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Why are some Japanese characters the same as Chinese characters?
Wiki User
∙ 16y ago
Many Asian cultures were influenced by China. Japan is no exception. Before Japan's introduction to Chinese, they had no writing system. So Japan eventually adapted, as well as changed, the Chinese language, which explains why many Chinese characters are still used in the Japanese language.
Also, a section of the modern Japanese language called 'kanji' consists of Chinese characters.
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Wiki User
∙ 16y ago
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What was the relationship between Chinese and Japanese writing?
Japanese and Chinese writings are different, but in some cases use the same characters.Japanese uses different writing systems:Hirigana - Used for native Japanese wordsKatakana - Mainly used when writing foreign wordsKanji - These are characters that were borrowed from the Chinese WritingRomaji - This is used when writing Japanese characters with the Latin AlphabetChinese uses characters that they call Hanzi.Hanzi is called by different names in other countries. But in Japanese it is called Kanji.Kanji are the Chinese characters that the Japanese use along with their other writing systems (Hirigana & Katakana) . Though in Japanese one character of Kanji and represent many syllables.
Why are there more than one Alphabet in Japanese?
Long ago, Japan had no writing system for its language. After contact with China the Chinese character system was borrowed and used to write Japanese, but it was awkward because the person reading it had to interpret the grammar for Japanese (very different from Chinese grammar) and add verb forms and things that were not in the text. Eventually an alphabet representing sounds instead of ideas was invented (based on some of the Chinese characters) to show things like verb tenses and conjugations. They are still used because of this, and because some items of vocabulary sound the same and would be confusing if written the same, so there are some words written with Chinese characters only, some with a combination, and some with only hiragana or katakana. Words imported from other languages are usually written with katakana.
Do Japanese people like Chinese food?
In some cases yes but most of them dont since eatting sea food keeps the japanese fit and healthy. Chinese food is different fome japanese food. Chinese food taste great but its not really for a healthy life style unlike the japanese,they eat things which is good for you most of the time. I would know cuz im chinese and japanese.
What is the Chinese symbol for China?
China is written different ways depending where you are. In Traditional Chinese characters, China is written 中國. This is used in Taiwan and some overseas Chinese communities. In Simplified Chinese characters, used in China, it's written 中国.
What does Emily mean in Korea?
I think you are asking an innocent question. You are Emily? Well, there probably isn't a meaning. Koreans use an phonetic alphabet, not the fancy Chinese characters that have meaning. In pure Korean, all your name sounds like is, "The act of pushing a child," Eh meaning child mily meaning to push. However, when a Korean child is named, the name has corresponding Chinese characters which are decided in some archaic ritual. By chance, sometimes these can be translated in to something making sense, such as "Universal Beauty", "Snow Child", "Bright Future." But in actuality making the name sound good in English wasn't the actual goal. For instance, my name is "Large Face". I'm sure if you go deep in to Chinese Philosophy this probably has some deep meaning, but I don't generally answer when someone asks me what my name means. In cases of foreign names, we change it to phonetic Korean, then try to match some Chinese characters that sound the same. However, Koreans and Japanese use Chinese as English speakers use Latin, so our understanding of the language is somewhat twisted, evolved, and changed. Even the same Chinese character is pronounced differently in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. I think you're best option would be to find a Chinese person. This person will understand Chinese natively, he could find an interesting translation for your name which would have more weight than from a Korean who uses some sort of modified Chinese.
Are chinese and japanese the same?
No, Chinese and Japanese are two separate languages with distinct writing systems, grammar structures, and pronunciations. Additionally, Chinese and Japanese cultures have their own unique histories, traditions, and customs.
Does Japanese have some Chinese characters in their language?
Yes they do.
What was the relationship between Chinese and Japanese writing?
Japanese and Chinese writings are different, but in some cases use the same characters.Japanese uses different writing systems:Hirigana - Used for native Japanese wordsKatakana - Mainly used when writing foreign wordsKanji - These are characters that were borrowed from the Chinese WritingRomaji - This is used when writing Japanese characters with the Latin AlphabetChinese uses characters that they call Hanzi.Hanzi is called by different names in other countries. But in Japanese it is called Kanji.Kanji are the Chinese characters that the Japanese use along with their other writing systems (Hirigana & Katakana) . Though in Japanese one character of Kanji and represent many syllables.
What is the difference between Chinese and Japanese calligraphy?
Japanese calligraphy is based off of Chinese calligraphy and shares many of the same characters and means. In calligraphy paintings, both focus heavily on landscapes; however, the Japanese style is more graphic, and uses black outlines and has animated/personified qualities to its clouds and water. Chinese calligraphic painting is much more calm and realistic. Overall, they both use similar paintbrushes, physical postures, rice paper, many of the same characters, and the same type of inks.
Are Japanese and Chinese the same thing?
No. Japanese people come from Japan and speak the Japanese Language. On the other hand Chinese people come from China and speak a variety of Chinese Languages. If you look at an atlas all will be revealed.
Are there any similarities with the Japanese language and the Chinese language?
Japanese and Chinese written language share some characters known as Han Zi. Japanese also uses Kanji that is not used in Chinese. Modern Chinese is read from left to right and top to bottom (like English). Japanese is not.
How are foreign words written?
Each language has its own way to speak and write their words. There are languages like Japanese and Chinese that uses their own characters and read from right to left. Some have the same format as English but uses the same characters but the spelling is different.
What is Chinese writing called?
Chinese writing is called "hanzi" or "hanja", depending on whether it is written in simplified or traditional characters, respectively. Each character represents a word or a morpheme and can have multiple meanings depending on how it is used in context.
犈 what does this kanji mean?
You might be confusing Chinese and Japanese Kanjis. Japanese shares some Kanjis with China (the word Kanji literally makes reference as "Chinese Character"), but there are still a large number of characters in Chinese that you will not find in Japanese. The reason for this is the difference in the alphabets, Japan's alphabet is syllabic with Kanjis used to prevent an overabundance of homophones (that would also have the same spelling), while China uses a symbolic alphabet where each character means a single word. In fact, you might be surprised to learn that the number of characters in Chinese far exceeds the number used in Japanese (47,035 characters are present in the Kangxi dictionary, while Japanese uses only ~1,006 of those). I looked up that character though and it appears to have the pronunciation "Quan".
Why are there more than one Alphabet in Japanese?
Long ago, Japan had no writing system for its language. After contact with China the Chinese character system was borrowed and used to write Japanese, but it was awkward because the person reading it had to interpret the grammar for Japanese (very different from Chinese grammar) and add verb forms and things that were not in the text. Eventually an alphabet representing sounds instead of ideas was invented (based on some of the Chinese characters) to show things like verb tenses and conjugations. They are still used because of this, and because some items of vocabulary sound the same and would be confusing if written the same, so there are some words written with Chinese characters only, some with a combination, and some with only hiragana or katakana. Words imported from other languages are usually written with katakana.
How many characters are there in the Chinese dictionary?
There are thousands of characters in the Chinese dictionary, but the most commonly used ones number in the thousands. Generally, around 3,000-4,000 characters are considered essential for basic literacy and communication in Chinese.
How are Japanese and Chinese written language related?
Firstly, the Japanese Language and the Chinese Language is not of the same linguistic family, thus there will be a large number of differences.Pronunciation:Japanese consists of syllables called mora and consists of a consonant cluster plus a vowel. Several mora make a "word" in Japanese. In contrast, Chinese is broken down by character, which each character is given at least one reading of exactly one syllable long. Chinese also distinguishes between tone in all its dialects; Japanese does not and uses a tone-based stress to clarify what is being said.Writing System:It is in this manner the Japanese developed kanji, the Chinese characters used in Japanese.Japanese uses three different scripts, not counting Roman Letters and Arabic Numerals, in everyday writing: kanji, hiragana and katakana. Kanji, as noted, is the Chinese characters seen in Japanese text. Hiragana and Katakana are symbols derived from grass script calligraphy of Chinese characters and evolved to be their syllabary. Chinese only uses Chinese characters.Vocabulary:Japanese also imported a large amount of vocabulary when importing Kanji from the Chinese. This gave two results: many distinctively Chinese concepts retained their Chinese reading, while many of the Japanese concepts gained a kanji which meant what the kanji represented in Chinese. Aside from these similarities, there is almost no point in common between the vocabulary of the two languages.Grammar:Japanese and Chinese employ two completely different grammar schemes - first, even the order of the sentence would not be the same in the two languages: Chinese is mainly Subject - Verb - Object, like English (Although it is technically possible to construct a sentence meaning exactly the same thing using a different order) and Japanese is always Subject - Object - Verb, like German most of the time. Japanese also possess a past tense (but no future tense) while Chinese does not distinguish the tense at all.
