatively you could take a look at kanjidamage.com which is a bit crude, but effective.- thx for correcting man....ill learn harder then :)
- If you want your bases covered, I suggest remembering all onyomi and kunyomi reading. Downside is that it takes a huge amount of time and effort remembering the kanji pattern and combination. There is just no going around it, sorry to say. And the best advice to you in remembering kanji is by practicing in writing the actual character. It really helps in remembering it. I don't know but but for me personally, it helped me a lot. The learning rate is maybe 30% faster than the ones that don't write it. I don't have the actual paper to prove it, but I think it is effective.
Ight thanks everyone I understand now
