Learn the radical for "word," 言
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to the Japanese Kanji video series. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn the "word" radical. |
| Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean? |
| (pause for 4 seconds) |
| By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters. |
| 言、話、語、計 |
| First off, can you spot the radical that's common in all of these kanji characters? |
| (pause for 4 seconds) |
| It's this part here. |
| This particular radical is called... |
| 言 |
| ごんべん |
| The "word" radical is used in some of the most common kanji characters. Let's take a look at it in more detail. |
| Meaning |
| The meaning for the "word" radical relates to "words" or 'speech." |
| 言 |
| From left to right, the first kanji means "to say," the second means "to talk" or "story," the third character means "language," and fourth character means "plan." |
| 言、話、語、計 |
| As you can see in the first example, the "word" radical is a kanji character on its own. |
| Did you spot the smaller "mouth" radical that we learned in lesson 6? |
| (pause) |
| It's this part here. |
| The other part above it, is actually the "heart" radical. The heart spewing from the mouth is symbolic of words, or meaning "to say." You can imagine the lines as words exiting the mouth. |
| The second kanji has the "word" radical on the left, and this other character on the right. Once again, there's the small "mouth" radical that we learned sitting at the bottom there. Can you guess what the radical on the right is? |
| 話 |
| 舌 |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| I'll give you a clue, it's a physical muscle in your body. |
| (pause 2 seconds) |
| The large radical on the right represents the "tongue." Here's the mouth on the bottom, and there's the tongue sticking out of it. Do you see it now? |
| The "word" radical paired with the "tongue" radical gives you the kanji meaning "to talk." |
| The third kanji has the "word" radical on the left, and this other radical on the right. And guess what? There's that "mouth" radical again. |
| 語 |
| There's this other tiny character above the mouth. It means "five." But why five? |
| It's traditionally thought that we experience *language* through five "paths"; using our two eyes, two ears, and our mouth - which adds up to five. Together, this character stands for "language." |
| The fourth kanji is the "words" radical paired with the "ten" radical which we learned in lesson 5. Think for a moment, and guess what it might mean. |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Remember, the right radical can mean "ten," but it can *also* mean "complete." |
| The meaning of this kanji is.... |
| (pause 2 seconds) |
| to plan! |
| Words thought to completion means that something has been "planned" out. |
| We"ve only learned six radicals so far in this series, but are you starting to see how we can already breakdown and guess the meanings of many kanji characters? Imagine what you could do if you learned just a few more radicals! |
| OK. Let's move on! |
| Common positions |
| The "word" radical will almost always be in the left position. |
| pause 2 seconds |
| As seen in the original examples for "talk," "language," and "plan." |
| pause 2 seconds |
| Notice how the "word" radical is squished horizontally when it's in the left position. |
| pause 2 seconds |
| Okay. Now let's learn how to write this radical. |
| Stroke Order |
| The "word" radical is written in seven strokes. |
| The first stroke is a diagonal stroke that starts at the top, and goes from left to right. |
| The second stroke is a long and flat horizontal stroke, which also goes from left to right, and sits just under the first stroke. |
| The third and fourth stroke are identical to the *previous* stroke, except shorter. |
| The last section is a box which sits at the bottom. It's written in the same way as the "mouth" radical that we learned in lesson 6. |
| So the fifth stroke, is a vertical stroke that goes from top to bottom on the left side. |
| The sixth stroke goes from left to right, bends, and continues downwards. |
| The seventh and final stroke closes the box at the bottom. |
| And that's it! You're done! |
| Common Readings |
| When the "word" radical is on its own, the kanji can be read as... |
| 言 |
| ゲン、ゴン for the on reading |
| and い、こと、ことば for the kun reading |
| When the "word" radical is part of another kanji... |
| ワ、はな、はなし |
| 話 |
| for the "talk" kanji |
| ゴ、かた |
| 語 |
| for the "language" kanji. And... |
| ケイ、はか |
| 計 |
| for the "plan" kanji |
| Lesson Review |
| In this lesson, you learned about the "word" radical. |
| It signifies "word" or 'speech." |
| You also learned the kanji characters for "word," "talk," "language," and "plan," in which this radical appears. |
| It's almost always in the left position. |
| And it's written with seven strokes: one diagonal, three horizontal, and another three making a box. |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn about another common radical used in some of the most common and basic kanji characters, the "day" radical. |
| See you in the next lesson. Bye! |
| Bye~! |
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