'Hanzi and kanji: distinctions in the Chinese and Japanese personality sets today

Within the last issue, we discussed the difference among spoken and written Chinese. This time, let us have a look at the relationship between written Japanese and Chinese.




Kanji Characters? A Composing Program Shared by China and Japan
The Japanese and Chinese languages both use an advanced writing system that uses kanji ideograms extremely. Although the amount of kanji personas that are in fact used is overwhelmingly bigger in Chinese than in Japanese, about 70-80% of the characters used in both languages are used to express the same meaning. Although the number is much smaller in comparison, let’s take a look at those kanji that have different meanings in both languages.

Kanji that Appear the Same but Don’t Necessarily Have the Same Meaning
Many Japanese persons think when traveling to a Chinese-speaking region that even if they do not speak Chinese, they may be able to get by if they communicate by writing. In case you are trying to mention something simple, written communication might permit you to get by. However , it is important to remember that 20-30% of the kanji used have different meanings in Japanese and Chinese. What would happen if you wrote a succession of kanji, which appear the same in Chinese, without being aware that they imply something different in Chinese? Not only would your meaning not get across, you may also bring about a misunderstanding. Therefore , much care must be taken when resorting to writing kanji to communicate with a Chinese-language speaker.

我孫子 (JA: Abiko; CN: Wo Sun Zi) = Place-name?
We once heard a Chinese college student studying in Japan say, “ I am in a place with a strange name. ” When I asked, “Where do you live? ” the college student responded, “Abiko. ” Abiko, which is definitely written 我孫子 in Japanese, is just another proper noun in Japan, the name of a place . However , when a native Chinese speaker looks at the three kanji and reads it in the Chinese pronunciation (wo sun zi), the words become a phrase that means, “my grandchild. ” Let us suppose that a Japanese person familiar to a certain extent with Chinese writing knows that “自(Zi)” means “from”. So , he writes, “我来自我孫子” to say “I come from Abiko. ” Would that meaning come across or would they be surprised to learn this person came from his grandchild?

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