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Learning to read Japanese is probably the most challenging aspect of learning Japanese. Most students find it far too confusing and time consuming, and as a result give up. After spending a few months learning Hiragana and Katakana the prospect of learning a few thousand Kanji becomes too overwhelming.

However, learning to read Japanese doesn’t have to be a painful and confusing experience. Most students make the mistake of learning to read Japanese in parts. First, students learn Hiragana, then Katanana. After this they learn a large number of grammar rules. Then comes learning hundreds of Kanji.  Doing all of this would take several months of considerable study time, but unfortunately amount to little progress. The problem is actual “reading practice” is not being done.

You have to start reading Japanese in order to read Japanese. As strange as this might sound it is the only way to learn how to read Japanese. Rather than learn Hiragana, Katakana, grammar and Kanji in parts, it is far more effective to practice reading Hiragana, Katakana and Kanji in a context.

Instead of spending money and time on Kanji and grammar books, what you really need is to be shown how to read Japanese. You need someone to guide you as you attempt to read. Think of it as like having a reading coach – who can explain cultural elements, confusing grammar and ambiguous wording.

If you can afford it, find yourself a Japanese tutor and have them read to you, explaining Kanji, grammar and cultural elements along the way. Then, you read to them and have them correct and guide you. It is the most effective way to progress with your reading. Make sure you find a tutor who understands your needs.

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I have finally managed to work out how to blog in both Japanese and English so I thought I would post a kanji symbol lesson. In this lesson we will focus on just one kanji symbol and see how it can be used in a number of Japanese kanji compound words. Did you know that a kanji character can have several readings. A single symbol will almost aways have an on-reading and a kun-reading.  The on-reading of a kanji character (音読み・おんよみ) is the Chinese based reading. Kanji originated in China, and Japan started to adopt and adapt the writing system in the 4th century. On-reading kanji often have the same or very similar pronunciation to the Chinese version of the kanji. The kun-reading （訓読み・くんよみ） is the Japanese reading of the kanji.

Watch the video kanji lesson below.

Let’s revise!

車　has two readings;  くるま and  しゃ. Which one is the Chinese reading?

Here are the questions and vocabulary from the video;

車をもってますか　　－ Do you own a car?

車をもってません      － I don’t own a car

車はたかいですね　－　Cars are expensive

車　－　　　　　くるま　　－　　　kuruma         –  car

車椅子　－　　 くるまいす　－　kurumaisu   -   wheelchair

自動車　－　    じどうしゃ　 －   jidousha       -   motor vehicle

自転車　－　     じてんしゃ　－ jitensha          -   bicycle

書庫　 　－  　 しゃこ　　　　－　shako             -   garage

駐車所 　－ ちゅうしゃじょ　－ chuushajyo   -  car park

車輪　　  － しゃりん　　　　－　sharin             -  wheel

What did you think?

As a student of Japanese it is very important for you to learn the Japanese writing system. The advantages of learning to read Japanese are well worth the study time. Learning to read Japanese involves learning and memorizing the two syallbaries, Hiragana and Katakana, and then about 1000 to 2000 Kanji.
Consider Hiragana as the baby of the three. It is the first syllabary Japanese learn. It is primarily used to write out things for which there are no kanji, such as verb endings and grammatical elements such as prepositions. It is also used for writing out things for which there are kanji but which do not warrant kanji to be used, such as some simple words, or writing out names without kanji. For example, my wife’s name is normally written in Kanji, but her parents choose to have her name written in hiragana instead of Kanji. So always writes her name in Hiragana.

Katakana is like the teenager constantly changing with the modern culture. It has two purposes. The main role of katakana is writing out foreign-derived words often referred to as load words which have been integrated into the Japanese language. The number or loan words is growing rapidly. The second purpose of katakana is to put emphasis on words, similar to the western use of italics, underlines or asterisks. This why you will find a lot of Japanese written in Katakana in manga. Katakana in manga is often used to express anger or surprise.

Kanji, the old, traditional and meaningful script. The wise half Japanese, half Chinese Grand Daddy. Most students of Japanese know that the bulk of Japanese script is not actually Chinese in origin. And the Japanese kanji that are in use today are merely a subset of a vast number of kanji that were in use up to less than a century ago. Ths problem with Kanji is in the “readings”. There are two readings for Japanese Kanji; one that comes from classical spoken Japanese called kunyomi and readings that come from classical Chinese are called onyomi.
The problem with these readings is that it is not always clear when to use which reading. There are no rules that state that a kanji is read in a particular way when used on its own, or when part of a word. The only real way to make sure you are using the right reading for a kanji when encountered in a context that
you had not seen it in before, is to look it up – while sometimes one can guess whether a kunyomi or onyomi is used, it is typically impossible to be certain.