[0:00]When you are in Japan, you'll see kanji, kanji, kanji, kanji, kanji everywhere. And you feel like so intimidated, start learning kanji or you just overwhelmed. But in this video, we're going to go over how the kanji works so you'll feel less intimidated and also you'll find the patterns of learning kanji. So, let's just dive into it. So, what is kanji used for? In Japan we have three different writing systems, right? Hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Do you know why we have three and how are they used? Well, let's say that we only have hiragana and look at this sentence. Oh, it's so hard to read, where is the word? Where is the function words like particles? You can't tell because unlike English, we don't have space in between words. So it makes it actually super difficult to read only with one type of writing system. So, we do this. Now this is read as niwa niwa niwa niwatori ga iru. Do you get that? When we see this, it kind of looks like emoji, so the kanji works like emoji, you can kind of glance at it and get the meaning right away. And this actually means, niwa garden, niwa is two and counter for birds, niwatori is roosters, and iru is there is. So there's there are two roosters in the garden. So, how Japanese see it is something like this. It's like emoji, so it's like garden, two wings and the rooster and. So, let me go back to the three writing systems and how each one is used. The first one hiragana is used for basically grammar and also word endings and simple words. And katakana is for foreign loanwords and also onomatopoeia like pikapika or kirakira. You know, pikapika is not just Pikachu. And kanji is like a meaning at a glance. It has both meaning and sounds. Hiragana and katakana only have sounds, but kanji has meaning, so it's easier to skim read. And a lot of Japanese learners and also Japanese people actually say that they prefer kanji because it makes it easier to read. And also a lot of people like kanji over katakana. So, if you learn katakana already, you've already done the hard part. So, good job. Now that you know why Japanese has three different writing system, there's one very important thing to remember. To be able to read and write Japanese sentences, you do not need to know all of the kanjis. You know, Japanese people take nine years to learn all of the kanjis that are actually needed to live in Japan. When we don't know some of the kanjis, what we use is just hiragana. So, if you don't know a word, don't be afraid to just write it down in hiragana. And even as an adult, when we forget how to write it, we write it in hiragana. I always emphasize and emphasize it to my students, but build vocabulary first. Don't worry about learning the kanji or knowing the kanji first to write a sentence. Build vocabulary first. Like in English, you can't spell a word that you don't know. Like, for example, let's make up a word. Maybe light or share. You know, maybe nobody knows, right? Can you spell it? Probably not. And do you know the meaning? You don't know. I don't know either because I just made it up. Just like that, you have to know the vocabulary and the meaning of it first to write kanji. So, the most efficient way of learning Japanese is to learn the grammar, how to speak, build vocabulary and also how to write, all at the same time. So, yeah, let's finally get into kanji. What are kanji made of? Well, kanjis are basically a pictogram, that's where it started. It came from how it looks. So, for example, this kanji is yama, which means mountain because do you see the resemblance from this picture? Or this kanji, do you know the meaning of it? This is actually coming from a tree picture, do you see the resemblance? Ki desu ne, ki. And what about this one? This is a person. There are two ways to think about it. The first one is a person walking, so it's the leg part. Or the second one which I like is someone is about to fall. And then the other person is like, oh, I got you, I support you. Because people can't live by oneself. People support each other, right? So hito. So, that's the beginning of kanji. And eventually it became a symbol or it became like a puzzle. If it's not a pictogram, it might be something that you can't really visualize. Like, for example, ue, above or up, you can't really visualize the picture, right? When that happens, ue kanji has this line, right? This is the standard line, and then something comes above. So, that's why it has the line on top. Another example is shita, down or under, there is this standard line again, and there's this stroke going down because it's under. And then here comes the puzzle one. The puzzle one is the fun one. Let's bring up these two kanjis again. Hito, person, and tree, ki. And we put these together, and now a person is by the tree, resting. So, this kanji means to rest. Oh, now you're saying the pattern like a puzzle. And the last one is radical plus sound. Now, before we get into that, what is a radical? A radical is a hint of meaning or category. For example, if it has a person radical, it's something related to humans. Or if it has a hand radical, it had something to do with hands or hand movements. Or if it has the water radical, it had something to do with water. Here's an example. This is sun kanji and sun radical. And if it goes with the blue, which controls the sound, it means sunny. Now, let's put water radical plus blue. This means clean because when water's blue, that's clean water. Or if it goes with a word radical and blue, that means to request. And then lastly, when it has a heart radical with blue, that means feeling, like, you know, feeling blue. So, these radicals give a hint of meaning. So that's how radicals work. Now, see the patterns? I was showing the radicals on the left side, but it doesn't just appear on the left side. It can be on the right, it can be on the top, it can be at the bottom, and also it can go around it. It depends on the radical and the kanji itself. Now, if you've learned kanji or if you know more about kanji, you might think, ah, that's not the reason why we think kanji is difficult. It's because kanji has multiple readings. Hmm. So, kanji has a meaning and sounds, multiple readings for single kanji. And there are two types of readings, one is on-yomi, which is Chinese reading, and the other one is kun-yomi, which is Japanese reading, so on-yomi, kun-yomi. Why do we have two? Well, on-yomi Chinese reading is how Chinese pronunciation sounded to Japanese ears back then, and the kun-yomi, the Japanese reading is the original Japanese words. To explain why we have two different types of reading, we have to go back in history. Japanese people found kanji, Chinese characters in China. And Japanese people thought, what a beautiful writing, can we use that? Because back then, Japanese had our own spoken language, but we didn't have the writing system. So, we wanted to use something to write, but we couldn't invent it, beautiful kanji next door, so, can we use it? That time Japanese people learned that each character has a meaning and sound. So, this is what happened. Whoa, what a beautiful writing, what is that? Oh, this is shan. san. Hmm, shan. Ha, san. Hmm, what does that mean? Shan. Well, it means mountain. Oh, mountain. Mountain is san. Okay. Okay, we're going to use that.
[8:45]But wait. We already have a word that means mountain, which is yama. You know what? We're going to use them both. So, that is the beginning of a nightmare. I say nightmare because I personally didn't like learning kanji growing up. So, I see your struggles. So, that's why I want to make it as simple as possible. So, now you know how the kanji works, let's talk about the basic writing rules for kanji. So, just like hiragana and katakana, kanji has stroke order. And I recommend following them especially if you want to write beautifully, balanced, and also easier for Japanese people to read it. I personally recommend writing it down to memorize it. I know everybody has different ways to learn, so it's up to you, but that's my personal recommendation. And the first rule is there is stop, hook, and release. What I mean by that is when you write the stroke, if the pen stops like this at the end, that's stop, which we call tome. Second one hook, which we call hane is literally hook. So it goes down and hook. Or sometimes it goes the side and hook. And the last one, third one is harai, which is release, so you don't stop the pen at the end, release. Release. Okay. And then, if you see a box like this, the stroke order is not four but three. First, you write the left one, and then top one and the right one together, and then lastly, you close the box. You got it? Anytime you see a box. And if you practice this way, your handwriting will be more balanced and easier to read for Japanese people and also other people as well. But how many kanji should you know to have no problem living in Japan or going around in Japan? Well, there is a list called joyo kanji, which means commonly used kanji, actually officially registered by Japanese government. According to that, there are 2,136 kanjis registered. And if you can read and write all of these kanjis, you'll have no problem in daily situations in Japan. But don't worry about it. A lot of people forget some of the kanjis or maybe a lot of kanjis, and Japanese learners start from learning the first basic 100 kanjis or a little bit more, and then you start doing the puzzles just like how we saw earlier. So, don't worry too much about it, and you don't have to you know, we take nine years to learn all of that, and as embarrassing as it sounds, I don't think I can write all the kanjis. I should learn. So, let's learn together. Well, I hope this video made it less intimidating to start learning the kanji or made you start looking at the kanji as a patterns or puzzles, if that's the case, my job is done today. I hope it helps, and if you like this video, let me know in the comment, also give it a like, and I will see you in the next video. Dewa, enjoy learning kanji. Minna-san, saigo made mite kurete arigato, mata ne.
