Video 5: Kanji in Tobira Lesson 10

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Description: This is a dual-language video, with content in both Japanese and English. Selecting either English or Japanese captions will provide the same dual-language captions. This video covers the Japanese kanji characters in Lesson 10 of the textbook, Tobira: Gateway to Advanced Japanese Learning Through Content and Multimedia.

Instructor: Dr. Takako Aikawa

Lesson 10 no hajime no, saishō no kai, kanji desu.

The first kanji character in lesson 10.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘visit’ to iu imi desu.

Chotto component wo mite mimashō.

Mazu, kono hidarigawa no left part component kore wa ‘a language’ or ‘say words’ something to do with language or saying.

Tatoeba, ‘hanasu,’ ‘to speak’ Sore kara ‘Nihongo’ kore wa ‘language’ to iu imi ga arimasu yo ne.

Sore kara migigawa kono kanji desu keredo mo kore wa ‘direction’ no imi ga arimasu.

Tatoeba, ‘kochira no hō,’ ‘this way’, sore kara ‘hōkō,’ ‘direction’ to iu imi desu.

So someone is going toward your direction to say something someone is going to visit to iu imi desu.

De, yomikata nan desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘hō’ Tatoeba, ‘hōmon suru’ ‘Kyōto wo hōmon suru.’ ‘tanaka-san no uchi wo hōmon suru’ kore mo daijōbu desu.

‘nani nani wo hōmon suru’ kore de ‘visit’ Sore kara kun reading de ‘tazuneru, otozureru’ konna yomikata ga arimasu.

Tatoeba, ‘tazuneru,’ ‘to visit’ nan desu keredo mo Kore wa transitive verb desu.

Desu kara, tatoeba, ‘Kyōto wo tazuneta.’ Hōmon suru to onaji imi nan desu keredo mo kochira no hou ga sukoshi conversational desu.

‘Kyōto wo tazuneta.’ Sore kara ‘tanaka-san wo tazuneta’ kore daijōbu desu.

Sore kara ‘otozureru’ kore wa intransitive, transitive, both possible desu.

Tatoeba, ‘mukashi no tomodachi wo otozureta’ ‘visited my old friend.’ Kono toki wa transitive usage.

So you need an wo particle here.

But ‘mukashi no tomodachi ga otozureta’ kore wa ‘my old friend visited me.’ So here, subject marker ‘ga’ needs to appear.

So be careful, the usage of this particle actually determines whether it is transitive or intransitive.

Tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘scene sore de component nan desu keredo mo, kono top part, kore wa Nihon no ni.

The sun, desu yo ne.

Sore kara, bottom part.

Kore wa Kyōto no kyō.

So it means ’the capital’ to iu imi desu.

You can imagine the sun is rising behind Kyōto or behind the capital.

What a beautiful scene to iu imi desu.

Yomikata nan desu keredo mo, on reading ‘kē’ desu.

Tatoeba ‘fūkē’ ‘scene, scenery’ Sore kara ‘yakē,’ kore wa ‘yoru no,’ ‘night scene’ Sore kara ‘kēki’ kore wa desu ne, ‘business or economic conditions’ to iu imi desu.

Ato, chotto tokubetsu na yomikata nan desu keredo mo, kore de ‘keshiki’ to yomimasu.

‘keshiki’ to iu no wa ‘scene, scenery’ to iu imi desu.

Hai, tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘district’ sore kara ‘ward’ to iu imi ga arimasu.

De, story desu keredo mo, you can imagine a box or some area, and then you kind of you know, separate it so that you can get a district.

De, kono kanji district no imi desu.

De, yomikata nan desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘ku’ to iu no ga arimasu.

Tatoeba kore ‘chiku’ ‘district’ Sore kara desu ne, kono ‘ward’ to iu no de Tokyo has 23 wards, and then so each ward you can use this character to indicate a ward.

So ‘Shinjuku ku’ kore wa ‘Shinjuku ward’ Sore kara ‘Nerima ku’ This kanji can be used as a suffix to indicate this ward.

Sore kara ‘kubetsu suru’ kore, ‘to distinguish’ to iu imi desu.

Tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘dangerous’ to iu imi desu.

De, component nan desu keredo mo, you can imagine someone’s mouth so someone is talking, mouth is open, and this part nan desu keredo mo, this part actually means ‘bad luck’ So someone who has bad luck is talking to you.

So it’s dangerous to iu imi desu.

De, yomikata nan desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘ki’ Tatoeba, ‘kiken’ ‘dangerous’ Ato desu ne, kun reading de ‘abunai’ to iu yomikata ga arimasu.

‘abunai’ to iu toki wa ‘watch out’ no imi desu.

Mochiron adjective toshite desu ne, ‘kono chiku wa abunai’ tatoeba, ‘this area is dangerous.’ Konna tsukaikata mo shimasu.

Tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘danger’ or ‘steep’ to iu imi ga arimasu.

Kono component, radical nan desu keredo mo, this radical refers to like, hill, or high mountain to iu imi ga arimasu.

It’s actually originally coming from this shape of mountains.

Sore kara kono kanji nan desu keredo mo, you know this ‘shiken’ or ‘jikken’ this part so this kind of you know kanji is associated with the meaning of examination.

So a story goes like this, when you try to climb a steep mountain or a hill, you need to examine it.

To iu no de steep, sore kara dangerous.

Sonna imi ga arimasu.

Yomikata nan desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘kiken,’ saki benkyōshimashita kedo kore, ‘kiken,’ ‘danger, dangerous, double danger’ nan desu keredo mo, kore ‘kiken na,’ ma, ‘dangerous’ ‘koko wa kiken na chiku desu’ so ‘this is a dangerous area’ Sore kara ‘kiken na koto wa shinai de kudasai’ ‘don’t do anything dangerous’ Sore kara ‘hoken’ to iu no, kore wa, kono ‘ho’ tte iu no wa ‘to protect’ to iu imi ga arimasu.

So to protect you from danger thing, to iu no de, ‘insurance’ to iu imi ga arimasu.

Ato, kun reading nan desu keredo mo, kun reading no toki wa desu ne, ‘steep’ no imi ga arimasu.

Kore, tatoeba, ‘kewashii,’ ‘steep.’ ‘kewashii yama,’ ‘steep mountain’ to iu tsukaikata ga arimasu.

Hai. tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘service’ sore kara ‘role’ no imi ga arimasu.

Component nan desu keredo mo, so this radical means ‘go’ we pronounce ‘iku’ Now the right-hand side this part you can imagine a soldier with a big helmet.

So soldiers go to a battle in the service of their lord.

Sonna imi de daijōbu desu.

Yomikata nan desu keredo mo, onreading ‘yaku’ Tatoeba ‘konna yaku wo shite mitai’ ‘I’d like to try this type of role’ Sore kara ‘yakunin’ kore wa ‘government official’ Sore kara ‘yakusho’ ‘public office’ Sore kara ‘yakusha’ kore wa ‘actor’ or ‘actress’ no imi desu.

Sore kara adjective nan desu, mitai nan desu kedo mo, ‘yaku ni tatsu’ this is in Japanese it’s a verb.

So ‘yaku ni tatsu’ ‘yaku ni tachimasu’ Tatoeba, ‘kono video wa kanji no benkyō ni yaku dachimasu’ ‘this video is useful for kanji study.’ Particle kiwotsukete kudasai.

Hai, tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, ironna imi ga arun desu keredo mo, ‘ministry, save, reflect on,’ sore kara ‘omit’ to iu imi, iroiro na imi ga arimasu.

De, you can imagine the story this part, ‘small’ ‘sukoshi’ to iu imi desu ne.

Sore kara this is ‘eye.’ So with a small eye you might omit something to iu imi nan desu ga.

Yomikata.

On reading de ‘shō’ or ‘sē’ to iu no ga arimasu.

Kono lesson 10 de tsukawareru, tsukaikata, ‘shō ene’ ‘economical use of energy’ Sore kara kono ‘nani nani shō’ to iu no de as a suffix it indicates ‘ministry of.’ Tatoeba, ‘gaimushō’ ‘ministry of foreign affairs’ konna tsukaikata wo shimasu.

Sore kara ‘hansē suru,’ ‘to reflect on’ Sore kara ‘kisē suru’ kore wa ‘to go home town’ uchi no bai ni tatoeba just regular home no toki ni wa ‘uchi ni kaeru.’ Kisē suru tte iu no wa specifically for go back to your hometown no imi ga arimasu.

Ato, kun reading de ‘habuku’ to iu yomikata wo shimasu.

‘To omit’ no imi desu.

Tatoeba, ‘kono bubun wa habuite kudasai’ ‘kono bubun wo habuite kudasai’ daijōbu desu.

So ‘please omit this part to iu imi desu.

Hai, tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘cold’ no imi desu.

Component nan desu keredo mo, kono radical, kore wa ‘ice’ to iu imi ga arimasu.

Kiwotsukete kudasai.

Kore wa ‘water’ demo kore to wa chigaimasu.

Futatsu, nihon, just two lines.

Sore kara kochira no component, this part indicates actually ‘order So tatoeba, Rēwa, this is the name of the Japanese current era, Rēwa.

So the order of peace to iu imi ga arun desu keredo mo, Usually orders are not warm, ice cold to iu no de, cold desu.

De, yomikata nan desu keredo mo, ‘rē’ to iu no ga arimasu.

Tatoeba ‘rēsui’ kore wa ‘totemo tsumetai’ ‘cold water’ Sore kara ‘rētō’ ‘to freeze’ ‘rēsōkō’ ‘refrigerator’ Sore kara ‘rēbō’ kono ‘bō’ tte iu no wa ‘heya’ to iu, ‘room’ to iu imi ga arimasu.

So ‘air conditioning’ Sore kara kun reading nan desu keredo mo, tatoeba ‘hiyasu’ ‘nani nani wo hiyasu’ kore wa transitive verb desu.

Tatoeba, ‘beer wo hiyashite kudasai’ Sore kara intransitive verb no toki tatoeba, ‘beer ga hieteimasu’ kiwotsukete kudasai.

‘hiyasu, hieru’ kore wa transitive intransitive verb pair.

Sore kara adjective ‘tsumetai’ Tatoeba, ‘kono beer ga tsumetai desu’ ‘this beer is cold’ iu yomikata mo shimasu.

Tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji, imi wa ‘general’ sore kara ‘officer’ to iu imi ga arimasu.

I don’t have any interesting story associated with this kanji so I’m going to just jump onto this reading part.

On reading de ‘shō’ to yomimasu.

Ichiban yoku tsukawareru no wa ‘shōrai’ ‘in the future’ ‘shōrai, nani ni naritai desu ka?’ Sore kara ‘shōgun’ to iu mo, kono shō wo tsukaimasu.

Hai, tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘emotion’ sore kara ‘actual conditions’ to iu imi ga arimasu.

Component nan desu keredo mo, so this radical is actually associated with the meaning of ‘heart, mind, feelings.’ It’s actually coming from the shape of one’s heart.

Sore kara, migigawa, right-hand side, this, actually this character itself means ‘aoi’ blue, nan desu keredo mo, so the color of blue is associated with the meaning of immature or young.

So the young heart has lots of emotions so the whole kanji means emotion.

De, yomikata nan desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘jō’ Tatoeba, ‘jōhō’ kore wa, ma, ‘information’ kore dakara ‘actual condition’ desu yo ne.

The report of the actual condition, ma, information to iu imi desu.

Ato desu ne, kore ‘kanjō’ kore wa ‘emotion’ ‘aijō’ kono ‘ai’ to iu no wa ‘love’ no imi ga arimasu.

So ‘aijō’ to iu no wa ‘love feeling’ nan desu keredo, ma, ‘romantic feeling’ ‘love’ to iu imi desu. ‘yūjō,’kono ‘yū’ to iu no wa ‘tomodachi,’ ‘friend’ desu.

So ‘friendship.’ ‘dōjō’ kore wa ‘sympathy’ no imi desu.

Ato, kun reading de ‘nasa’ to yomimasu.

Tatoeba, ‘nasake ga aru,’ ‘sympathy, compassion’ ga aru to iu imi desu.

Sore kara ‘nasakenai’ kore ‘miserable, shameful’ to iu adjective, konna tsukaikata ga arimasu.

Hai, tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi ga iroiro arimasu.

‘inform, require, news, report, reward’ De, component nan desu keredo mo, so the left-hand side kore wa ‘happiness’ to iu, by itself it’s happiness.

Sore kara the right-hand side you can imagine one’s hands and then some envelope.

So there’s an envelope in your hands that make you happy.

This envelope must be some sort of reward or good report.

De, reading nan desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘hō’ ‘jōhō’ ‘information’ Sore kara ‘hōkoku’ ‘to report’ ‘hōkoku shite kudasai’ Sore kara ‘tenkiyohō’ ‘weather forecast’ Sore kara ‘sokuhō’ kono ‘soku’ tte iu no wa ‘hayai’ hōkoku, report tte iu no de, ma, ‘urgent report’ ari wa ‘newsflash’ sonna imi ga arimasu.

Ato, kun reading de ‘mukuiru’ Amari tsukaimasen keredo mo, tatoeba, ‘Tanaka-san wo mukui’ ‘I rewarded Tanaka-san’ sonna tsukaikata mo arimasu.

Hai, tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘alone’ to ka, kono kanji wa toki doki Doitsu, Germany wo imi shimasu.

De, component nan desu keredo mo, kono radical this radical is actually based on the shape of a beast or animal to iu imi desu.

Kono radical wa it’s associated with beast.

Sore kara, kono migigawa, this part by itself is ‘mushi’ ‘insect’ so you can imagine a story like there’s only, only one insect on this animal.

So it’s alone.

De, reading nan desu keredo mo, ‘doku’ to iu yomikata desu.

Tatoeba, ‘dokuritsu, dokuritsu suru’ ‘dokuritsu suru’ tte iu no de ‘to become independent’ Sore kara ‘dokushin’ kore wa ‘single’ talking about marriage status.

Sore kara ‘dokugaku’ kore wa ‘hitori de benkyō suru’ to iu no de ‘self study’ Sore kara ‘kodoku’ to iu no de, na adjective nan desu kedo, ‘lonely’ ‘ano hito wa kodoku na hito desu’ ‘he is, or that person is a lonely person.’ Konna tsukaikata ga arimasu.

Sore kara saki iimashita keredo mo, itta, hitotsu no kanji, one kanji character stands for a particular country.

Tatoeba, kore wa America, sore kara niban me, kore wa France sore kara kono kanji, this character stands for Germany.

Kun reading desu keredo mo, ‘hitori.’ Tatoeba, ‘hitori’ ‘alone’ ‘hitori mono’ kore mo ‘single’ to iu imi desu.

Ma, in terms of marriage ‘hitorimono’ ‘I’m single’ ‘hitorimono desu’ to iu.

Dokushin to onaji imi desu.

Kono kanji desu, kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘body’ to ka ‘oneself’ no imi ga arimasu.

I don’t have a particular story about this character, but you can kind of imagine a human body that entire body and then associated with this character.

De, yomikata reading kore wa ‘shin.’ Tatoeba, ‘dokushin’ together with the previous kanji character, kore ‘alone’ and ‘body’ ‘alone body’ kore ‘single’ talking about marriage status.

Sore kara ‘shinchō’ kore wa, kono kanji wa ‘length’ so ‘length of the body’ ‘height.’ ‘shintai’ kore wa ‘body body’ nan desu keredo mo, simply ‘body’ no imi desu.

Sore kara ‘shusshin’ kore wa ‘the place where your body is coming from’ tte iu no de, ma, ‘hometown’ ‘shusshin, goshusshin wa doko desu ka’ to iu imi desu.

Ato, kun reading, kore ‘mi’ to iu imi desu keredo mo, jitsu wa ‘sashimi’ kono kanji mi wo tsukaimasu.

Sore kara ‘mijikana’ nan desu keredo mo, ‘close to your body’ nan desu keredo mo, this is more talking about psychologically, emotionally close, familiar sore kara, tatoeba, ‘mijikana hito’ close friends to ka close family mijikana hito to ittara tatoeba kazoku to ka close friends no imi ga arimasu.

Mijikana hito.

Hai.

Hai. Tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘distant’ sore kara ‘far’ no imi ga arimasu.

De, component nan desu keredo mo, this radical is always associated with leg.

Sore kara kono part kono part desu keredo mo, this is exactly the same as this inside, kore, ‘kōen’ ‘park’ desu keredo mo, so this part is the same as this and the inside part.

De, leg and en sore de distant.

I don’t have a particularly good story about this but kono combination wa this combination distant, far, de, on reading desu ga, ‘en.’ Tatoeba, ‘ensoku’ kore ‘field trip’ nan desu keredo mo, the second character here is ‘leg’ and then so leg with leg, go distantly, so ‘field trip.’ Sore kara ‘ē’en,’ kore wa ‘ē’ the first character indicate ‘forever’ no imi desu.

So forever distant, far, eternity.

Sore kara, kun reading nan desu keredo mo, kore wa ‘tōi’ desu yo ne, ‘tōi,’ kiwotsukete kudasai kore kochira ga ‘chikai’ opposite word it’s ‘chikai’ ‘close.’ Hai.

De wa, tsugi no kanji desu.

Kono kanji desu keredo mo, imi wa ‘to line up,’ ‘ordinary’ to iu imi desu.

Kore wa, this kanji you can kind of associate it with that image two people standing side by side, line up.

De, yomikata nan desu keredo mo, kun reading kore de ‘naraberu’ transitive intransitive pair ga arimasu.

Transitive de ‘naraberu.’ Intransitive de ‘narabu.’ Transitive case, tatoeba, ‘kono hon wo narabete kudasai’ ‘line up these books’ Sore kara, ‘narabu’ intransitive no toki wa ‘hito ga’ particle wo kiwotsukete kudasai, ‘hito ga narandeimasu.’ ‘people are lining up.’ Ato, extra kind of information nan desu keredo mo, on reading de ‘hēretsu.’ Kono ‘retsu’ tte iu no wa ‘line’ no imi ga arimasu.

Sore de ‘hēretsu’ kore de ‘parallel’ to iu adjective desu.

So, tatoeba, ‘kono futatsu no sen wa,’ ‘these two lines are parallel.’ ‘hēbetsu desu.’ Konna tsukaikata mo arimasu.