Difference of 商店 (しょうてん) and 店 (みせ)?

[Logarithmenlord3350]

I was wondering, as both show up as 'shop' in my Japanese-English dictionary..

[unnaturaluser7004]

The difference may be that the first word sounds more formal than the second. But I dont think there is much of a difference.

Edit: Actually, forget what I said. There isn't much of a difference.

[Logarithmenlord3350]

From another source I heard that in general, kanji-composita are more common in written language while 'pure japanese words' (whatever that shall mean - any thoughts to that?) are more often used in spoken language.

Is this correct (and all that is to say to this)?

[unnaturaluser7004]

From another source I heard that in general, kanji-composita are more common in written language while 'pure japanese words' (whatever that shall mean - any thoughts to that?) are more often used in spoken language.

Is this correct (and all that is to say to this)?

Japanese vocabulary can be classified into different categories: "wago" (original Japanese words), "kango" (words borrowed from Chinese), "gairaigo" (words borrowed from other foreign languages), and combinations of the above. The "pure Japanese words" that you mentioned probably refer to "wago".

Kanji used in Japanese can have multiple "readings", usually classified into two categories: "kun'yomi", the pronounciation of a native Japanese word with the same meaning as the kanji; and "on'yomi", the Chinese pronounciation of the kanji. Words with kanji read with "kun'yomi" tend to belong to "wago", while words with kanji read with "on'yomi" tend to belong to "kango".

The difference between "shouten" and "mise" is that "shouten" is the "on'yomi" of its kanji, while "mise" is the "kun'yomi" of its kanji. As a general rule (though not always true), "kango" sounds more formal than "wago". This implies that "shouten" sounds more formal than "mise". But I'm not sure there really is a difference between the two.