Questions tagged [chinese]

中国語. Although totally unrelated, the Chinese language has had perhaps a greater impact on the Japanese language than Latin has had on English, especially in the form of a vast number of loanwords and the writing system.

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When Chinese personal names are written in Japanese in kanji is there always an obvious reading?

In their comment to an answer on the question "Are foreign personal names usually written in katakana rather than Romaji?", user sawa says: ... Chinese names should be written in kanji rather than ...
hippietrail's user avatar
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19 votes
5 answers
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Can I use my Chinese name as my Japanese name?

Im Chinese and my name is 陈依仁 (Chén Yī Rén). Can I use this as my Japanese name, and if so how do I read it in Japanese? Or would it be better to use the Katakana version of my English name which is ...
chinsuujin's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

How to tell if a word is Sino-Japanese or Yamato

How can I tell if a word is Sino-Japanese (漢語), or Yamato (和語)? An answer to How 「えい」 should be pronounced in the words like 英語, 先生, etc? talks about the pronunciation of Sino-Japanese words and ...
Golden Cuy's user avatar
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9 votes
1 answer
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Variations in the "same" kanji, how do you know which one to use?

I've been trying to memorize some Kanji, and I've noticed that some of them seem to have different forms. So depending on what app I use, or what website I visit, the Kanji seems lightly different. As ...
Saintmagician's user avatar
9 votes
4 answers
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Is it acceptable in Japanese to write kanji characters in the Chinese style?

In Japanese, is it acceptable to write kanji letters in the Chinese style? For example, is it acceptable to write 田 with the 3rd and 4th strokes swapped, or 着 with the 6th and 7th strokes combined?
ixsccd's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
517 views

Can I use my Chinese name and if so, how do I say it?

My Chinese name in Kanji is 王元劭 (Wang Yuan Shao). I've heard there are many different readings I can use for each kanji, am I allowed to use whichever reading I like? Also, apparently the character 劭 ...
adaeo's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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Usage of simplified chinese in place of some kanji in handwriting

Of course I'm talking about casual writing as opposed to formal or polite writing. There are many 新字体 that were kind of "half" simplified in to the equivalent simplified Chinese forms such as 関 and 広 ...
小太郎's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
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Specific examples of tonal Chinese words rendered into Japanese

It is often said that Japanese contains a large number of homonyms because there was no way to render tonal Chinese words into Japanese. This makes complete sense. But I am looking for specific ...
kandyman's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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曜日 and 曜 don't mean the same but xx曜日 and xx曜 are synonyms?

I'm learning days of the week and things like that. I've read that 曜日 means "day of the week" which includes Saturday and Sunday, when 曜 means "weekday" which is from Monday to Friday because related ...
Destal's user avatar
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21 votes
7 answers
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Japanese kanji with different meanings in Chinese

湯 in Japanese refers to "hot water." In Chinese, it means "soup." How common are kanji with different meanings in Chinese? Also, why do differences occur in the first place? Were the meanings in both ...
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1 answer
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Are 变 and 変 the same?

Is there a difference between 变 and 変 or are they different versions of the same thing i.e. traditional/simplified?
bahrta sai's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
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Are on’yomi words loanwords?

this is probably a silly question, but since words with multiple kanji are usually read with on’yomi would that effectively make most japanese vocabulary loanwords? like 森林 or 図書館?i understand ...
jacoballens's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
429 views

Shin Kanzen Master has a Chinese element?

I'm using the HelloTalk app. I posted a picture of my Shin Kanzen Master books (JLPT N3). This picture in fact. Then I got this response: きっと英語圏、中国語圏むけのテキストなんですね。 and this response: 怪しい本だなぁ。...
Cloud9999Strife's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
511 views

Is 云 related to 𠫓 in any way?

Depending on the kanji face the left element 言 in multi-element kanjis like 語 is sometimes depicted with 丶 instead of top 一 . It makes me think that the same transformation occurs for 𠫓: 云 changes to ...
user1602's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
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Why 習近平 is しゅうきんぺい while 文在寅 is むんじぇいん?

In broadcasts, Japanese readings of kanji are used for Chinese names while Korean readings of kanji are used for Korean names. Is there any reason for this?
legogo's user avatar
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