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Hey,
I’m currently learning the level 4 Radicals and I have a question:Generally, most Radical names are in some way related to the Kanji that use them. But not all. In some ways it would actually be easier to change the name or shorten it or something similar.
Is there a particular reason why I should remember all the Radical names as they are, or can I change them to suit myself? Let’s take the Radical マ for example. It’s called “Mama” on TF. None of the Kanji on TF use “Mama” in their vocabulary. They do use “Mama” in the mnemonics, but I find that even so it feels really cumbersome to call/remember this Radical as “Mama”, rather than just “ma”, as in the Katakana “ma”.
Or take the “Frog” Radical. The Kanji means “Support”, so why is the Radical called Frog? Yeah, it does indeed look like one from the top, but it could also be something supported by a stool. Wouldn’t that be better, since that’d be the same as the Kanji? If not, why? Are these names in any way official?There are official names. These are they: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kanji_radicals_by_stroke_count
And yeah, I’ve always taken issue with a few of Koichi’s radical names.
Bottom line is that while you’re learning, the radical names are just a memory aid – change them to suit yourself. If you’re going to be a Japanese linguist, you’ll need to learn the official names, but otherwise just come up with something that helps you remember. As it happens, I find it easy to remember that 灬 means “fire” (not… “fish tail”?) – I think of it as taking 火 and removing a slice across the middle. I also find it useful to remember that 氵 means “water” (not “tsunami”… really, Koichi?), because kanji that have the radical 氵 often have meanings to do with water or fluids.
支 = “branch” . (Actually, for that matter, so does the kanji – 支店 = branch office)
Thanks.
Yeah, I#d googled the official names and found the branch one. I was wondering, how do Japanese use these? Do they actually ever learn Radicals?
I have to admit, I don’t entirely know. I’d imagine they would learn radicals at some point, because most kanji dictionaries sort the kanji by radical. Students in schools learn kanji in a specific order (to be precise, this order), and as I understand it, this is largely done through rote copying rather than any radical- or mnemonic-based method.
I’m no expert on this, though – this is basically just stuff I’ve read in places over time. Here’s some links that Google-sensei found for me:
http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/13047/native-speakers-basically-dont-study-radicals-so-how-could-they-be-useful-f
https://www.quora.com/Japanese-language-How-do-children-in-Japan-learn-kanji
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