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I am Kyonkyon, Japanese Secretary of Culture.
I am from Hokkaido.
I can not speak English well.
But I like to show Japanese culture and also East Asian culture.
This newspaper is popular in Japan.
So if you like Japan, please read this article.
It contains the articles of one week.

The name of newspaper is
I-RO-HA.

I-RO-HA means ABC in Japanese.

I write about Japanese culture and Japanese language.

In Japanese we use kana and kanji.
Kana is like alphabet.
Kanji is difficult and is like a picture.


Today's kana

い

This is the Japanese i.


Today's kanji

北

This means north.
We read it kita or hoku.

☆☆☆

This is 2nd part.

Today's kana

ろ

This is the Japanese ro.
In Japanese there is no sound for r.

Revision

Yesterday's kana was い

Combination

い and ろ　together mean colour



Today's kanji

海

This means sea.
We read it umi or kai.

Revision

Yesterday's kanji was　北

Combination

北 and 海　together mean north sea

we read it hokkai
hokkai is from hoku and kai.
When we combine kanji, sometimes pronunciation changes.


Hangul

Because there are many Koreans here, I will also write about hangul.
Hangul is the korean alphabet.
It is very simple. They say it is the best alphabet in the world.

Today's hangul

ㅏ
This is the Korean a.
But we never write it alone.
We must add a ㅇ.
So we write together
아

We do not read ㅇ , but we write it.
Because all Korean syllables start from consonant.
If there is no consonant.
We write ㅇ.

☆☆☆

This is 3rd part.

Today's kana

は

This is the Japanese ha.
But when it is particle we read it wa.

Revision

Yesterday's kana was ろ

Combination

は and い　together mean ash



Today's kanji

道

This means way.
We read it michi or dou.

Revision

Yesterday's kanji was　海

Combination

北 and 海　and 道 together mean Hokkaido
Correct is Hokkaidou, not Hokkaido.
Hokkaido means north sea road. Because it is the way to north sea.


Today's hangul

ㄱ
This is the Korean k or g.
But we never write it alone.
We must add a vowel.

Revision

Yesterday's hangul was ㅏ

Combination
We write ㄱand ㅏ together like this 가.
We read it ka.


If there is consonant, we do not write ㅇ.

☆☆☆

This is 4th part.

Today's kana

に

This is the Japanese ni.


Revision

Yesterday's kana was は

Combination

に and い　together mean second place


Today's kanji

一

(This is very easy, just one straight line)
This means one or only.
We read it ichi or hito.

Revision

Yesterday's kanji was　道

Combination

一　and 道 together mean the only way, that is buddhism.
We read it ichidou.


Today's hangul

ㅣ
This is the Korean i.


Revision

Yesterday's hangul was ㄱ

Combination
We write ㄱand ㅣ together like this 기.
We read it ki.

☆☆☆

Today there is a special part.

I write about Japanese script.

You may ask?

Why there are kanji and kana in Japanese?

Most languages have only one script.

English roman letters, Russian cyril letters, Korean hangul letters.

In old times, there was not Japanese script.

So Japanese used the Chinese Kanji.

But Kanji are difficult to write. Also Japanese language is different to Chinese.

It was difficult to write correct Japanese only with Chinese letters.

That is why Japanese people started using kana.

Kana shows only sound. It is easy to study.

But if kana is easy, why do Japanese still use Kanji?

Because many words have the same sound in Japanese.

For example for "ki" there are many words.

木
気
着
機
記
期
奇
器
樹
帰
貴
旗
鬼
亀

All these words are read ki. So if we just right ki in kana like this (き) it is difficult to understand correct meaning.

But why there are many words with same sound?

Many Japanese words are from Chinese. Chinese is very difficult to speak correct. They have 4 tones and more sounds than Japanese. Japanese people can not understand difference, so many words that sound different in Chinese, sound the same in Japanese.


Korea

By the way, in Korea they use only hangul.
But they have used kanji for long time.
Korean people now use only hangul, but sometimes they use kanji, when meaning is not clear.
Some Koreans say, it is better to use hangul and kanji together, like in Japan.
Others say kanji are difficult and must use only hangul.


Vietnam

In Vietnam, they use latin alphabet. But they used kanji. Alphabet used because Vietnam was French colony.


Conclusion

Japan, Korea and Vietnam had no script. They used kanji. But because kanji is difficult Japanese use kana with kanji, Koreans use hangul only and Vietnamese use latin alphabet.
Different way to deal with kanji!

☆☆☆

Today I write about kanji.

Kanji are from China. Kanji means Chinese letters or exactly Kan letters.
Kan is how China was called, when Chinese letters introduced in Japan.

Kanji show idea not sound.
For example in english we right "b". This has the sound of "b" but not meaning.
But kanji show meaning not sound. For example this 一 means one.
It is difficult to guess the sound, if we do not know it.
This is the reason kanji is difficult. You must memorize sound for all kanji.

But there is a hint.

Actually, most kanji have a sound part.
For example this 可　means can. We read it ka.
This 河 also means river. We also read it ka.
In 河, the 可 part shows sound, not meaning.
Many kanji are formed this way.
So if you have experience with basic kanji, you can guess sound of kanji you do not know.
But not always.

The reason is that kanji sound has changed. That is why you must learn each kanji.

Kanji have meaning. Usually one part shows meaning and one sound.
For example 魚 is the kanji for fish.
Usually fish names have this part.

鮭
鯉
鮫

So even if you do not know kanji, if see 魚 part in a kanji, you can guess that it might be a fish.

There are about 200 kanji that show meaning. If you learn them, you can guess many kanji.

女 woman: 妹　姉
水 water:　泳　河
火 fire:　焼　燃


When we combine meaning part with sound part usually kanji change.
For example the kanji 河　is a combination of 水　and 可. 水 is simplified as the three dots of 河.

Sound

Kanji in Japan have usually two sounds.
One sound is the Chinese sound and the other is Japanese sound.
For example 海 has the Chinese sound kai and the Japanese sound umi.
So you must study both sounds.
Usually when a kanji is alone we read it with Japanese sound, but when we combine kanji we read with Chinese sound.
That is the reason we say
北海道　hokkaidou.
Not Kitaumimichi.

Unfortunately there are many exception so you have to learn one by one correct sound.

There are some kanji that actually are made in Japan.
For example this one 働 means work. This has only Japanese sound hatara.
There are of course many kanji that have only Chinese sound.
For example 王. This means king and has only Chinese sound ou.

But there are some kanji with more than two sounds.
For example 上　has sound jou, ue, kami and more.
This is because sound or meaning has changed.

In Chinese, kanji have usually only one sound. But in Japanese there are two.