Adventures in Kanji!
Early last week, I gave a presentation at our Older Youth Workshop about my experience with kanji (the Chinese characters used in conjunction with the Japanese writing systems in everyday Japanese life). Everyone here has been really excited about it, and they have asked me to write articles for the newsletter and for the Transnational College of LEX reports about my examples. Compared to a Japanese person, my visualization of kanji is different and interesting to them. I decided that I would also include some of my examples here.
One of the places i have focused on kanji the most has been the train. For about 2 hours everyday, I am stuck on a train with free time and signs with rom
anji (the roman characters), hiragana (the Japanese syllables), and kanji. It gives a great opportunity to explore the new writing methods. One of the kanji I saw often was 駅. At first, it was very hard to distinguish, but I came up with a visual image to remember it. In the station there are signs for train lines (instead of subways). I thought that the right side of the kanji looked a lot like this image. Then on the top left side, there was a platform building with people waiting in line. Add a couple lines for other tracks, like the express train, and you have 駅.
Another important kanji for me to learn was my address. I live in 白河 (Shirakawa - white river). The first
part I learned at a Hippo Congress. I was put on team white. To remember it, I thought of the kanji as a fist with the thumb pointing back towards me - I was team white! The second part was harder. In my neighborhood there are a lot of rivers and down on the bank by the bridges they are labeled with 川. I was confused about how the same word could have two representations, but if you look at 河 then you can see 川 turned on it's side next to a house - my house in 白河!
I have also made many mistakes. One of the funniest was when I mixed up 六本木 (Roppongi - a very touristy area)
with 大丈夫 (daijoubu - meaning no worries). You can see how they look very similar, right? Well, I would often travel past the Roppongi station on the subway and wonder why their was a "No Worries" station or why my host mother would reply with "Roppongi" if I asked to stay in Shibuya after work. Later I recognized the 本 that is in Roppongi is also in 日本 (Nihon - Japan). I rememberd that sometimes Nihon is said Nippon like in All Nippon Airlines (ANA). The "pon" helped me remember which was which.
I am by far not a kanji expert, but I am slowly learning them. Many times when you remember one trick, it helps to remember many more. For me, I just have to continue to challenge myself to create mental images and other tricks. And of course, it helps to be surrounded by them everyday.
anji (the roman characters), hiragana (the Japanese syllables), and kanji. It gives a great opportunity to explore the new writing methods. One of the kanji I saw often was 駅. At first, it was very hard to distinguish, but I came up with a visual image to remember it. In the station there are signs for train lines (instead of subways). I thought that the right side of the kanji looked a lot like this image. Then on the top left side, there was a platform building with people waiting in line. Add a couple lines for other tracks, like the express train, and you have 駅.Another important kanji for me to learn was my address. I live in 白河 (Shirakawa - white river). The first
part I learned at a Hippo Congress. I was put on team white. To remember it, I thought of the kanji as a fist with the thumb pointing back towards me - I was team white! The second part was harder. In my neighborhood there are a lot of rivers and down on the bank by the bridges they are labeled with 川. I was confused about how the same word could have two representations, but if you look at 河 then you can see 川 turned on it's side next to a house - my house in 白河!I have also made many mistakes. One of the funniest was when I mixed up 六本木 (Roppongi - a very touristy area)
with 大丈夫 (daijoubu - meaning no worries). You can see how they look very similar, right? Well, I would often travel past the Roppongi station on the subway and wonder why their was a "No Worries" station or why my host mother would reply with "Roppongi" if I asked to stay in Shibuya after work. Later I recognized the 本 that is in Roppongi is also in 日本 (Nihon - Japan). I rememberd that sometimes Nihon is said Nippon like in All Nippon Airlines (ANA). The "pon" helped me remember which was which.I am by far not a kanji expert, but I am slowly learning them. Many times when you remember one trick, it helps to remember many more. For me, I just have to continue to challenge myself to create mental images and other tricks. And of course, it helps to be surrounded by them everyday.
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