Japanese Kanji

The Japanese language has always been an intriguing one for me. In 6th grade, I stumbled upon Japanese culture through music, and became fascinated with the idea of another language.

For me, the most important part about learning a language for anybody is your amount interest. No matter the language, or how "practical" you are told it may or may not be,  your interest and dedication determines your success to mastering communication and proficiency in any scenario.

An example I'd like to use is this: Let's say you've been interested in cooking for a long while. It's something that makes you happy, and through it, you want to share your experience and talent with others to make them happy. Your friend however, has picked up on your interest, and starts to talk to you about "how far you can go with cooking."

"Maybe you should get into something more practical, you know, like an actual profession. When are
you ever going to use cooking except just to get by through the day? Don't you want to know something more useful?"

And to that I say-

"No!"

If your passion is cooking, and that's your dream, no matter your level, you will achieve personal excellency through hard work. No matter how good you are at something else, there is no talent like one that comes from your heart. Languages are the exact same way! Your passion to learn will lead you to success as long as you keep your mind on a steady and focused path.

For this project, I will begin by reading: "Read and Write Japanese Scripts" by Helen Gilhooly. With her book, I will be able to begin my journey on learning Japanese kanji, the third and final "alphabet" of words in the language. 

Japanese, like Chinese, has a specific way kanji needs to be written for it to be understood. For English speakers, the way we write "a" or "z"  has no impact as long as it is still legible. I have provided a full stroke order picture down below. 

The first word we will go over in the post is "to listen." This will introduce kanji, and hopefully explain in a way that made most sense to me while learning. 

The wonderful thing about learning Japanese kanji, is the fact that with simple tools or creativity, kanji's meaning can be easily remembered! Let's take a look at the kanji for "to listen."

Look odd or hard to remember? Think not! Japanese kanji is not simply random confusing strokes, (although they can tend to look like it at first glance) there are actually patterns that we can see within the kanji to deduct what it means, even from not knowing the word originally!

The first deduction we can see within this kanji, is the kanji surrounding the inner symbol, which is　門　（モン、かど）。 This kanji when used here, means "gate," and can also referring to "opening."

The stroke for this kanji may seem odd at first, but once done a few times, is easy to memorize! In order from left to right, this is how you would write this kanji.

*Note, horizontal strokes are typically written from left to right, and vertical strokes up to down.*

 Once broken down, we can see that this kanji isn't as intimidating as it appears! To learn Japanese kanji at a good rate, it is important to notice these main kanji, especially since if it pops up again but with a different kanji in the middle or beside it, we can use context clues to decipher the kanji.

But what about the tiny one in the middle? What does that mean? 

Well, on closer inspection, we can see that the kanji placed in the middle of 門 is 耳　（みみ）. This kanji is meant for the word "ear."  

So, when putting both kanji together, it may seem odd. "Gate ear?" I asked when reading the book. "What could this mean?" While thinking abstractly, you can come to the conclusion that this full kanji means to listen!

"Opening your ears" is a very clear way to understand and remember this kanji, and was enjoyable to learn and fully understand the meaning behind it, instead of just memorizing random strokes.

*Look back at the original kanji, is the meaning clearer to see now? Within the book to help look for the kanji, the example used is: "A neighbor pressing an ear between the gates of the house to hear the gossip." (Gilhooly, 58) 

As a first lesson and trial, I am glad to have spent time putting together this blog post and truly understanding the word and it's meaning/origin. My next blog post will feature more than one kanji, but for this, I wanted to hopefully inspire a start to understanding and enjoying the full picture of the language. 

Are there any languages you're interested in? If so, what seems to be the hardest part about the language? Speaking, writing, listening? Leave comments and questions below, thanks for reading!