Archive for the ‘Random Kanji Knowledge’ Category
Random Kanji Knowledge: Hontou
Today’s kanji is 本当, which is read hontou (ho-n-toe). 本当 can mean truth/reality or (really).
本 is the kanji for book, as in the paperback thing you read at the library.
当 refers to “hitting,” as in you hit the wall out of frustration.
So combined together, I think of the 本当 kanji compound as “hitting the books” when you are looking to be serious. Read the rest of this entry »
Random Kanji Knowledge: Haha
Random Kanji Knowledge time! First off, a happy 母の日 (Mother’s Day) to you all!
母, which can be pronounced “haha” and has different readings when combined with other things (such as お母さん okaasan), means mom of course. The kanji itself refers to a woman’s breasts (my sensei back in high school told us to remember it as a lady lying down on her side), a common symbol for motherhood.
We all have an important mom/mother/mama/mommy figure in our lives.
We owe a lot to our mothers for taking care of us for so many years, so be sure to make this day truly special as best as you can for them, OK?
The stroke order for “mother” is shown below. Read the rest of this entry »
Random Kanji Knowledge: Sotsugyou
Random Kanji Knowledge time! This past weekend, I went down to a wonderful place called Pullman to attend my younger brother’s college graduation at Washington State University, which is my alma mater as well (if it is not obvious already, the cougar is my favorite animal in the world).
It is thus fitting that today’s kanji is 卒業 (sotsugyou — pronounced sow-tsu-gee-yoh), the Japanese word for graduation. 卒 can refer to stuff like “soldier” or “graduate,” whereas the 業 can refer to aspects like “vocation” or “arts.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Random Kanji Knowledge: Kandou
Today’s kanji compound is 感動 (kandou), which is pronounced like con-doh.
感 represents emotion/sensation. 動 means motion/movement. As a result, 感動 thus refers to being moved emotionally.
For instance: 私はその音楽で感動しました. = Watashi wa sono ongaku de kandoushimashita.
Translation: I was deeply moved (emotionally) by that music.
The steps for writing out 感動 are shown below.
Read the rest of this entry »
Random Kanji Knowledge: Hajime
Random Kanji Knowledge time!
始め (hajime) is pronounced ha-jee-meh, and it means “beginning/start.” There are actually a variety of kanji symbols that also can refer to the same thing, like 初め, but 始め is the one I usually roll with for this word.
If you break down the 始 symbol, it actually makes a lot of sense.
The first half (女) means “woman,” while the second half of it was taught to me as “stomach.” Well, put two and two together and thus you can figure out why I will always think of this kanji as the Japanese word for beginning. Read the rest of this entry »
Random Kanji Knowledge: Yuuki
Time for more Random Kanji Knowledge!
Today’s kanji is 勇気 (pronounced yuu-key — be sure to stretch out the u sound a bit, otherwise you can be saying 雪 yuki for snow).
勇気 means courage in Japanese. It is a kanji compound comprised of two symbols. Read the rest of this entry »
Random Kanji Knowledge: Yume
Random Kanji Knowledge time! I will try to make an honest effort at posting more of these a bit more frequently because learning stuff is fun.
The Japanese word for dream is 夢 (yume), which is pronounced like you-may. 夢 is a commonly used word in Japanese culture. I count 夢 as a buzz word that pops up A LOT in anime and whatnot. Read the rest of this entry »
Random Kanji Knowledge: Ongaku
Wow, it sure has been awhile since I did a Random Kanji Knowledge post. ざんねん!
Nonetheless, I feel that this very cute picture of Imoristar‘s original character, drawn by Ennalissia, deserved some recognition.
Do you see the kanji symbols all over the background? Well, the compound is for none other than (if these ♪♫ didn’t give it away yet) … MUSIC! Read the rest of this entry »
Random Kanji Knowledge: Sensei
Random Kanji Knowledge: Shinka
Well, I finally took the plunge to change up my blog’s theme from the Redoable Lite I ran for more than a year (coincidentally, that was the blog theme my class group had for a blog project back in journalism school, but this is another story). I did not even realize that this blog theme was called “The Journalist v1.9“ until I just went ahead with the change.
I like this theme’s clean look that is brighter and more open, making it a huge contrast to the somewhat dimmer theme I had before. And merely by chance, I also like how the cougar cartoon looks like it is saying something because of the site’s tagline.
Random Kanji Knowledge: Sukoshi
I bet a lot of people don’t realize they are using a Japanese word when they say “skosh.” English is just a fascinating language! The language just borrows words from so many countries. 
Random Kanji Knowledge: Ninja
Ninjas are cool. People know what a ninja is, but what does the word actually mean?
Devinly-Princess
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