Kanji of the day - 今日の漢字. - Feed Post by DragonR33UA
Comments 13
I'm surprised 響 is on the Kanji Alive web app... I thought its database is meant to contain only the 1,006 kanji taught in elementary school (教育漢字) and N5-N2 kanji?
響 isn't one of the 1,006 教育漢字. It's in the Common Use Kanji List (常用漢字表) but is taught later in junior high school.
響 is listed on Jisho.org as an N1 kanji...
http://jisho.org/search/%E9%9F%BF%20%23kanji
woah, that site is just what I was looking for! I like to check which kanji from each grade I know (and learn them in order) :D
Me too, at least that is what they said, but who knows. I still don't understand how they classify the Kanji and why that is N2 or N3 or even N1. That is not clear at all.
That Kanji is not that complicated but interesting and beautiful. I mean it consist of 4 parts and most of them is possible to see or learn even in N5 level. For example sound.
Also this Kanji is JLPT N3 義務. But I must say it is even harder to remember that that one. Why it is N1 and this is N3 is unclear.- @DragonR33UA, Back when JLPT had 4 levels they used to release official lists of kanji to learn. Now people making these unofficial lists of JLPT kanji have to try to work out which kanji are likely to be tested on in which levels, mostly based on the old official lists and on previous years' test papers.
How complicated a kanji is to look at or draw doesn't have much to do with it's JLPT level. There's a one stroke kanji listed as N1 on Jisho.org, while there are some fourteen stroke kanji listed as N5.
I think 響 is fairly complex though...
Even though the component on the top left 乡, it is instead stated as being 糸 (幺, "thread") on that Kanji Alive page and on Jisho.org and elsewhere. From checking the ancient forms of this character, I think this 乡 component is actually supposed to be the reverse image of ⻏(邑), just the style naturally changed because of the brushstroke directions.
And the component in the middle at the top 艮 is drawn slightly differently to the usual kanji 良, even though in this case it means 良 but has become this "simplified" form.
(Going to have to hide this unsightly, long post by adding a shorted comment afterwards...) - @DragonR33UA, 義務 is an N3 vocabulary word, but the kanji in it aren't both N3 kanji. According to Jisho.org, 義 is an N1 kanji and 務 is N3.
- I see, I didn't catch that time when it was only 4 levels. When I started to learn it was already 5 levels. Do you know why the don't want to make an official list of Kanji? That is pretty strange, before it was and everything was just fine, and now they simply chancel it. It is something like try to figure it out by your own.
響 is not easy, but it is not that hard too, because the parts are very different. It is a good ways to remember it.
I call it 乡 - The thunder
that is ⻏- Japanese solders flag that they have behind their uniform.
and this is 艮 R =D Kind of english R.
I see, I didn't notice it. Yeah, it that case 義 is really an N1 and 務 pass more to N3. Thanks for the answer. Now it is clear. - by the way, there are more Kanji right now. I have found that "you can easily search for 1235 kanji in Japanese" So Maybe they add more Kanji. 1235 - 1006 = 229 Extra Kanji.
DragonR33UA - A small suggestion and one that helped me more than anything with Kanji is instead of making up meanings for the parts read "Remembering the Kanji" by James Heisig. It is a reference book that explains the original Chinese meanings behind the parts of Kanji. So for ⻏ the keyword chosen is pinnacle and you'll see the kanjis it is used in often have something to do with "pinnacle" ---- 阪 = heights. So while using any sort of memory trick that helps you remember is good, reading this book is GREAT because it will help you understand the essence of every kanji it is used in. This is the most valuable book I've read in learning about Kanji. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembering_the_Kanji_and_Remembering_the_Hanzi- @DragonR33UA, JLPT had four levels up until 2010 (4級 to 1級). In 2010 they split the 2級 level into two separate levels (N3 and N2). 2010 was also the year when the Common Use Kanji List increased from 1,945 kanji to 2,136. I recommend checking out the FAQ on the JLPT official site, which answers your questions.
"Do you know why the don't want to make an official list of Kanji?"
http://www.jlpt.jp/e/faq/index.html#anchor28
Those 229 extra kanji would be any N5-N2 kanji that aren't among the 1,006 kanji taught in elementary school. - @Matto33, ⻏on the left side of kanji represents a completely different radical to ⻏on the right hand side.
On the left, ⻏ is a combining simplified form for 阜 "mound, hill".
On the right, ⻏ is a combining simplified form for 邑 "city, village, district".
So, for 阪 it does make some sense ⻏ having the label "pinnacle", but for kanji with ⻏ on the right side instead (like 響 or 郷) it would make things more confusing to call it that. ^^
The old form of 邑 is a drawing of a "kneeling person" at the bottom and 囗 "enclosure" above it. I think maybe this represents a person sitting in their house or in their hometown. With 乡 on the opposite side originally being the reverse image of the 邑 picture, this gives two kneeling people in their enclosures (houses). And so, with 良 (simplified as 艮) being "happiness, good", 郷 meaning "home town, native place, village" can easily make sense. Then 音 "sound" + 郷 "home town" = 響 "echo, reverberation, sound"... - @mog86UK - Thanks for that. It seems to me that to really understand kanji one would have to get a PhD in it. It is so ancient, there is so much to learn and much knowledge probably buried in some grad students thesis, if not lost completely. I was shocked when I learned that Japanese just learn it through rote memorization... it was actually other Chinese students who got me to see the individual parts of Kanji which then lead me to the book. I mentioned this to a Japanese friend at the bar and he turned the tables on me saying that not many English speakers understand the individual parts/meanings that make up English words - so very true! So for Kanji, the book "Understanding the Kanji" helps me see the parts, in the same way as you've described above. Fascinating stuff when you realize Kanji is a pictograph. Love this subject.
- Matto33 Thank you! That is a good Idea! I have heard before about that book, but still didn't try it. I will take a look for it and try.
- mog86uk
I have found it.
Therefore, we decided that publishing "Test Content Specifications" containing a list of vocabulary, kanji and grammar items was not necessarily appropriate.
Instead of do something helpful they do like usually everything in Japanese way of doing. Means less sense and more doing.
Conversation can be different. It can be a small conversation with a friend about the football match or it can be a pretty complicated conversation with a co-workers. And the topic can pretty crazy, starting with Chemistry and finished talking about the part of the car.
At least the major words they could add. Why create a bicycle if it is already created.
