Speak and Read Japanese

by Larry Herzberg

  tatoeba 例えば / たとえば for example

  There are many things that older people in the U.S. don’t understand about the younger generation. Tattoos of a strange figure, for example.

  例 The kanji has the “person” radical 亻 on the left, since we humans look to great people as examples to follow. The phonetic on the right has the “death” radical 歹 on the left, which depicts a skull, and the “sword” radical 刂 on the right. There are certainly many examples in Shakespeare’s plays of characters dying at the hands of a knife or sword.

  tazuneru 尋ねる / たずねる visit

  I would like to visit Tanzania and do a safari.

  尋 The original meaning of the kanji, which it still retains in Chinese, is “search; seek.” It’s composed of four radicals. It has a hand on top (彐), reaching out for something. Below the hand is a carpenter’s rule (工) and a mouth (口). Since the carpenter’s rule represents “work” in kanji, think about how we all search for work, as we make verbal requests (口) to employers. The very bottom of this kanji has another way to depict the hand (寸), which shows the thumb and forefinger and again emphasizes the idea of searching. When we seek to visit someone or some place, we need to search them out.

  tegami 手紙 / てがみ letter

  Rather than asking our friends to write us a letter, on Facebook we often just say to them, “tag me!”

  Literally: “hand-paper.”

  手 This kanji means “hand.” The three horizontal lines represent three of the fingers on a hand, with the vertical line representing the wrist.

  紙 This kanji means “paper.” It has the “thread” radical 糸 on the left, since early Chinese writing was on silk before paper was invented. The phonetic on the right shows a water plant, stretching out its tendrils. Perhaps it was chosen over other possible phonetics because when we write a letter to someone we are reaching out to them through the medium of written words, much like the water plant reaching out with its shoots. However, in remembering the kanji 紙 you might think of the right side as showing someone sitting at a desk writing a letter, with one foot extended at the bottom right. And since the “thread” radical looks a bit like a Christmas tree, think of how Christmas time is the season of the year when we are most likely to write letters to those we love.

  teinei 丁寧 / ていねい polite

  Polite gentlemen, when declining a cup of tea, will say “Tea? Nay, but I thank thee.”

  丁 This kanji means “nail; tack.” It’s a picture of a nail, with the head on top and with the vertical line and the small hook depicting the nail’s length and the sharp point at the end. For mnemonic purposes, think of it as a small table at which the polite person gracefully sits.

  寧 This kanji means “peace.” It shows the “roof” radical 宀 on top, below which is the “heart” radical 心. Beneath that is the “eye” radical 目, turned on its side, with the kanji 丁 for “nail” at the very bottom. For mnemonic purposes, think about the polite person sitting at that table (丁) under the host’s roof, glancing (目) around the host’s home, and with heartfelt (心) graciousness politely complimenting the host.

  These two kanji were only used to transliterate the Japanese word into Chinese characters and do not reflect the meaning.

  tekitoo 適当 / てきとう appropriate; suitable

  To get the appropriate fit for the customer’s shoes and ensure a suitable size, the skilled shoe salesperson seizes the measuring tape and takes it to the toes.

  Literally: “suitable-equal.”

  適 This kanji means “suitable; appropriate.” It has the “walk” radical ⻌ on the left. The right side depicts a scholar-official of ancient China, with the top part representing the head and the bottom part a long flowing garment. It originally meant an official who had passed the imperial examinations for posting to whichever prefecture or city he was assigned. Since supposedly only qualified individuals would be given these government posts, in time the kanji came to mean “suitable; appropriate.” To remember the kanji, think of how when you go to a formal event, you must wear the appropriate clothes.

  当 This kanji is a recent simplification of the original kanji 當, still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong and by Chinese in the West. The traditional kanji shows a slanted tile roof with an upstairs window, which serves as the phonetic 尚. The radical on the bottom is the “field” radical 田. The original meaning was “to pawn” your land to get cash. It was borrowed for its sound to mean a number of things in Chinese, and in the case of Japanese serves as a rather arbitrary suffix in 適当. The simplified form 当 of this kanji has always looked to me like the head of a turkey, which is a most suitable dish for a Thanksgiving dinner.

  ten 点 / てん score; grade; point

  A perfect ten on a scale of 1–10 is an excellent score!

  The kanji as it is now written in Japan and China since WWII is a simplification of the original kanji 點, which has the character 黑, meaning “black,” on the left side. The character for “black” shows a window blackened by soot from a fire, indicated by the “fire” radical 灬 on the bottom, on a house made from mud brick, symbolized by the character for “earth” 土. The right side of 點 is the phonetic 占, which shows the cracks in a tortoise shell on top, with the mouth of a soothsayer on the bottom, and means “to foretell the future.” The true etymology of this character has to do with the original meaning, which it still retains, of lighting a fire. By extension it came to mean the little bits that are left of whatever is burned by a fire, and by extension “points,” and finally, based on the “points” you accumulate, a “grade” or “score.” The top of the kanji as it is now written (点) looks a bit like a cigarette lighter being lit, as indicated by the “fire” radical 灬 below it.

  tomaru 止まる / とまる stop

  My eating sweets will stop tomorrow, I often promise myself.

  止 The kanji shows the foot at rest, with the bottom stroke depicting the sole of the foot pressed flat against the ground and stopped there.

  tonari となり next to

  The toenail is next to the toe.

  tori 鳥 / とり bird

  Birds like to perch on a tree.

  鳥 The kanji shows the crest on top of the head of a bird like the Asian magpie or the North American cardinal. The four small strokes on the bottom of the kanji represent the tail feathers, with the strokes in the middle of the kanji representing the body and wings of the bird.

  toru 取る / とる take

  Thor will take his hammer to send a thunderbolt at his enemy.

  取 The kanji shows a hand on the right (又) taking hold of someone by the ear (耳).

  totemo とても very

  A totem pole is very tall.

  ude 腕 / うで arm(s)

  My underarms exude a lot of odor!

  腕 On the left of the kanji is the “meat” radical 月, which appears in all the kanji for fleshy body parts including arms, legs, chest, and back. Although scribes made this radical look exactly like the kanji 月 for “moon” when they codified the language several thousand years ago, it’s a distortion of the kanji 肉 for “meat.” The right side of the kanji (宛) is only there as a phonetic, but it looks like two people sitting back to back under a roof, not using their arms, since they seem to be resting.

  undoo 運動 / うんどう exercise; sports

  Exercise is no fun when your undoo-wear’s (underwear’s) tight!

  Literally: “transport-move.”

  運 This kanji, which means “to transport,” has the “walk” radical ⻌ on the left, indicating movement. The phonetic on the right shows a wheeled vehicle (車) under a roof and means “military.” Soldiers in the military are ordered to do a lot of exercise, whether in boot camp or on the march in battle. For us civilians, when our car is under the roof of our garage and not working, we are forced to get exercise by walking instead.

  動 This kanji means “to move.” It has the “energy” radical �
� on the right, with the kanji 重 for “heavy” on the left as the phonetic. 重 shows weights piled up, as they would be at a gym. The idea is that you use a lot of energy to move something heavy.

  unten (suru) 運転 (する) / うんてん(する) (to) drive

  A race car driver might say to himself, as he drives in a race and goes to shift gears, “Um, ten speeds would be even better than five!”

  Literally: “transport-drive.” Often used with suru.

  運 This kanji, which means “to transport,” has the “walk” radical ⻌ on the left, indicating movement. The phonetic on the right contributes to the meaning by showing a wheeled vehicle (車) under a roof.

  転 This kanji, which means “to drive,” has the “cart” radical 車 on the left. The simplified phonetic on the right has the kanji for “two” above a pictograph showing a nose. Think of it as the nose of a child trying to see out over a side window of a car.

  urayamashii うらやましい envious

  In the Bible, King David was envious that Uriah the Hittite had a beautiful wife, Bathsheba, whom he desired for himself, and so decided that Uriah must die.

  ureshii 嬉しい / うれしい happy

  Hooray, I’m so happy that she loves me!

  嬉 The kanji has the “woman” radical 女 on the left, whose presence so often brings happiness to children. The phonetic 喜 on the right side by itself means “joy.” It seems to show 11 (10 + 1) mouths on top and 20 mouths on the bottom, representing a great many people eating, drinking, and singing happily at a party. That is actually not too different from the true etymology of the character. The character on the bottom does show a great many mouths happily drinking and singing at a celebration. The top part, however, actually shows the head of a drum being beaten in time to the joyous singing at the party.

  ushiro 後ろ / うしろ back; behind

  My wife and I like to sit far from the screen when we go to the movies, so they always usher us to the back row.

  後 The kanji shows the “step” radical 彳 on the left, appearing to depict one person behind another. It is actually a footprint. The right side shows two hands on the bottom dragging behind a string or rope, represented by the “short thread” radical 幺 on top.

  wakai 若い / わかい young

  Young children adore the Muppets character, Fozzie Bear, who often says “Waka! Waka!”

  若 The kanji has the “grass/flower” radical 艹 on top, referring to young plants or grasses just beginning to grow. The phonetic below it is the kanji 右 that means “right,” (as opposed to “left”). 右 depicts the right hand feeding the mouth, since all Asians traditionally have been taught to eat with their right hand, to prevent righties and lefties ever bumping elbows at the table. In remembering the kanji 若 think of what the poet e.e. cummings said, namely that “for whenever men are right, they are not young.”

  wake わけ reason; explanation

  There must be a reason why we sometimes wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.

  yasai 野菜 / やさい vegetables

  The vegetables served in school cafeterias tend to be so tasteless, that students often lament to each other “yeah, sigh, vegetables again!”

  Literally: “wild-vegetables.”

  野 This kanji means “wild.” The meaningful part is on the left, which combines the “field” radical 田 with the “earth/ground” radical 土. The land outside of the cultivated fields was “wild,” i.e., uncultivated. The phonetic on the right is the pictograph of a spear and was meant only to serve as a phonetic. However, in remembering the kanji it might help to think of wild, uncivilized tribes using spears rather than more modern weapons for hunting.

  菜 This kanji means “vegetables.” On top is the “grass/flower” radical 艹, which is the radical on top of a great many characters for various vegetables, as well as kanji for flowers and herbs. Beneath it is a phonetic that seems to show a hand pulling out a plant from the ground, like a carrot or turnip, although here it is the “tree” radical 木.

  yasashii 易しい / やさしい easy

  Yes, sir, she can do it easy (easily).

  易 The kanji shows the head and four legs of a chameleon. It originally meant “to change,” since the chameleon changes its coloring to blend in with the environment. In time, however, the kanji came to mean “easy,” since the chameleon so easily changes its skin color.

  yasui 安い / やすい cheap

  Yeah, chop suey is cheap.

  安 The kanji shows a woman (女) under a roof. The original meaning of this kanji, which it still retains in both Chinese and Japanese, is “peace,” since the woman is safely ensconced at home. However, in the past century this kanji when used by itself came to mean “cheap” in Japanese. As a feminist, I am embarrassed to say that my mnemonic device for this is that when your wife is at home, she can’t spend your money. Of course she likely has a computer, a phone, and credit cards, so she can buy plenty of expensive stuff from home!

  yasumi 休み / やすみ rest; break; holiday

  Yeah, sue me, but I’m taking a break!

  休 The kanji shows a person on the left resting under a tree (木).

  yoru 夜 / よる night

  “Alas, poor Yorick, he’s died and gone into that great night we call death,” Shakespeare’s Hamlet might have said.

  夜 The kanji shows a person on the bottom left under a roof at night, with the moon shining in on the bottom right (a variation of 月), which almost appears to be walking into the room!

  yubi 指 / ゆび finger

  My Mom would point at me with her index finger and say, “You be a good boy now!”

  指 The kanji has the “hand” radical 扌 on the left, appropriately enough. The phonetic on the right, which contributes to the meaning, shows a finger on the top sticking something tasty in the mouth, seen on the bottom of the character. When the ancient Chinese scribes codified the language several thousand years ago, they made the mouth filled with talk or with food look (曰) exactly like the pictograph 日 for “sun.”

  yubiwa 指輪 / ゆびわ ring

  When I proposed to my wife, I put a diamond ring on her finger and said “You be wan-derful! Please marry me!”

  Literally: “finger-ring.”

  指 The kanji has the “hand” radical 扌 on the left, appropriately enough. The phonetic on the right, which contributes to the meaning, shows a finger on the top sticking something tasty in the mouth, seen on the bottom of the character. When the ancient Chinese scribes codified the language several thousand years ago, they made the mouth filled with talk or with food (曰) look exactly like the pictograph 日 for “sun.”

  輪 This kanji means “ring.” It has the “cart” radical 車 on the left, giving a bird’s-eye view of a wheeled vehicle in which the two horizontal lines represent the wheels, the vertical line the axle, and the middle box the body of the cart. The idea here is that a ring is round, like the wheels of a cart or carriage. The phonetic on the right represents a written document in ancient times, composed of slats of bamboo tied together vertically (册) and placed under a roof. A helpful mnemonic might be to think of a wedding being legalized by the giving of a ring and a written marriage certificate.

  yuki 雪 / ゆき snow

  As beautiful as snow can be, when we have to drive in it, we may say “yuck!”

  雪 The kanji has the “rain” radical on top (雨), which is found on the top of all kanji having to do with weather. The top line of the “rain” radical shows the sky, with the straight horizontal and vertical lines below representing a cloud from which raindrops are falling, as depicted by the four small slanted lines. To create this kanji, on the bottom a hand (彐) is added to show the act of brushing away the snow.

  yume 夢 / ゆめ dream

  You may have just been dreaming.

  夢 This kanji has the “grass/flower” radical 艹 on top of the kanji 目 for “eye,” turned on its side. At the bottom is a pictograph of
a roof, underneath which the moon (夕) can be seen shining in. The idea here seems to be that as you sleep under your roof at night with the moon visible in the sky, flowery visions appear before your eyes. That is close to the true etymology, which is that the “grass/flower” radical on the top was a distortion of the ancient kanji that was intended to show the eyes beclouded in sleep and therefore seeing things rather indistinctly in one’s dreams.

  yunomi 湯飲み / ゆのみ teacup

  “You know me, I love tea” say your Japanese friends, when you ask them what they’d like to drink.

  Literally: “hot water-drinking.”

  湯 This kanji means “hot water.” It has the “water” radical 氵 on the left, appropriately enough. The phonetic on the right shows the sun on top shooting its rays down to the earth, contributing to the idea of heating the water.

  飲 The kanji has the “food” radical 食 on the left, which shows a hand on top reaching into a rice bowl in the middle and scooping up the rice with a spoon, pictured on the bottom. The right side shows a person on the bottom, with breath rising up, and means “to inhale.” When we drink, it is often with food, and we figuratively inhale the beverage.

  yuube 夕べ / ゆうべ last night

  You, babe, were so fun last night!

  夕 The kanji shows the crescent moon appearing in the sky in the evening.

  yuubinkyoku 郵便局 / ゆうびんきょく post office