Understand the readings of Kanji

[Tiduas]

Hello!
I am soon to start study a little Kanji a day but i must know one thing first and that is how i should learn it.
There is 2 different Readings if i get it right and these are on and kun readings.
But i don't understand it, when they are used and such.
I have googled it but i didn't find any good answers so please, can someone just tell me and give me some examples om easy Kanjis so i get the hang of it ^_^

[Brian]

First try reading this:
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/kanji.html

[Tiduas]

Yeah, but he really is intruduce the Kanji early as he says, and i really can't understand anymore then the On and kun Yomi Kanjis.
Would be really happy for a little easy to understand and some examples from the people here... =D

[Brian]

http://www.japanesepod101.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=205

[Bueller_007]

Yeah, but he really is intruduce the Kanji early as he says, and i really can't understand anymore then the On and kun Yomi Kanjis.
Would be really happy for a little easy to understand and some examples from the people here... =D

Difficult to explain.

Generally speaking, kun-yomi (Japanese readings) are used as stand-alone words, and on-yomi (pronunciations borrowed from ancient Chinese) are used inside kanji compounds. Most kanji have at least one on-yomi (usually written in dictionaries as katakana) and one kun-yomi (in hiragana), but some have MANY more. (The kanji for "tree" (木), for example, can be pronounced ボク, モク, き, こ, and in names: ぐ, も, and もと)

An easier example: the kanji "認" has the kun-yomi "みと" and the on-yomi "ニン" (and another rarely used kun-yomi). When a stand-alone word, it is 認める (みとめる). But in the compound 確認 (かくにん), it is pronounced ニン.

There are LOADS of exceptions to this general rule though. kun-kun compounds are possible, as are on-kun compounds and stand-alone on-yomi words.

Often, half (or both halves) of a kanji gives meaning to the word, and the other provides the phonetic info. The part containing the meaning is called a "radical".

For example, the kanji for "heart" is 心, so this radical often appears in kanji related to the heart, mind, or emotions. Check this out (listing kanji, meanings of top & bottom parts, and meaning of kanji as a whole):

忌 ("self" + "mind" = mourning)
志 ("samurai/warrior" + "mind" = aspiration)
忘 ("dead" + "mind" = forgetfulness)
忠 ("center" + "heart" = loyalty)
忍 ("blade" + "heart" = to endure/to conceal)

The on-yomi of each of these words is derived from the non-"heart" part of the kanji. i.e. 己=キ, so 忌=キ, 士=シ, so 志=シ. 刃=ニン, so 忍=ニン, so 認=ニン.

Kun-yomi were assigned to kanji in Japan after they were designed, and, therefore, have no relation to the kanji's form. They must be memorized word-for-word. The kun-yomi for the five kanji listed above are: い, こころざ, わすれ, DOESN'T HAVE ONE, and しの. Makes sense, right?

Note: Chinese characters were designed in (four?) different ways, and these general rules don't apply to all kinds. The fact that kanji were imported (and re-imported) from China at different times in the past also means that there are LOTS of irregularties.

It's extremely complex. I advise you to get some flash cards and learn, by rote: 1) the character's meaning, 2) the pronunciation as a stand-alone word, 3) the pronunciation in the word's most common compound. Good kanji flash cards will contain all of this info. Any rules and patterns will come naturally.

[Mark Gardner]

If you want a short answer, I would say:

Kun yomi is commonly used for verbs and adjectives etc, and generally has hiragana attached to complete the word.
Also, for simple Japanese words using just one kanji.

On yomi is often found for words which need more than one Kanji to be written. (Commonly words described by adding concepts together or for which early Japanese did not have a suitable word of its own).

[bob1777]

Most of effort to learn kanji is: memorize, memorize, memorize.
I think it was said above, to learn it, you'll need to memorize reading of individual kanji, and in groups.

To add sth from my experience. It may be not so important to remember which reading is ON and which KUN. Just remembering all readings is probably sufficient. Ultmately, you need to remeber how to read groups of kanji.

[Tiduas]

Ok, i am starting to understand a little but... i take one more example here

三
ON Pronunciation:

San
Zou
Kun Pronunciation

Mit (tsu)
mi-

If i would like to say "this is three books" (and i don't fokus on if it's grammaticaly right, just wich one i would use of the kun or on things.

Kore wa San/Zou/Mit (tsu) mi hon desu.

Wich one should i use? And why is the "Mit (tsu)" There in an parenthesis there between mit and (tsu).

And i got all the info from the "ReadWrite Kanji" program.

Sorry for not understanding so well, but this forum is for learning so ^_^
I am that kinda type that need to understand from the beginning, don't want to learn the kanji if i don't understand what i do.

[bob1777]

Tiduas, knowing how to SAY things and knowing how to WRITE it in kanji is a different thing. In other words, you dont' need to know kanji to be able to speak japanese.

As grammar rules have little to do with kanji itself, I'd suggest to learn grammar and how to say things first (together with hiragana and katakana, if you keen), then have a look at kanji.

[Bueller_007]

If i would like to say "this is three books" (and i don't fokus on if it's grammaticaly right, just wich one i would use of the kun or on things.

Kore wa San/Zou/Mit (tsu) mi hon desu.

Wich one should i use? And why is the "Mit (tsu)" There in an parenthesis there between mit and (tsu).

This is beyond the scope of the kanji question.

In Japanese, you need a counter for everything. You never just say "there are three --". The default counter is "-tsu". Mittsu is written as 三つ. See how it is written with hiragana after the kanji? This is called okurigana. Okurigana are represented with parentheses in your dictionary.

These are three books.
これらは三冊の本です。
Korera wa san-satsu no hon desu.
Lit: These wa three counter of books are.

Books have their own special counter "-satsu" (冊). So you add the number three in front of it ("san") and you get "sansatsu". If you forget "-satsu", you can use the -tsu counting system, but it sounds uneducated.

これらは三つの本です。
Korera wa mittsu no hon desu.

You MUST learn the -tsu counting system by heart. This should be a top priority for you.