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our last issue where we looked at the early stages of
learning kanji, in this issue we will focus on kanji learning
at senior secondary level, and suggest ways of teaching
kanji as a system. |
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As
we mentioned in the last issue, kanji can be divided into
four main groups according to how they are formed:
象形文字 (pictographs),
指示文字 (sign
characters), 会意文字
(kanji with combinations
of meanings), and 形成文字
(kanji with combinations
of meaning and sound). It is sometimes difficult to distinguish
会意文字 from
形声文字 because
some elements in kanji have lost their meaning over time and
have come to indicate only sound. 形声文字
are kanji made up
of two or more components, one representing sound and another
representing meaning, and they make up the majority of kanji
in daily use. The components which give the meaning are called
部首,
radicals. Although 形声文字
may look complicated, once they are divided into radicals
and other components, they become simple. Radicals are classified
into seven types, based on where they appear. |
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| Note:
The radical 月 originates
from two different kanji. |
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脳
(brain) 肺 (lung)
胴 (torso)
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eg.
朝 (morning)
期 (term)
明るい (bright)
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left-side came from 肉, called
にくづき. |
The
right-side came from 月
(moon). |
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As mentioned above,
radicals are classified into seven types. Some radicals have
more than one position. For instance, the radical 貝 sometimes
appears on the left 「販」(へん)
and sometimes below 「買」(あし).
The radical gives meaning to the character by hinting at the
general nature of the item, so characters with the same radical
share a common feature. |
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Task 1:
Find the common feature in the following groups of kanji and
fill in the 'radical' and 'English' sections. (This task is
useful not only for kanji learning but also for developing literacy
and understanding of language as a system.) |
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Radical |
Hinted
meaning
(original
shape of radical) |
English |
| 肝(liver) 脳(brain) 腹(stomach) 肩(shoulder) |
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肉（にく） |
flesh,
meat |
| 打(to
hit) 投(to
throw) 折(to
fold) 招(to
invite) |
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手（て） |
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| 海(sea) 洗(to
wash) 波(wave) 酒(alcohol) |
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水（みず） |
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| 草(grass) 花(flower) 茶(tea) 薬(medicine) |
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（くさ） |
(not
used now) |
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Task 2:
Classify the following kanji according to their radicals. |
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| 部首 (radical) |
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| 名前 (name) |
きへん |
ごんべん |
たけかんむり |
しんにょう |
もんがまえ |
| 意味 (meaning) |
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| 漢字 (kanji) |
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There
are 2 kinds of kanji readings in Japanese:
音読
are readings that are based on historical Chinese pronunciations,
and are generally used in compound words of two or more kanji.
Many kanji with a common radical have identical or similar
音読.
訓読 are
native Japanese readings of kanji. These readings bear no
relation to the origins of the kanji, but have been 'assigned'
to their kanji based on meaning. Note: The majority of kanji
compounds use 音読,
but there are some 訓読
compounds such as
買物 (and
訓読!). |
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Task:
Students are given a list of kanji or a set of kanji cards and
create as many compound words as possible, reading them out
loud or listing the readings. Alternatively, a list of readings
can be given in hiragana and students search for the appropriate
kanji.(See the アラカルト section
for an additional task.) |
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Text
such as these headlines from 日豪プレス ,
the Australian Japanese-language newspaper, enable you to
see kanji used in an authentic context, but how do you find
the meaning of kanji you cannot read? A 漢英辞典
(Kanji-English dictionary)
enables you to do this. Here we give some information and
suggestions for using a kanji dictionary.
When you look at the headlines above, you may be able to guess
the meaning of some of the words from contextual clues such
as katakana and numbers, but in order to find the meaning
AND the reading of a kanji you need a 漢英辞典.
The most common way to search for a kanji is according to
the 部首 (radical).
Once you have decided on the 部首,
go to the 部首索引
(radical index),
usually found on the inside covers of the dictionary. The
radicals are displayed according to number of strokes
( 画数) .
For example, in the case of 「 捕」 ,
you look for the radical 「  」 ,
and search according to the number of strokes on the right
side, in this case 7 画.
If the 部首is
not immediately obvious, try a number of possibilities from
the components of the kanji. |
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To develop the ability
to accurately count the number of strokes in a kanji, students
may do tasks such as the following: |
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Task:
Rank the kanji in order of number of strokes |
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Once students are
able to accurately count strokes, they can be given tasks using
dictionaries. The following task can be done using the headlines
above. |
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Task:
Find the meanings of: |
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| 1.捕鯨推進_______________________________________________ |
4.豪州人___________________________________________________ |
| 2.刺殺______________________________________________________ |
5.連邦政府._______________________________________________ |
| 3.大陸横断道路_________________________________________ |
6.判決_______________________________________________________ |
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Here are some
Kanji-English dictionaries. Each one differs slightly in features
and ways of looking up kanji.
We suggest you try out several dictionaries to find the one
that suits you best.
- Kodansha's Compact
Kanji Guide
- The Kodansha
Kanji Learner's Dictionary (ed. Jack Halpern)
- Japanese Character
Dictionary (Spahn & Hadamitzky)
- Japanese-English
Character Dictionary (Nelson)
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This
section written by Kaori Sasaki |
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& Copyright © The Japan Foundation, Sydney - Language
Section 2000 - 2005 |
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