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Topic: Chinese/Japanese characters (Read 28559 times) |
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #25 on: May 10th, 2004, 12:47am » |
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Correct again. True, not so soft when actually practiced, but softer than the open hand or nunchucks or throwing stars...
The doh part is the same one for all the doh words in Japanese, more on those later.
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Speaker
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Here is another, like the one before, but applying a little more technique. The one on the right means technique. So, what is it?
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BNC
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #27 on: May 10th, 2004, 1:39am » |
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Hmm... could probably mean a lot of martial arts...
I'll take a guess.
The first part the same... Maybe Jujuitsu (spelling?)? I don't even know what's the difference between Judo and JuJuitsu, but heck...
[e]What do August and Judo have in common??[/e]
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| « Last Edit: May 10th, 2004, 1:39am by BNC » |
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Speaker
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #28 on: May 10th, 2004, 1:46am » |
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Correct again. The spelling is also variable here in the land of the Chrysanthemum Throne. Either Jujutsu or Jujitsu (but not Jujuitsu, but close).
This one is the art of unarmed combat.
Judo is more involved with using levarage and moving in circles around a pivot point.
Karate uses weapons. (These are all kind of my own interpretation).
August is the Olympics and Judo is a sport that Japan expects to win some heavy metal in.
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Speaker
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This time I have a double. The pair on the left and the pair on the right form two well known words in English.
The pair on left:
The one on the left means god, as in the Shinto gods.
The one on the right is the same in both pairs.
The pair on the right: The root of this pair actually comes from Arabic and Greek, then to China and finally to Japan.
The one on the left means tower or height (and a lot of other meanings that do not apply).
The one on the right is of course the same, and is the give-a-way.
The highlighted character can be pronounced in two different ways, both are represented here. This variation in pronunciation of the same character is commonly given as one reason that makes Japanese difficult to master.
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BNC
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #30 on: May 11th, 2004, 2:15pm » |
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I dare say that god-XXX and tower-XXX are not much of a clue...
However, given the name of the gif file, I guess one of them is typhoon / huricane?
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Icarus
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #31 on: May 11th, 2004, 4:26pm » |
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So the left is Kamikazi, and the right is 'Typhoon' (wasn't sure of that one until I looked up its etymology in English, and it also came to English from Greek & Arabic through China).
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| « Last Edit: May 11th, 2004, 4:26pm by Icarus » |
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Speaker
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Correct again. Typhoon is pronounced Taifu in Japan. So, the character for wind is kaze and fu.
Now, I have another set of characters with different sounds. In this case the same two characters are used, and they have the same meaning, but their pronunciation is different. The characters are just reversed, and this changes the pronunciation.
Also, both are known in English, one is fairly common, and the other is in Websters dictionary, and is known to some.
You can see that the yellow character has the sword or knife character which appeared earlier in the ninja kanji. So it means something that involves blades.
If I give a hint to the other one it will be too obvious. Just remember it hurts.
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BNC
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #33 on: May 11th, 2004, 10:30pm » |
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Harakiri?
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Speaker
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Yes, the one on the left is harakiri. The one on the right is seppuku. They both mean to commit ritual suicide by slicing open the abdomen. (Abdomen that is the meaning of the more complicated kanji.) Harakiri is well known in English, and seppuku can be found in most large dictionaries.
So, for the next act, something completely delicious. This one came from Portugal, then Japan, and now it is know throughout the world. The characters here do not have any particular meaning that I know of, they were just used to write the foreign word. Each character has one syllable, three, just like the English.
Well, here are some more hints. The first of the three means heaven, and is pronounced TEN. However, because there is very little differentiation between M and N sounds when they come at the end of a syllable in Japanese. The different sounds do exist, but are treated as being the same. The other kanji are pretty obscure and do not contribute to the meaning of the word.
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| « Last Edit: May 13th, 2004, 12:25am by Speaker » |
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Speaker
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Well, so far we have had words that probably everybody knows, and everybody also knows that they are derived from Japanese words. But, I imagine that it was news to discover that "typhoon" game from Arabic. Also, that the other word meaning a delicious food that begins with TEM purabably will be answered pretty soon. If anybody is still reading.
So, know I have two words that have been in American English for such a long time that people do not recognize them as Japanese. The first one means a leader or boss of a small or medium sized group. I figure it was introduced to US English with the early Japanese immigrants in the 19th century. Is it used in the UK or OZ?
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| « Last Edit: May 13th, 2004, 5:38pm by Speaker » |
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Speaker
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Well, further hints for the above kanji pair. The one on the right is pronounced CHO, and is used for lots of words like manager or president (of a company) or principal of a school.
So, with that the whole word should be forthcoming. Think about a cowboy using it. And, if you have given any thought to its etymology you probably thought it was Spanish, but it is Japanese.
Now, the second of the words means a little bit, or a small amount. When I first heard it here in Japan and figured out that it was a borrowed word (from Japanese to English) I was surprised. I think it is more common in the West US. And, I remember seeing it in a TV commercial for Levis Jeans. These jeans were marketed to the mature male and offered a little more room. (Do you know the one about the cheap hotel...)
Okay, this kanji is followed by a hiragana. Hiragana is one of the alphabets used in Japanese. Depending on who is counting there might be four (4) alphabets used in Japanese. So, any guesses.
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| « Last Edit: May 17th, 2004, 5:23pm by Speaker » |
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BNC
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #37 on: May 13th, 2004, 9:32pm » |
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on May 11th, 2004, 10:40pm, Speaker wrote:Y
Well, here are some more hints. The first of the three means heaven, and is pronounced TEN. However, because there is very little differentiation between M and N sounds when they come at the end of a syllable in Japanese. The different sounds do exist, but are treated as being the same. The other kanji are pretty obscure and do not contribute to the meaning of the word.
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Tempura?
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BNC
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #38 on: May 13th, 2004, 9:35pm » |
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on May 13th, 2004, 7:16pm, Speaker wrote:Well, further hints for the above kanji pair. The one on the right is pronounced CHO, and is used for lots of words like manager or president (of a company) or principal of a school.
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Wild guess: Macho !?
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Speaker
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #39 on: May 13th, 2004, 9:41pm » |
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Your are correct on Tempura.
This term comes from Portuguese <têmporas> which as far as I can tell means "spice" or "cooking" or "warm (as in the temperature of the air)". I was sure it meant hot, as in be careful when you pick up the fried vegatables, they are very "têmporas" which would give us "tempura." I can still hold out for hot, but my dictionary has that air disclaimer.
So, where is Pietro KC? Anybody from Brazil out there?
But, not on Macho. This term is often preceded by "head".
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| « Last Edit: May 13th, 2004, 9:53pm by Speaker » |
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Eigenray
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #40 on: May 13th, 2004, 9:56pm » |
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The Japanese fonts display properly if you set your browser to use Shift_JIS encoding. If you're using Windows, you may have to install Japanese support (under Control Panel->Regional Options or some such), but that shouldn't take more than inserting the OS CD and rebooting.
[edit -- well, I know I can read Speaker's, but I can't figure out how to post mine correctly.
Okay, I got one of them to work, not sure how...
I give up. If I set my browser to Shift_JIS, I can read the kanji Speaker wrote in his first post, as well as the hiragana for tenpura I wrote below. But for some reason, the others keep turning into html codes.]
I guessed the answers for "yummy" (‚Ä‚ñ‚Õ‚ç, to spoil it only for people who know hiragana); and "the boss" (hanchou) and then checked them using Jim Breen's WWWJDIC.
:sukoshi: I recognized right away because it comes up really early in Pimsleur, but I had to check a dictionary because I didn't actually recognize it as an English word.
I must mention Slime Forest Adventure as an excellent game for learning kanji (the meanings of over a thousand now, no pronounciations yet though), with decent explanations/mnemonics for each. Unfortunately, you have to memorize all the kana first before it'll give you any kanji, which are certainly a lot more interesting and easier to learn.
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| « Last Edit: May 13th, 2004, 10:30pm by Eigenray » |
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Speaker
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #41 on: May 13th, 2004, 10:06pm » |
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Hello Eigenray.
I guess you know the answers, but I can only see strings of numbers. Are those JIS codes or something. Or is my browser just unable to read your kanji. Which, I cannot figure out, because I am on a Japanese OS. And, I can read any Japanese site I care to open. So, why not here.
Anyway, very busy today.
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Three Hands
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #42 on: May 14th, 2004, 1:20am » |
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Honcho? OK, Eigenray kind of got there first, but he used a different spelling from the standard English...
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| « Last Edit: May 14th, 2004, 1:21am by Three Hands » |
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #43 on: May 14th, 2004, 6:00pm » |
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Right, Eigenray used the romanized version. He converted each of the Japanese sounds into roman text. But, and maybe this is interesting, they are pronounced the same. In US English we pronounce the HO in "Honcho" as HA as in "ha ha ha  .
For instance, if you drive a Honda in the US, you call it a ha ha ha - nda "Handa". But, in Japan we call them Hone-da.
He also spelled the last syllable "chou" which indicates that it is an extended vowel (usually called long or short, but not to be confused with long and short vowels in English). In Japanese it indicates how long the vowel is voiced.
He also spelled his other answer this way, so it is hard to recognize it as English. The English spelling is hidden here skosh.
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Speaker
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This is a popular health food. Not much flavor, but lots of protein. 
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BNC
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #45 on: May 15th, 2004, 12:23am » |
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Got'a be Tofu.
Any meaning to the characters?
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| « Last Edit: May 15th, 2004, 12:24am by BNC » |
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Yes, correct again. The kanji on the left means bean, "mame". The kanji on the right means to rot or to spoil or to ferment. However, for tofu, the beans are not fermented. The beans are boiled and the solids are extracted or allowed to settle out, which leaves curds and whey. Miss Muffet never had it so good. 
Natto, a different soy based food is made from fermented soy beans. The beans turn a golden brown and are covered with stringy sticky goo. (This goo consists of the bacteria, I think). It has a strong nutty smell. The smell is strong enough that many people cannot eat it. Think of blue cheese or limburger cheese. So, this fermented bean food uses the kanji for bean (of course) and another that means "obtain" or "reap" or "store" or "be settled".
So, the meanings seem to be reversed. And, I have heard that a long long time ago in a country far far away, some scribe reversed them by accident, and they have stayed that way ever since. (I do not have any concrete base for this story, just something I heard.) Natto is the kanji below.
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Speaker
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Here is another in the bean series. I have heard that they have become popular in the US. When I first tried them in Japan with a cold beer, I was skeptical. Afterall, who eats green beens with beer. But, after trying it, I was hooked (on the beans, I had already been hooked on beer long before trying the beans).
So, the right one means bean of course, and in this pair is pronounced mame (ma may).
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| « Last Edit: May 17th, 2004, 5:33pm by Speaker » |
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Speaker
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This one is interesting because the kanji on the left is unusual, and it is not uncommon to find it spelled out because it is difficult, and it is not one of the kanji taught in the schools. This means that it does not appear on the official list of 1006 essential kanji. (Although you need to know at least twice this to make it into university.)
And, it is a common item that everybody has around the house. It is pronounced "Sho-yu" in Japan. And, people buy it by the half gallon.
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Three Hands
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Re: Chinese/Japanese characters
« Reply #49 on: May 25th, 2004, 3:38am » |
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I would guess at Soy sauce. Or, at least, that seems to be what the gif file guessed it to be...
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