The reading of a kanji character or a word written in kanji characters refers to how it is “read” in terms of kana characters.
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How to choose between “よん” (yon) vs “し” (shi) for “四” (4) and “しち” (shichi) vs “なな” (nana) for “七” (7)?
Two numbers in Japanese have two pronunciation alternatives.
四 / 4 can be pronounced either "よん" (yon) or "し" (shi)
七 / 7 can be pronounced either "しち" (shichi) or "なな" (nana)
I know that "し" ...
18
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2answers
348 views
Why is 二十歳 pronounced はたち?
二十歳 is a (to me) bizarre exception to the usual number+さい rule for discussing age. Is this rooted in 20 being the Japanese age of majority?
Added: To be more specific: why isn't it pronounced にじゅうさい ...
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7answers
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Does anyone have advice on how to get over/through/around the intermediate language plateau? (Self-learner)
How do you get through this? Especially in regards to reading. How do you practice reading at beyond the beginner level (No little black sambo's or whatever other children's books like I found in the ...
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2answers
356 views
What are the rules for reading numbers before a foreign counter-word?
Is there a rule of thumb for knowing the reading of a number when it is written in western numerals, and is followed by a loaned counter-word?
For example, how would you pronounce the "1" in １セット? My ...
15
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1answer
234 views
is there a difference between さみしい and さびしい？
Both mean "lonely" and appear to be valid readings for 寂しい.
Is there a difference in nuance? Is this difference due to dialect?
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4answers
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What is the difference between 「食う」 and 「食べる」?
I've often seen 「食べる」 used, when should we use 「食う」 ? Are these two interchangeable ? Can you provide examples ?
14
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1answer
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Reading (and usage) of 他: when is it 【た】, when is it 【ほか】?
他 is one of these common words that still to this day confuses me...
My general assumption is that:
used as a prefix, it should always be read 【た】, e.g.: 他人【たにん】
when treated as a "substantive" ...
13
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1answer
217 views
When to read “その後” as “そのご”, “そのあと” or “そののち”?
I've recently been seeing あと as well as ご as Furigana on top of 後 in その後, but is there a difference in usage or meaning between the different readings?
Looking at the Yahoo thesaurus, it seems it can ...
12
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1answer
571 views
Words/characters for fast food meal sizes: 並, 大, 特
When dining at Yoshinoya I never know how to ask for the size meal I want.
Their sizes are 並, 大, and 特.
I only know that "大" means big, but it also has two readings so I have no idea whether to ask ...
12
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2answers
281 views
Pronunciation of “何” as “なん” or “なに”
"何" is pronounced as "なん" before counter-words like in "何時{なんじ}", "何歳{なんさい}" etc; or before particles like in "何で", "何とか" etc.
However, it remains to be pronounced as "なに" in some words like ...
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2answers
215 views
How to read the X in 5X4間?
A book about architecture I'm trying to read (it's a bit of a slog what with the technical jargon and such) contained this description of a temple building: 二重、初重５X4間、裳階 （もこし） つき、上重４X3間. So it's two ...
11
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2answers
298 views
Is there a specific time to pronounce 日本, にほん/にっぽん?
Are the two used completely interchangeably or are there specific situations where one might be used more than the other? For example I've never heard 日本語 said にっぽんご.
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1answer
259 views
Do native speakers consciously use phonetic elements in 形声文字?
Do native speakers of Japanese use phonetic elements when reading less common kanji? For example, does the compound 咆哮 look like ほうこう because of the elements 包 and 孝, even if you haven't learned to ...
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4answers
586 views
What's with this “On reading”/“Kun reading” thing? Is it important to learn both as a beginner?
I was reading this article on Japanese numerals and I first encountered the whole On reading/Kun reading thing, with an additional column on "Preferred reading," which was almost always the On ...
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2answers
141 views
How do I know when to read the kanji 抱 as 【だ・く】, and when to read it as 【いだ・く】, or even 【うだ・く】?
This sentence was in a grammar textbook:
彼は同僚にライバル意識、ひいては殺意すら抱いていた
Here's how it's read (except for the last kanji, for which this question is about):
かれは どうりょうに ライバル いしき、ひいては さついすら ??ていた
...
9
votes
2answers
240 views
What's the reading of -中 as a suffix?
I see this all the time, but I don't know that I've heard it spoken.
For example: インストール中
Is it simply "なか"?
9
votes
4answers
688 views
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 ...
9
votes
1answer
219 views
Is かわいい wago or kango?
かわいい is sometimes spelled in kanji as 可愛い. This seems to be an 音読み reading which points to a Chinese loan, and Chinese does have this word.
However, the meaning of 可愛 as "cute" in Chinese seems to ...
8
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3answers
188 views
do people actually, if ever, say みょうにち ?
Hi all I've heard people using あした (the common one) and あす (rather uncommon) to refer to "tomorrow".
I was wondering does anyone actually uses the reading みょうにち ?
8
votes
2answers
263 views
When a number is written in western numerals, how do you say them?
Someone has said this in my manga.
まず！我らの使命は２つ！！
Does he actually say "two" or "に"? If the latter, why not use 二? I don't see 二つ as being any different.
8
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2answers
200 views
Pronunciation of 家 in …家ちんも安い
Here's the actual sentence:
私の部屋は、家ちんも安いし、駅にも近くて便利です。
How do you read '家ちん' and what does it mean? It's most likely that ちん is usually written in kanji since I got the sentence from a Japanese ...
8
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3answers
205 views
Multiple onyomi
If a kanji has multiple onyomi, which one do you use? Is there a rule governing this or can you use any one at any time?
8
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1answer
288 views
How is 名 pronounced in computer terms?
For usernames, etc., you usually see like ユーザ名 or something similar. Or like on my Skype, it says Skype名. How is the 名 pronounced in these situations? I've never been able to conclusively find this ...
8
votes
3answers
180 views
Is the only time 得る read as うる when it's a suffix?
Just wondering If choosing a reading is as simple as whether
得る is a suffix.
This is from tatoeba.org, a wiki-like sentence mine, so I'm not sure if える, the reading entered is correct.
...
8
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1answer
194 views
Why is 五右衛門 read “goemon”?
Why is the name 五右衛門 read as ごえもん?
How can the three kanji 五右衛 be read with only two syllables?
7
votes
2answers
174 views
Reading a number range
I have a bottle of 洗顔料(facial soap), and the instructions are:
ご使用量の目安 ポンプ１～２回 (use about 1 to 2 pumps)
If I were to read 1~2 aloud, how would I do it?
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1answer
185 views
Is “かいしゅん” a valid reading for 買春?
I have seen the words 売春 and 買春 pronounced "ばいしゅん". From my understanding 売春 is taken from the perspective of the "seller" whereas 買春 is taken from the perspective of the "buyer". However, when I ...
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1answer
157 views
When and how to use 来る 【きたる】
Of course 来る is most often read as くる. However, it can also be read as きたる. Is きたる mostly an archaic reading? Does it carry a different, or any additional meanings?? When are "appropriate" ...
7
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1answer
140 views
How do you read zeros in abbreviated years? (i.e. ０３年)
I came across ０３年度 and ０９年度, and while the meaning is clear I didn't know the actual way of reading it. My first reaction was ゼロさんねんど, but I have no way of checking if that's right. I thought it might ...
6
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3answers
294 views
What are the rules determining the use of the dash in katakana?
As explained in this question, a dash character is used in katakana as an extension of a sound.
First, what exactly is this character called? A "nobasu mark"?
Anyway, I saw this sign in Shibuya the ...
6
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1answer
141 views
Pronunciation of 対応済
Is the pronunciation of 対応済 たいおうすみ or たいおうずみ ?
Context: Software
Example:
ユーザが押したときに問題が起こらないように対応済
6
votes
3answers
204 views
How to read words like テスト with ordinal numbers?
Consider this:
テスト１, テスト２, テスト３ etc. (Taken from my exercise books. The tests are labelled as such up to 30)
(Question) Should numbers that are used with loanwords like テスト be read with いち, に, ...
6
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1answer
147 views
How to choose a reading for 降る? ふる & くだる
I always read 降る as ふる but for a particular sentence I noticed that the reading was written as くだる. Are there any tips to help figure out which reading to use?
Examples:
たとえ雨が降ろうとサイクリングにいくぞ。
I ...
5
votes
3answers
429 views
Reading of years
Years (Gregorian) can be read out in English:
A – two digits at a time;
B – each digit separately;
C – full reading of the number.
For example:
2012:
"Twenty twelve";
"Two ...
5
votes
2answers
141 views
What does 公け mean?
I am wondering what the reading and meaning of 公け is in the following sentence:
彼女のことが公けになることを好まず、ひそかに離縁しようと決心した。
5
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2answers
146 views
When to read 一人 and 二人 as いちにん and ににん?
WWWJDIC lists いちにん and ににん as alternative readings of 一人 {ひとり} and 二人 {ふたり}, but I can't recall anywhere I heard those readings except when counting more than 10 people for example 三十一人 {さんじゅういちにん}. ...
5
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2answers
129 views
the reading for “魂”
I came across a N1 vocab list and came across 魂 with the reading as こん, and I had known that as たましい. I know is one is 'on' and one is 'kun', but if it's just by itself I was under the impression that ...
5
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1answer
251 views
Is 子年 read as ねずみどし or ねどし? What about 卯年 and 亥年?
My dictionary says that 子年 can be read as both ねずみどし and ねどし, but when typing it in my computer, my IME only seems to convert ねずみどし to kanji.
The same goes for 卯年 (うどし and うさぎどし) and 亥年 (いどし and ...
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2answers
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How does one know how to read 堪える? Is it 「こたえる」、「こらえる」 or 「たえる」?
The verb 堪える has three different readings: こたえる, こらえる, and たえる, and as far as I can tell they all mean "to bear, to endure, to put up with", with slight variations. Is there a way to tell which ...
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1answer
102 views
クラウド上で - pronunciation?
I've seen 上で quite a few times recently, in contexts like:
In the cloud
クラウド上で
and：
On the computer
コンピュータ上
In this case, is it pronounced うえ, as in クラウドうえで, or じょう?
Silly ...
5
votes
2answers
234 views
Does the kanji 妾 still get used by women to refer to themselves?
In this answer, the kanji 妾 was defined as "mistress".
I'm not so familiar with this kanji, so I looked it up, and it seems to have about four readings and two definitions. Although I think some of ...
5
votes
1answer
110 views
Readings of 漏斗：じょうご vs ろうと
Is there any difference in meaning between the words じょうご and ろうと, both meaning something like "funnel", both written with the kanji 漏斗?
There's some indication in the answers here that ろうと may be a ...
5
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2answers
155 views
Reading 塞 and 省: When on and kun readings go together
I looked up 塞 in my 漢和辞典, and I found four readings:
音：サイ、ソク
訓：とりで、ふさ・ぐ
What I noticed is that サイ is used when the kanji means とりで, and ソク is used when the kanji means ふさぐ:
「とりで」の意味： ...
5
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1answer
157 views
Words for Ginkgo in Japanese: ぎんきょう and ぎんなん
I decided to read about the words for Ginkgo in Japanese (as in Ginkgo biloba).
I was surprised to learn that Ginkgo comes from Japanese! According to
Wikipedia, Engelbert Kaempfer, while writing ...
4
votes
2answers
174 views
Which readings would you use to pronounce people's names?
I'm confused whether it is normally appropriate to use On-readings or Kun-readings when dealing with people's names; I'm fine when its just two character names; I just make a logical deduction in my ...
4
votes
2answers
136 views
Pronunciation of 締 in 月末締／翌月末払
If I understood well, 月末締／翌月末払 means "close the deal before end of a given month then get payment before end of the following month"
Is the pronunciation "げつまつしめ よくげつはらい"
I am especially unsure ...
4
votes
2answers
394 views
What is “kanji illiteracy” (kanji yomenai) in the context of native Japanese speakers?
In the context of native Japanese speakers (not non-natives), is there a concept that roughly translates as "kanji illiteracy"? If so, what are the Japanese terms for it? Also, what does it mean? Does ...
4
votes
1answer
159 views
Usage and reading of the Ampersand
In English, & is rather frequently used to mean "and".
How should & be read in Japanese? I think these are some likely readings:
や
と
アンド
Case 1: Assume sentence structure is of the form ...
4
votes
2answers
183 views
How can a verb be in the beginning of a sentence when it is usually at the end? Ex. 折れた淡い翼。
When composing sentences in Japanese, the verb tends to be last right? For example,
バナナを食べました。 --> I ate a banana
But recently I came across a sentence where the verb was at the beginning of the the ...
4
votes
1answer
90 views
How do you read 遅ランチ?
I read 遅ランチ and while I think the meaning is pretty clear ("late lunch" unless I'm mistaken), I wasn't sure how to read it. I wanted to say おそ, but the lack of okurigana suggests to me that isn't the ...
