I just learned about 当て字 from my wife. It is 10:30pm and I just had the feeling of giving up on… - Feed Post by shirokitsune
I just learned about 当て字 from my wife. It is 10:30pm and I just had the feeling of giving up on Japanese. I will try to get some sleep and see if that helps with the feeling.
posted by shirokitsune
Comments 9
I reckon if you just now learnt about 当て字 they are not a big factor in day to day life (since you live in Japan).
But the reason she had to explain them was that I came across 3 in a single paragraph. All of my じしょs were of no use. I now am wondering how many times the words I skipped because they made little sense in the sentence I was reading were actually 当て字- Even so, you've been able to understand the rest, which is a larger part of the language, so don't get discouraged.
Please don't give up! :( It may be tiring/challenging sometimes but its worth it all in the long run.
I don't think shirokitsune really has any choice about giving up, as he lives in Japan and has a Japanese wife. ^^
当て字 is one of the many fun things about the Japanese language. The worst kind are ones like 珈琲 (コーヒー) : both kanji are non-常用 (one not even being 人名用), the meanings of those kanji not really having anything to do with coffee, and the readings of those kanji not exactly spelling コーヒー either...- I came across 虚 with the meaning of lie pronounced うそ when the real kanji for うそ is 嘘. Also I had 擬う pronounced なぞらう when it typically is written 擬える Sometimes I feel like Japanese is just messing with me haha
- Huh that's interesting, thanks for sharing shirokitsune! (Truthfully sounds a lil annoying ahaha but interesting nonetheless.)
- Well...
For the first one: 嘘, even though it's a fairly common kanji, isn't a 常用 kanji, whereas 虚 is. Depending where you saw it, might it have been possible the writer just made a mistake? But in any case, this being 大和言葉 rather than 音読み, it's equally possible it was written this way intentionally also.
For the second one: Although 擬 is a 常用 kanji, the only 常用 reading it has is 音読み「ぎ」. Neither なぞらう nor なぞらえる are 常用 readings (not even for any other 常用漢字).
The 下一段 verb なぞらえる was previously 下二段: なぞらふ (なぞらう). Maybe there was some reason for it being written in its older form where you found it, such as if the sentence it's in was written in an older era (or that being the origin or setting of it). - I meant to suggest more about the first one—that the purpose behind the 常用 kanji 虚 being used could also have been more as a casual shorthand substitution. Not like I really know though, just throwing my thoughts out as part of the typing practice I'm doing, haha. ^^;
