Tofugu Comments - Latest Comments in 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

caughtredhanded — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:30:26 -0000

Lovely post. Kanji is integral to Japanese and without it, it just would not work. Government think tanks have rejected the notion of disbanding kanji again and again as the positives far out way the negatives. Think about it though, yes you may have to learn 1945 separate kanji in order to be able to effectively read Japanese, but then think about how many words those kanji can actually make. Would it be possible to read English fluently only knowing 1945 English words? I doubt it very much..

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

koichi — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:05:19 -0000

Yes, I agree with Ikari ;)

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

ikari7789 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:11:01 -0000

Although you have a point Craig, what you said made me realize something. When you think about the English language, we actually DO spend so much time taking spelling tests and such during our years in school, it's as if we are learning something similar to kanji because, really, when you think about it, how many words in the English language actually sound the way they are spelled? So what if we have an alphabet of only 26 letters, those 26 letters can be combined into so many different combinations that it isn't even funny.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

Craig — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:57:01 -0000

Great Read! I sometimes wonder if Kanji holds Japanese learners back, as it's just something extra they have to focus on when they could have already mastered a simple alphabet, but then I think of English and how we're hard pressed to spell everything and spend years upon years getting basic spellings down too!

I have to wonder about a culture with a simple alphabet and simple spelling though....they might have all that time to fill their brain with other stuff!

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

ikari7789 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:13:15 -0000

Ah, but in the Japanese language... there ARE no plurals! So... in koichi's defense... he could be referring to just a single kanji and you would never know!

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

guest — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:36:25 -0000

please change the title to 6 Reasons Why Kanji *are* Necessary. Plurals use "are".

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

dshack — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:47:07 -0000

俺は日本語を全然わからないから、こういう「漢字」って何かわからないもん笑

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

herinapotter — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 23:51:50 -0000

I have the same problem as you (since I'm also a beginner), but my roommate's Japanese is very advanced, and I really do think, with her problem, it's more about that she has to write more and not completely about not being able to think of enough to say. If she were to write something in English, and then write the same thing in Japanese, the Japanese would take up less space. It's just how the language works in comparison. Maybe what you've said can still counter what I've just said, but I really think for my roommate, the fact that writing with kanji takes up less space is an inconvenience. :P

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

ikari7789 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:30:48 -0000

Great article Koichi! I really enjoyed your points and also agree. The reading part is really true. My 先生 doesn't like us to use the kanji when we haven't learned them in class so that she knows we know the correct spelling/pronunciation for them, so, when we finally got around to learning numbers... it REALLY helped lol...

はちまんごせんしちひゃくごじゅうきゅう is certainly much harder to read than
八万五千七百五十九
Although I'm not too sure how much the Japanese still really use the kanji for their numbers vs. the arabic system like the rest of the world, but it still helped XD

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

ikari7789 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:17:32 -0000

I'll agree with you on this point lol. I believe the problem isn't that she needed to write more, but that it just feels like more. Writing a paper in a language other than your natural language, at least for me, seems like I can never... think of enough to say, and not only that, but the topics are lame at times as well. I'm still just a beginner, and my vocabulary spans maybe only a few hundred words at the moment, but when I'm asked to write about my favorite restaurant or how the weather is, I have trouble coming up with 15-20 sentences about them in English alone sometimes.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

ikari7789 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:59:08 -0000

I agree! Although no language EVER stays the same over time, it doesn't mean that it needs a complete overhaul. If you think about it, Japanses also started out being written as only the Chinese characters for the aristocratic men. It wasn't until the poorer and the women started using hiragana that it was introduced and the language started to become official, and then katakana was added over time. Disregard any historical inaccuracies please XD It's been a little while since I brushed up on my Japanese history.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

ikari7789 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:44:30 -0000

Althought you have a point insomniacgamer, I don't exactly agree. Even the native speakers in Japan don't learn 500 kanji in 2 years. Even though it might be slow learning, it really allows time for the kanji to soak into your head and for you to become completely comfortable with them.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

ikari7789 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:37:47 -0000

What I've found that helps with the on-yomi and kun-yomi, is to not worry about them much at all. I just learn the kanji... and force it into my head, by example, how they are pronounced in different usages. Eventually, you just sorta get a "feeling" for how they should sound with other characters. The Japanese language, for the most part, has a very fluent feel to it and words like to flow..., so if it sounds kinda discombobulated saying it with one way, it could very like be said the other way.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

ikari7789 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 20:33:04 -0000

I completely agree with you St. When ever I e-mail my homestay mother, even if I don't know the kanji, I still make sure to use them for her sake. There's no point in me making things harder for her, when I can always quickly convert the kanji she sends me to hiragana to get their meanings.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

NintendoExpedition — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:19:54 -0000

You are very fortunate. Even though some kanji meanings get distorted throughout the years they may not only have similar meanings, but also similar enunciations. What confuses me constantly is the on-yomi and kun-yomi readings. Perhaps years from now, the planets will align I will understand kanji.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

tutor1 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:38:09 -0000

Don't stop learning people. Just keep at it and you'll get it eventually.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

João Vitor — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:07:57 -0000

Kanji is absolutely fantastic in my opinion! Not only because the writing is as Koichi stated beatiful, but also because it provides us a challange to overcome. My first language is portuguese and I find It particularly difficult comparing to english. Here in Brazil is rather common to learn english when you are really young (at about 10/11). However, other languages are not learned as well as english... we have some private schools which provide german, french, italian and spanish courses but they are not so good as the english ones. What is really difficult to find here are schools teaching asian language such as chinese, korean or japanese. Anyway, if you have the right motivation kanji is only a mere obstacle!

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

Vyre — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:46:56 -0000

ex#2
IVLIAQVIPLORATAMARCOPVLSATURIAMEAAEMELIAMQVIMATEREIVSVOCAT

Iulia, qui plorat, a Marco Pulsatur. Iam Ea Aemeliam, Qui Mater Eius, vocat.

Julia, who cries, is hit by Marcus. Now She calls Aemilia, who is her mother.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

Vyre — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:39:57 -0000

You know, Latin used to not have any spaces, or punctuation marks! Thank goodness they fixed it.
ex. VBITVVSSACCVSESSACCVSSVVSONMENSAESTIVLIVS

Ubi tuus saccus es? Saccus Suus on mensa est.

Where is your sack? His sack is on the table.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

YoyoKirby — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:56:18 -0000

Alright. Also, I have a suggestion for a learning tool. The Nintendo DS game My Japanese Coach. It's actually really good. (except a few mistakes noted on wikipedia) but it actually helps me learn by providing games, puzzles and quizes to practice on. It also helps you write the symbols on the touch screen.
Maybe you can write about it in your next post. Lol.

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

koichi — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:16:40 -0000

Learn it right after hiragana, but learn kanji at the same time as
this - of course, you'll get done with katakana fairly quickly, and
then you'll only have kanji to fret about :)

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

YoyoKirby — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:09:52 -0000

Ok, I haven't gotten there yet, but what about Katakana?

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

koichi — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:04:31 -0000

You use it plenty :)

Definitely learn hiragana first - hiragana is often paired up with kanji to make a single word (and give the kanji context).

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

YoyoKirby — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:02:44 -0000

First off, Koichi you finally convinced me to learn Japanese. So as you can assume I'm new to it. My question is, why bother learning Hiragana when you're not supposed to use it? (Just a newb question)

Re: 6 Reasons Why Kanji is Necessary

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:40:42 -0000

While I only know 200 something, I'd have to agree on the kanji love. We went to Japan for 3 days and my mom was able to do all the communication for us via writing. (She's from Taiwan where they still use traditional characters... simplified ones are dumb! Boo!)

I'm also going to say that in Chinese children's books they have a lot of BoPoMoFo next to the characters... I'm sure someone else here had to learn that system in Chinese school. ...right?