2000 Kanji, but Only Two Here
As an example of the importance of kanji:
I was talking to one of my friends today and asked where she lived. She wrote back in hiragana and roman letters "ibaraki".
Searching for this on Google Maps gave me a town somewhere East of Tokyo. Given that my friend said her hometown is about an hour away, I figured that probably wasn't it. I changed the search a little, but all I could find was an Ibaraki near Tokyo.
I asked her about it, so she sent me the kanji, and Google Maps found it exactly, and was ready with directions by the time I realized I'd asked for them.
いばらき - ibaraki
茨城 - ibaraki
茨木 - ibaraki
I was talking to one of my friends today and asked where she lived. She wrote back in hiragana and roman letters "ibaraki".
Searching for this on Google Maps gave me a town somewhere East of Tokyo. Given that my friend said her hometown is about an hour away, I figured that probably wasn't it. I changed the search a little, but all I could find was an Ibaraki near Tokyo.
I asked her about it, so she sent me the kanji, and Google Maps found it exactly, and was ready with directions by the time I realized I'd asked for them.
いばらき - ibaraki
茨城 - ibaraki
茨木 - ibaraki
Labels: kanji
posted by William at
8/06/2008 04:29:00 PM
3 Comments:
I was trying to explain this concept to some people at work who have been asking questions about the Japanese language. They are freaked out at why there are so many "alphabets" and I was explaining the difference between kanji and an alphabet, and between kana and an alphabet. I used several of the ki kanji to illustrate my point to them.
I'm finding Japanese to be a lot more fun, the more kanji I learn, but it made me crazy at first. It's fun to hear you talk about the importance of kanji after being so anti-kanji for awhile yourself...heheh. :)
I hate kanji. So much.
Hatred. Evil evil death death. If it's possible to say this while being agnostic, but kanji are the spawn of Satan.
Rather amusing to picture a Japanese major hating kanji that much. Kind of like a physician not liking the sight of blood or something...
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