Learning Kanji is not the easiest thing. Yet, it can be. How do I determine if I use the Onyomi,… - Feed Post by Japan123
Learning Kanji is not the easiest thing. Yet, it can be. How do I determine if I use the Onyomi, Or the Kunyomi? Please help me.
posted by Japan123
Comments 13
I googled "Kanji, when to use on or kun"
http://japanese.about.com/library/blqow44.htm
"Unfortunately there is no simple way to explain when to use On-reading or Kun-reading. You need to memorize the pronunciation on an individual basis, one word at a time. However, here are some facts that are worth remembering. "
Usually, a word consisting of just one kanji together with okurigana (hiragana at the end) is read with a kunyomi, and a word consisting of two or more kanji with no kana between them is read with onyomi. The reason for this is that many words consisting only of kanji were originally words in Chinese (for example, 図書館, meaning "library", is essentially a Chinese word, although its pronunciation is a bit different from the Chinese pronunciation, just like loan words from English and other European languages). There are some other patterns, but no fixed rules regarding this, though; ultimately, as said above, one has to learn the spelling of each word individually. If you think about it, that's true of English, too-- especially vowel sounds in English. The same vowel sound can be spelled in many different ways, and the same combination of vowels can sometimes be pronounced in several different ways.
Sometimes it is pretty strange, for example 高低 こうてい 高低 たかひく。Sense to keep both of them and which one is right. I have seen both of them on this website.
Learn the readins acoording to the words and not each reading of the kanji. You're going crazy learning each and every reading of each and every kanji.
E.g. 上:
onyomi: ジョウ ・ ショウ ・ シャン
kunyomi:うえ ・ -うえ ・ うわ- ・ かみ ・ あ.げる ・ -あ.げる ・ あ.がる ・ -あ.がる ・ あ.がり ・ -あ.がり ・ のぼ.る ・ のぼ.り ・ のぼ.せる ・ のぼ.す ・ よ.す
will take weeks until you know them all. So instead focus on the words themselves. You should know 1. how to write kanji 2. what the kanji mean
3. how to read the words 4. and what the word means.
- Both readings of 高低 are correct, just as 今日 has several readings, the most common of which are きょう and こんにち.
- Although if you saw 「フオンクさん！今日は！」, then きょう would be the wrong reading of 今日... :P
- I didn't say that both readings are correct in any context. But in fact, that would usually be spelled using kana.
- I guess. I interpreted what you said to be implying that the reader can choose whichever one they want, rather than simply giving a confirmation that the dictionary hasn't listed an incorrect reading by mistake.
I think I spelt your name wrong too. フゥオンく is more likely to be the way it is spelt in katakana. - Oops. フゥオンク. Or maybe even フヮオンク ? I have no idea how your name is pronounced come to think of it... ^^;
I remember in University I learned the history of こんにちは。As it seems to be, it's from 今日は. So it's like every time you meet someone, you ask 今日は? Something like "how is your day?"
Thank you guys for alerting me.
hello guys
