Can anyone explain this difference to me?

5 comments

1. The first thing to note is that kanji is the opposite idea of most written language you’ll be used to. While in e.g. English, we write using sound, with meaning following based on sound, kanji involves writing with meaning, and the sound is based on meaning and context. So にち and じつ are not the ‘definitions’ of 日, but two readings of it.

   The overwhelming majority of kanji have two forms of reading: on’yomi, based on the rough pronunciation of the character as it existed in Chinese (kanji are originally Chinese, after all), and kun’yomi, based on the equivalent term in native Japanese.

   So for 日, the on’yomi are にち and じつ, while the on’yomi are ひ, か, and sometimes び.

   On’yomi are usually found in compounds, while kun’yomi usually function on their own (though this is not an absolute rule). They are different readings, but the meaning is (more or less) unchanged. This will make more sense as you see how they work in context.

   Ironically, as you get away from the basic kanji, most kanji tend to have one on’yomi and one kun’yomi, so it’s actually easier to keep track of which reading to use for more complicated kanji.

   I wouldn’t really go with a children’s worksheet for this. ‘Dumbed down’ doesn’t mean ‘better explained’. From personal experience, I would recommend something like [Basic Kanji 500](https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Kanji-Book-Basic-Vol-1/dp/4893588826) which does a decent job of explaining the principles and has some good practice exercises, though I’m sure others may have other recommendations.

2. Kanji typically have 2 **types** of readings – kunyomi and onyomi. For any particular kanji character there may be zero, one or many different readings of each **type**. Sometimes a kanji may be read with a sound that is not of either type.

   So… This can all be very very difficult to memorize. Best not to bother trying to memorize it all in one go…

   My advice is to learn **words** [rather than isolated kanji.](https://youtu.be/exkXaVYvb68?si=8FrZzAxN8gQkKMyJ) Language consists of words, so learning words will be inherently useful. You’ll also get to see various kanji in context (think of kanji as letters of a word), and you’ll discover all of their useful readings when you learn to pronounce the words.

   Here’s some [more advice](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/s5mtva/comment/ht1lo0x/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) for studying Japanese as a beginner.

3. you’re trying to read kanji and it doesn’t work that way. you read words, not kanji. there are patterns, and you’ll start noticing readings and such as you go. but ultimately, a series of kanji have no pronunciation or meaning unless they are used as a word in a full sentence context. just like you can’t read “lead” in english unless you see how it’s used, despite there being finite number of ways to pronounce “ea”.

   learn words, read words.

4. If English would be written with Kanji, then the list would look like this:

   Kanji: 空 Read: SPACIO, sky
   Kanji: 炭 Read: CARBON, coal, charcoal
   Kanji: 学 Read: -(O)LOGY, SCIENCE, school
   Kanji: 女 Fead: FEMIN, GYNECO, woman, female

   As you can see most characters have multiple readings. The ones written in capitals are from Latin or Greek and are mostly used in scientific vocabulary and don’t necessarily make sense as independent words. In Japanese these correspond to the On’yomi, that describe readings adapted from Chinese. The other ones are just native English or something else entirely. They correspond to the Kunyomi.
   Some words might also be spelled differently depending on context, e.g. sister might be spelled 姉 or 妹 depending on whether its an older or a younger sister.

   As such just learning all the readings of a Kanji in a vacuum won’t help you anything. Instead you would have to learn the words formed with them just like you learn you vocabulary in other languages. E.g.

   空 sky

   女 woman

   女兵 female solder

   女学 gynecology

   …

   In this context, the reading is usually unique. You rarely say “woman science” or something.

   The difficult part is to coordinate both efforts such that you still be able to understand the characters used to write this word while also learning how it is used.

5. You’re trying to read them like words. While they’re not. You can experiment reading them LIKE words. That’s what I’m personally doing. Take 花火 for example. Read it like 花(Hana) 火(bi). Put them together and you get 花火. Don’t waste your time trying to read each individual kanji. Because the way I said to read compound kanji and kanji in general, would be a lot better than remembering each individual kanji. I know I’ll get downvoted but maybe it can help a new person out and learn it some what like English