Are you supposed to read kanji differently?

11 comments

1. The Japanese system has different methods for counting different objects or people depending on identifying characteristics, so futari (二人) is to count two people specifically but the number two is still 二.

   What you have is the counting for people.

   Context changes the way things are counted. If you are counting something long and cylindrical it is counted as -hon, so two long cylindrical items is nihon. (Beware of this too, they change for words depending on the count, so one cylidrical item is not ichihon, it is ippon).

   Confused? I am too….

   https://www.punipunijapan.com/counting-in-japanese-hon/

2. You cannot learn Japanese with only a kanji study app. Start with a real textbook or a grammar guide, otherwise you are soon going to have 100s of questions like this. Any legitimate beginner study resource is going to answer this within the first few pages, for example: [https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/kanji](https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/kanji)

3. Short answer: different vocab = different pronounciation.

   So, one is いち(一) as in the number 1. But the counter ひとつ is a different word. Kinda like 1(one) versus 1st (first). Especially counters in Japanese are sheer endless and a category of its own; depending on what is being counted, different vocab is used.

   Japanese kanji have different readings (Chinese vs Japanese reading; おんよみ and くんよみ) so you will encounter this on the daily. Different vocab = different reading which is why everyone around here will recommend you to learn words instead of only kanji.

   It’s kinda like: water, aqua, hydro. You’ll say waterway and aquarium and hydrogen, but all have sth to do with water. Same goes for kanji.

4. Tofugu have an [excellent article](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/counting-in-japanese/) on counting.

   They have an equally [excellent article](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-counters-guide/) about counters as well.

   Edit: [Numbiro](https://numbiro.app/) is a great little app for practicing numbers and counters.

5. Think of it like:

   Read (pronounced: reed)

   Read (pronounced: red)

   Kanji is just spelling, you have to learn the words themselves to know when and why the sound changes.

   And this happens everywhere. Let’s just look at 子 (ko) “child”

   子 is in the following words

   息子 = musu**ko**

   調子 = chou**shi**

   椅子 = i**su**

   There’s no real rule that dictates what sound is where. There’s etymological reasons, sure… but that’s not really the kind of information you can keep in your head for EVERY KANJI ENCOUNTER. Especially when most kanji have anywhere from 2 – 6 readings or more.

   Instead just learn words, and treat kanji like spelling.

   I learned “musuko” meant “son”

   and “choushi” meant “mood/tone”

   and “isu” meant “chair”

   And learning the kanji came later… and I managed to not even register that 子 was making different sounds in them. XD I was just like “Musuko… spelled 息子” treat it like an emoji and don’t even think about it.

6. Long story short, kanji usually have 2 main ways of readings: Kuniomi and onyomi (each way can also have multiple readings)….how you read it depends largely on how the word is structured (but like with everything else there are exceptions). It’s not specifically because numbers in their kanji forms that they are read differently. The typical numbers you are used to seeing (1, 2, 3, etc) weren’t always used in Japanese…..it used to be just their kanji form all the time (一、二、三、四、etc)…but regardless of how it is written, when you add a counter to a number, (一つ or 1つ) it is still read the same way: ひとつ….

   ​

   as you learn more, you will start to recognize patterns and counters and how they may sound together

   examples

   ​

   一個 (いっこ)

   2個 (にこ)

   一本 (いっぽん)

   2本 (にほん)

   一つ (ひとつ)

   二つ (ふたつ)

7. Ichi Ni San Shi Go Roku Shichi Hachi Kyuu Juu is juat the bog standard way to count to ten in Japanese, but those are actually the Japanese pronunciations of the old Chinese readings of the number.

   The actual TRUE Japanese numbers are hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, yotsu, itsutsu, muttsu, nanatsu, yattsu, kokonotsu, tou.

   Both are used frequently depending on what you’re counting. It’s kind of a bitch, but you pick on it up pretty quick when you’re actually using them.

8. Japanese is just like English. Things that are said differently are different words. The difference is that in Japanese different words can be written the same way. Fun, right.

9. The joy of discovering the Japanese counting system for the first time is unparalleled; I still remember it like it was yesterday.

   “I need a counter for small animals, but a different one for birds and rabbits?”

10. You’ll learn to use different pronunciations of how a kanji is used in words with practice. Think of it like the # symbol. You’ll pronounce it differently without even thinking when I say #4, #learningjapanese, or a # sign.

11. Hey, I’m also a beginner and use this app myself (for like 5 days). One thing I noticed is : for every kanji, usually the word on the right is standalone (and low level at this point) and the words on the left are in combination with other kanjis (thus higher level).

    That being said, this is not true for numbers as they appear to be standalone and in combination on both sides … But, I usually learn the word on the right side (N5 at low level) which I guess is what we’re supposed to do first.

    Anyone feel free to correct me