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I had a question about On’yomi and Kun’yomi that I answered by going back into the textbook. However, it rose another question.
If On’yomi are recognized by their attachment to another kanji, how can a single kanji have an on’yomi pronunciation? Wouldn’t every On’yomi pronunciation be for a pair of kanji, and not a single kanji?
My original question was about 人, wherein I was confused why by itself it would be pronounced with a kun’yomi if kun’yomi was identified by the kana attached to it. However, I answered that with the fact that “On’yomi are when you have a kanji, with its own pronunciation, attached to another kanji to create a jukugo”. If that’s how On’yomi works, then how do single Kanji have On’yomi pronunciations?
Or in other words, if I have a single kanji, and that single kanji has both on’yomi and kun’yomi pronunciations without any attachments, then how would I tell whether to pronounce it with On’yomi or Kun’yomi?
Anonymous
No, because there are exceptions in many cases.
Yes, On’yomi is for pairs of kanji, while kun’yomi is for single kanji or kanji with kana attached.
But there are exceptions. Some pairs of kanji may even have both on’yomi and kun’yomi. A single kanji might use on’yomi, as you have realized. A prime example is numbers.
So how do you figure out the pronunciation? As you learn more vocab, you come to discover that some kanji have tendencies and lean towards certain readings. It’s not that hard; you just need to learn more vocab.
“[...] how can a single kanji have an on’yomi pronunciation?”
電車 = でんしゃ and 自転車 = じてんしゃ, therefore the on’yomi for 車 is しゃ. There isn’t a different reading for every combination it appears in so it makes more sense to attribute the reading to the single kanji rather than the word as a whole.
Having said that, I find it easier to learn the readings *in the context* of the word as a whole. Basically, instead of learning 車 = しゃ on it’s own *then* learning 電車 = でんしゃ, I just learn the word and that tells me the reading of 車 implicitly. This also does away with the need to know which readings are on and which are kun.
@Matthew: I feel the same, but it’s not their fault, it’s Koichi’s. Can’t even tell them to just search the forum because that doesn’t even work ¬_¬
Wow, okay. For starters Matthew, you can’t say “Oh look, this thread again” if the information you provided didn’t help at all. Literally you didn’t answer the question I asked in any way. Bravo on your mastery on “this thread”.
Secondly, THANK YOU MICHAEL because that made perfect sense. Because of my background with Rosetta Stone I already recognize a few kanji, and in my experience different kanji were pronounced differently when paired with other kanji- but that’s because some kanji have multiple on’yomi. When you said “it doesn’t change for every combination”, I was reminded that one of the kanji in the list (九) had two on’yomi, and that fits the two pieces of the puzzle together.
However, I disagree with you on disagreeing with Koichi (if that makes sense). This is a WONDERFUL way to learn kanji, it’s preparing for the future, it’s not a quick fix. Rosetta Stone does all the thinking and processing for you, and just expects you to memorize how to say every scenario. Koichi is giving us the ability to piece together our own sentences and words, and in the long run allowing us to recognize kanji in parts so that we can put it together easier, or create it for ourselves easier. It’s really for people who like to know more than it is for people who like to have it all figured out for them. That being said, I am one of those people who like to know more… ^^
But really, thanks bro. It all makes sense now, and I can go back to downloading information without a hiccup. =)
AnonymousIf you like Textfugu’s kanji, I recommend Wanikani, another website made by Tofugu that teaches you kanji. It’s a lot more extensive regarding kanji, and it’s also interactive.
ありがとうございます！*bow*
Re-reading your question, I think I may actually have misunderstood it, but if my answer helps…
Matthew’s answer seems to be more relevant, to be honest. The gist of his answer was “If you have multiple kanji together, use on’yomi, but if you have a single kanji (with or without kana attached), use kun’yomi. However, because the system has so many exceptions, sometimes single kanji are read with on’yomi”. That last part is what I think you were asking… was it? I don’t know, I interpreted your question differently each time I read it :P
Also, you have to understand, questions about the usage of on’ and kun’yomi have been asked SOOOOOOO many times here over the years. Koichi hasn’t updated TF in so long that these questions are still necessary, unfortunately, because the book doesn’t explain it well. Plus, the search feature (which took literally years to be added) doesn’t even work, so it’s not like you could have easily found old threads. We get kinda tired of answering them but it’s not your fault, it’s Koichi’s, so don’t worry about it.
As for disagreeing with Koichi’s kanji method, I *definitely* agree it’s better than Rosetta Stone, for sure. Most methods are better than Rosetta Stone :P But I still think there are other methods better than Koichi’s. I guess that’s a matter of opinion :)
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