Can Japanese Elders Really Write Kanji?

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  • Опубліковано 23 бер 2022
  • Learn Japanese with Yuta: bit.ly/3iuYtkn
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 552

  • @ThatJapaneseManYuta
    @ThatJapaneseManYuta  2 роки тому +65

    Learn Japanese with Yuta: bit.ly/3iuYtkn

    • @MattMorgasmo
      @MattMorgasmo 2 роки тому

      Dear Yuta, thank you so much for your wonderful videos and for introducing people from around the world into Japanese culture.
      I have one request, though: In videos like this one (where people write Kanji), could you insert the correct Kanji not only before they write them down but also while they write them down? I think it would be interesting and easier to see how close they are.
      All the best to you from Germany! ❤️

    • @name3583
      @name3583 2 роки тому

      Yuta, can you invite Mr. Saeed Sato サイード佐藤 and interview him?

    • @soundpointone9364
      @soundpointone9364 2 роки тому

      Great video as always Yuta Sensei
      BTW i want to request a review on the type of japanese used in ジョゼと虎と魚たち (Josee, the tiger and the fish)
      Also i love your email lessons too Thank you

    • @Asher-Tzvi
      @Asher-Tzvi 2 роки тому

      Hey Yuta, I was wondering if you could make a video about very old Japanese? Like a video showing to what extent modern Japanese people can understand Japanese Heian period writing from over a thousand years ago, or the Man’yoshu, or writing from the Asuka Period, as they were originally written.

  • @Verbalaesthet
    @Verbalaesthet 2 роки тому +1182

    When I look at them I think "Ah, so easy" and then when I want to write them from memory Im like "How was that part again...."

    • @ultraali453
      @ultraali453 2 роки тому +44

      Yes, they're common words, almost all of them. But I still can't remember, similar to you

    • @w.w.sakbeh571
      @w.w.sakbeh571 2 роки тому +12

      And I’m like, there is another lifetime, right? 🤣 (JLPT N4 studying for N3)

    • @burunokosuta
      @burunokosuta 2 роки тому +7

      Yeah, I can relate. I know about 200 kanji but writing a few of them from zero sometimes is difficult.

    • @user-gl3ck3ix8f
      @user-gl3ck3ix8f 2 роки тому +9

      Memorizing the radicals will help a lot

    • @thetafritz9868
      @thetafritz9868 2 роки тому +10

      あああ、かんじはむずかじい。

  • @biohazard737
    @biohazard737 2 роки тому +1151

    We need a "are you smarter than a 5th grader" Kanji edition!!

    • @LoveMyUnusual
      @LoveMyUnusual 2 роки тому +12

      Lol looks like we just got one. 😄

    • @biohazard737
      @biohazard737 2 роки тому +15

      @@LoveMyUnusual haha, we need a TV show!

    • @hijay8501
      @hijay8501 2 роки тому

      exactly!

    • @jurgendieter5238
      @jurgendieter5238 2 роки тому +8

      elementary school goes till 6th grade in Japan. Teaching 1026 Kanji

    • @warmpianist
      @warmpianist 2 роки тому +6

      There's a Japanese game show called ネプリーグ aired since 2005. One part is they read/write hard as hell Kanji, even the ones they aren't normally used or they're mostly written in simple Hiragana.

  • @egemen2108
    @egemen2108 2 роки тому +880

    It's so impressive how fast some of them can write such complex kanji!

    • @JHuatuco
      @JHuatuco 2 роки тому +27

      The speed is not impressive

    • @probano
      @probano 2 роки тому +199

      @@JHuatuco Okay Simon Cowell

    • @user-bs4qu7tb2g
      @user-bs4qu7tb2g 2 роки тому +75

      handwriting really is not an issue, if you just keep writing. Memorizing the radicals and how they work together in a kanji is the challenge, but it's doable, too. Onyomi are actually the worst part, it's so random and there can be so many for just one single character

    • @egemen2108
      @egemen2108 2 роки тому +6

      @@user-bs4qu7tb2g thank you! good to know!

    • @w.w.sakbeh571
      @w.w.sakbeh571 2 роки тому +26

      They’re 5th and 6th grade kanji, so they’re not complex for native Japanese speakers. These are the basics; it’s just that these particular elders have not maintained their written practice of kanji, as is also true of many (perhaps most) Japanese people.

  • @van4122
    @van4122 2 роки тому +493

    reading and writing is a complete different thing altogether lol, i can read quite a few kanjis but if you asked me to write them...no chance xD

    • @22chyke
      @22chyke 2 роки тому +1

      Mmmmm write Japan with kanji

    • @jurjitsingh3728
      @jurjitsingh3728 2 роки тому +18

      Keyboard cause all of this😂

    • @cahallo5964
      @cahallo5964 2 роки тому

      @@22chyke I can't

    • @jaushabakkas8127
      @jaushabakkas8127 2 роки тому +6

      well if I use keyboard, I might have slightly better chances

    • @22chyke
      @22chyke 2 роки тому

      @@cahallo5964 oh

  • @Mashiris
    @Mashiris 2 роки тому +238

    I like this type of videos because It's encouraging for people learning japanese that not even japanese elders can write every single kanji.

    • @applefoodie
      @applefoodie Місяць тому +1

      To be fair, elders are probably worse at this than high school or college kids, since they're constantly writing and taking notes. Not to mention they just learned these characters much more recently.

  • @faufaufau
    @faufaufau 2 роки тому +297

    Japanese and Chinese writing is so difficult to master because everyone progresses their writing, reading, and speaking skill at a different pace while learning due to their kanji system. Back when I was learning French, the moment I can write a word, I can read it and say it. That doesn't happen while I'm learning Japanese, which makes learning new vocabularies substantially more difficult. :/

    • @theTHwa3tes11
      @theTHwa3tes11 2 роки тому +38

      The advantage is that you can understand the context of a sentence by just a glance.

    • @johnvincent1595
      @johnvincent1595 2 роки тому +6

      @@theTHwa3tes11 I absolutely agree especially if you're taking JLPT.

    • @aman-hl9re
      @aman-hl9re 2 роки тому +4

      Hmm the French do have silent letters tho

    • @justkev1044
      @justkev1044 2 роки тому +12

      cuz yall use the same writing system with some minor differences in vowels, if youre born chinese youd say kanji is ez and german is hard

    • @faufaufau
      @faufaufau 2 роки тому +21

      @@aman-hl9re the silent letters are pretty easy to guess once you understand the pattern. English pronunciation is much more difficult bcs it has no rules what so ever.

  • @Barnaclebeard
    @Barnaclebeard 2 роки тому +24

    I can't believe you tried to correct that woman's "jun". She was clearly a wizard.

  • @AceFuzzLord
    @AceFuzzLord 2 роки тому +483

    Doesn't matter how old/young you are or how smart/dumb you are, Japanese kanji is difficult. Period.

    • @bm1259
      @bm1259 2 роки тому +6

      it isnt

    • @Quint_69
      @Quint_69 2 роки тому +43

      @@bm1259 It is.

    • @bm1259
      @bm1259 2 роки тому +3

      @@Quint_69 they arent people just tend to learn them in very stupid ways like RTK or whatever

    • @Quint_69
      @Quint_69 2 роки тому +40

      @@bm1259 Bro it's 2000 characters. They aren't easy to remember.

    • @bm1259
      @bm1259 2 роки тому +4

      @@Quint_69 they arent hard to remember if youre always reading stuff since the 2000 kanji you need to know are the most common ones, the literal bare minimum

  • @EvgenyUskov
    @EvgenyUskov 2 роки тому +62

    i am one of the few foreigners (i.e. non-native kanji learners and non-native Japanese language speakers) who have passed the first level of the Kanji Kentei - i usually take it every time (three times a year) at one place in a prefecture where i live, and most other Kanken level 1 takers are as this video puts it "elders": for many of them studying kanji is a valuable hobby after retirement, and a sort of a mental gymnastics, a way to maintain intellectual capacities at old age

    • @LittleWhole
      @LittleWhole Рік тому +1

      Wait a minute! I recognize you! You're the guy whose name is on the Wikipedia image for a Kanken Level 1 pass certificate! ウスコフ エフゲニ!

    • @EvgenyUskov
      @EvgenyUskov Рік тому +1

      @@LittleWhole it's a small world. cheers

    • @Mitsoukee
      @Mitsoukee 9 місяців тому +1

      After I’m done with N1 (I just got N2), Kanji Kentei will be my next challenge.

    • @darkmattergamesofficial
      @darkmattergamesofficial 2 місяці тому

      That’s awesome and inspiring. I really like kanji too. What do you do to study?

    • @EvgenyUskov
      @EvgenyUskov 2 місяці тому +1

      ​@@darkmattergamesofficial "What do you do to study?" - i do very simple things: open a dictionary, and study material there... well, being a on a sort of hiatus i currently don't really study that much (at all for that matter). on a general note i would say that most things are done BY THINKING: i'd advise to read an autobiography of Richard Feynman called "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" where he described how he literally fixed radios by "thinking"

  • @aguacateadosmilpesitos
    @aguacateadosmilpesitos 2 роки тому +2

    Aw, I would've loved if this video was longer. I really enjoy these kind of videos

  • @aerox21091991
    @aerox21091991 2 роки тому +19

    Guy at 3:20 actually didn't get it correct. He's missing the diagonal stroke through the right side of the character.

    • @kageyamareijikun
      @kageyamareijikun 2 роки тому +3

      I was looking for this comment. I thought I was the only one who noticed that

    • @tachimegun
      @tachimegun 2 роки тому

      also his 糸 radical is weird/wrong? it's supposed to be 6 strokes (his is 7)

  • @usageunit
    @usageunit 2 роки тому +37

    I always thought it'd be neat if he did a video like this with reading or writing unsimplified kyuujitai characters. 圓, 體, etc.

    • @justkev1044
      @justkev1044 2 роки тому +6

      Kyujitai is just Japanese traditional characters and shinjitai is just Japanese simplified characters, like how mainland China uses simplified and taiwan and hk still uses traditional

    • @99mrslang
      @99mrslang 2 роки тому +1

      I agree. I'm also curious to see how many kyujitai are legible to Japanese people

  • @bassoonchu
    @bassoonchu 2 роки тому +7

    I love practicing writing kanji!! It’s probably my favorite thing about studying Japanese. My diary looks so beautiful with lines of kanji streaming down the pages in vertical lines. But I also love calligraphy in my native language (English), so that is likely why I also love writing kanji.

  • @pig1800
    @pig1800 2 роки тому +134

    the word "探検" says a lot of history...
    actually the word elder wrote "探険" is "correct" old way to write the kanji, word "探険" means "exploration", and character "探" means "to explore", and character ”険" means "danger", on the other, character "検" means "to check", it's nonsense to combine the meaning "to explore" and "to check".
    It's all because GHQ fucked up Japanese kanji, twisted a lot of words to "reduce the character to learn" to eventually "eradicate the using of kanji", which is luckily aborted due to the takedown of McArthur, who was the leader of GHQ.
    Actually the elder remembered "the old correct way" to write the word "探険", touched me a lot.

    • @ysts3452
      @ysts3452 2 роки тому +21

      the shinjitai -- "new" kanji became official with the Joyo kanji list in about 1980. what people(students) learned at school before that should be the original kanji.
      after that, correct one become "incorrect"

    • @user-kn1fb8el5p
      @user-kn1fb8el5p 2 роки тому +15

      哈哈哈,中国也是这样。很多人批评简体汉字曲解了很多字的原本意义

    • @tianwang
      @tianwang 2 роки тому +23

      Ah interesting, I was just wondering why did he say that man was wrong, as it’s also 探险 in Chinese. 检 is wrong.

    • @TakittyLove
      @TakittyLove 2 роки тому +5

      @@user-kn1fb8el5p wow !! But I think Chinese writing is more difficult even. Japanese one is kind of easier because of Hiragana and Katakana letters. 中国&日本 cultures are so beautiful. Greetings from Peru :)

    • @SiodogRehane
      @SiodogRehane 2 роки тому +4

      @@TakittyLove Not really depends on how you look at it. If you are a masochist like me and learn both simplified and traditional chinese then yes it gets crazy

  • @ultraali453
    @ultraali453 2 роки тому +14

    Watching this video is comforting to me because after learning Japanese for a few years, I can read many words but still not write them from memory.. now I know that I'm not alone
    If I can get to native level on anything, that is what I would call language fluency

  • @oldladyhater
    @oldladyhater 2 роки тому +54

    wonderful video, but it would be cool if we could see the typed kanji next to what everyone wrote on the whiteboard, so we could compare the two :)

    • @randominternetguy3537
      @randominternetguy3537 2 роки тому +3

      Just rewind a couple seconds. Also, handwritten is usually different than typed anyway bc we suck

    • @oldladyhater
      @oldladyhater 2 роки тому +2

      yeah but i think even that in itself is interesting. how handwritten japanese differs from what the kanji "should" look like. i dunno just a thought

    • @randominternetguy3537
      @randominternetguy3537 2 роки тому +5

      @@oldladyhater well hand written is less robotic, less rigid.

    • @Pashmimi
      @Pashmimi 2 роки тому +2

      @@oldladyhater it's the other way around. handwritten is the most correct form because they had to change the shape of some handwritten kanji in order for them to be the same size on the computer screen. some fonts actually merge certain kanji. for example 冷 has 2 forms that switch depending on the font.

    • @oldladyhater
      @oldladyhater 2 роки тому

      @@Pashmimi REALLY? That's actually crazy interesting. I'd love to see a video about it, any recommendations?

  • @moaangol5915
    @moaangol5915 2 роки тому +5

    At 4:10 探険 is actually correct too. 探検=探索、検索。探険=危ない、未知の場を探索。Even the Chinese version is “探险”。It means to explore the unknown as well as dangerous area.

  • @hiyorikuyamarurin3141
    @hiyorikuyamarurin3141 2 роки тому +3

    Your email lessons are going great! I've subscribed around two weeks ago.

  • @monteiro5306
    @monteiro5306 2 роки тому +1

    As always an amazing video. Greetings from Brazil.

  • @li_tsz_fung
    @li_tsz_fung 2 роки тому +45

    Many of them are actually good at kanji.
    They write 探険 in stead of 検,which is similar to 探險 in Chinese. I suspect it's just shinjitai (kanji simplification) switched character.
    Just like 栄養 is 營養 in chinese. But Japanese do have 営

    • @YA-ix5je
      @YA-ix5je 2 роки тому +7

      探検 and 探険 should both be valid, 探険 implies the mission is potentially dangerous while 探検 is exploratory and informational
      辞書によると
      探検=探り調べる
      探険=険しい所を探る
      one thing to note is that 冒険 can only be 冒険 as it always implies risks so 冒検 is not correct

    • @amanita8397
      @amanita8397 2 роки тому +1

      营养 is the simplified version of 營養

    • @scoshi6592
      @scoshi6592 2 роки тому

      榮養

    • @MaxSum
      @MaxSum 2 роки тому +2

      For me, 検 is checking, as in 検査. 険 is danger, as in 危険.
      So 探険 seems to make more sense.

    • @ramennnoodle
      @ramennnoodle 2 роки тому +2

      探險 would be 探险 in simplified Chinese

  • @ayeyeb4083
    @ayeyeb4083 2 роки тому +24

    Well done to all the おじさん for playing along in the first place!
    What they are saying in the end is the truth, being able to read Kanji often doesn´t translate into being able to write it down, and like all things, the less you practice the more you forget.
    For us foreigners, being able to write kanji, actually helps memorize words and helps reading, so they are quite important. Of course you wouldn´t start with these complicated ones like in this video.

  • @robertschrader
    @robertschrader 2 роки тому +17

    Yuta: With New Zealand's announcement that they will be reopening to tourism on May 2, Japan willl become the last major country in the world still closed to tourists, besides China. I would love if you could address this (and perhaps the broader issue of 令和鎖国) in a video.

  • @gattaca5911
    @gattaca5911 2 роки тому +41

    when japanese students test my english knowledge I always test their japanese and ask them to write "kanpeki" ......and "peki" is always incorrect.

    • @doggypi1532
      @doggypi1532 2 роки тому +1

      I just typed it... And for a bit I thought (peki)璧 was the kanji for (kabe)壁 lol~ these differences are a pain~

    • @justkev1044
      @justkev1044 2 роки тому

      @@doggypi1532 so you see under the non-radical part is a gem/jade radical for peki and soil/earth for kabe. that gem radical associates peki(artifact) with jade and kabe(wall) with earth which makes sense

  • @nayem_saki
    @nayem_saki 2 роки тому +5

    This was fun to watch

  • @basketfreak023
    @basketfreak023 2 роки тому +1

    1:54 you can see his excitement and is raring to go. What a fun and educational video, great work!

  • @DioSatyaloka
    @DioSatyaloka 2 роки тому +1

    Yeah the speed that natives write kanji is amazing. But Yuta ad for his lesson are getting smoother it's impeccable.

  • @Kanjicafe
    @Kanjicafe 2 роки тому +2

    Another phenomenal video. Your idea generation is first class. This really inspires me to study harder for some strange reason as well.

  • @flewberi
    @flewberi Рік тому +5

    the nuances in japanese language are just so interesting. japanese works like no other language and its amazing. the difficulty of writing the correct kanji is so extrordinary while compared to ortography in other languages. i really wish to learn japanese so much that i can actually understand all these nuances

  • @etherdog
    @etherdog 2 роки тому +1

    Nice interviews, Yuta! What do you think the trajectory of kanji in Japan is going to be? How long will it last, at least in terms of everyday use? Is there a move to romanji or something else, like hiragana and katakana, which are more directly syllabic?

  • @NicoSleepyLeen
    @NicoSleepyLeen 2 роки тому +3

    "It's the flow of time"
    That one really hit me

  • @vangmx
    @vangmx 2 роки тому +7

    Loved this video! For a Chinese language learner such as myself for over 20 years, kanji (or hanzi) is normal in the everyday Chinese writing language. Everything is kanji! Also, it’s interesting to see the shared kanji characters between the Japanese and Chinese language from a historical sense. Great video!

  • @abarairukia
    @abarairukia 2 роки тому +3

    Déjà vu! Then i realized this was briefly posted yesterday and as soon as I clicked it was gone!

  • @AdamOwenBrowning
    @AdamOwenBrowning 2 роки тому +13

    ....but i enjoy learning kanji more than grammar :'c
    i know it's so inefficient but there's so much beauty, intricacy and history to Chinese characters.

    • @brendanmurphy8727
      @brendanmurphy8727 2 роки тому +2

      Me too. Those ancient Chinese scribes had a sense of humour.

    • @cowholy3031
      @cowholy3031 2 роки тому

      Who says Chinese is not efficient, the same text, Chinese is often much shorter than English. This is your problem, not Chinese.

    • @U20E0
      @U20E0 2 роки тому +3

      @@cowholy3031 inefficient to learn in that order, he meant

    • @user-bz3tf7sl8y
      @user-bz3tf7sl8y 2 роки тому

      @@U20E0 if you learn Chinese you will find out how difficult Japanese had made kanji to learn and use

    • @U20E0
      @U20E0 2 роки тому

      @@user-bz3tf7sl8y and?

  • @NASH78
    @NASH78 2 роки тому

    Yuta… For some reason your videos have not been showing in my feeds for about a month now. Just thought I would let you know. Big❤️

  • @blobba5442
    @blobba5442 2 роки тому +1

    That granny with the black coat is great!

  • @ariap3307
    @ariap3307 2 роки тому +2

    What a great video to watch 11 hours before my Japanese final. Nice to see I’m not alone in not knowing the kanji.

  • @Jamdcup
    @Jamdcup 2 роки тому +3

    In my experience, when I learn kanji, I write them but in order to be able to read them if that makes sense. Actually trying to write them makes you memorize them a lot better than just learning by reading. Learning by doing is just more efficient, just like you'll understand a maths problem better if you try to solve it yourself instead of just reading the solution.

  • @wigglenips8825
    @wigglenips8825 2 роки тому +13

    This makes me feel better for not being able to remember how to write basic kanji, despite being able to read quite a bit lol

  • @vectrex28
    @vectrex28 2 роки тому +7

    When I came to Japan, I tried making an effort by writing down notes on paper to practice my kanji.
    1 and a half years later, I gave up and just let my electronic devices draw the correct characters for me. At least this makes me feel less bad about it, hahaha

  • @kanireader
    @kanireader 2 роки тому +1

    The usefulness of knowing to write kanji is debatable but learning to write is really fun and it ultimately helps in other areas such as reading

  • @harishpatil5055
    @harishpatil5055 2 роки тому +102

    But how can they remember all those characters for so long? English is damn easy. Sanskrit and Kannada (I'm Indian) characters are also easy because they form a very logical pattern. But I'm not sure if Japanese characters follow a pattern like that from the information I know.

    • @xjmmjbnqfstjdijoj2044
      @xjmmjbnqfstjdijoj2044 2 роки тому +37

      They mostly don't, you just have to learn them by heart, and each kanji has several pronunciations, unlike Chinese or Korean for instance

    • @goshinbi44
      @goshinbi44 2 роки тому +51

      It helps that many of the kanji are made up of the same parts. you can use them to make "mnemonic devices", stories to help you remember them. For example here's some common kanji that all use the ⺅(person) part on the left: 化任仮伝他休
      in that last one 木 (tree) is on the right side, this is also a common part.

    • @harishpatil5055
      @harishpatil5055 2 роки тому +11

      @@goshinbi44 Japanese is indeed a difficult language.

    • @afizi1213
      @afizi1213 2 роки тому +1

      Eii cibai, mereka tak suka inggeris saya pun tak suka inggeris, saya lebih rela belajar jepun dari inggeris 🥴sampai macam tu sekali

    • @afizi1213
      @afizi1213 2 роки тому +1

      @@harishpatil5055 sukar manapun yang penting gaji dia Best seimbanglah dengan kos sara hidup jepun yang mahal

  • @Bloodybear06
    @Bloodybear06 2 роки тому +1

    I love them so much. ❤

  • @white_mage
    @white_mage Рік тому

    that was fun. i might actually try learning some kanji just to mess around lol

  • @Webberjo
    @Webberjo 2 роки тому +136

    Kanji looks really difficult to memorize because of how many strokes comprise a lot of words.
    English thankfully has words comprised of letters which each only take 1-3 strokes to write.

    • @user-cq4nq8dd3e
      @user-cq4nq8dd3e 2 роки тому +35

      Remembering full radicals makes it substantially easier though

    • @user-bs4qu7tb2g
      @user-bs4qu7tb2g 2 роки тому +19

      @@user-cq4nq8dd3e Exactly, "Remembering the Kanji" by Heisig is gold in this regard🥇

    • @mikael9325
      @mikael9325 2 роки тому +12

      @@user-bs4qu7tb2g I agree, however, I have stumbled upon many less than optimal radical names. There's a site called koohii kanji which is based on Heisigs books with other people creating stories for each kanji, using the same or reformed radical meanings.

    • @yrorysinger5313
      @yrorysinger5313 2 роки тому +3

      But for English you still have to learn all the spellings. I imagine it's not as hard for adult learners as Kanji, though.

    • @mikael9325
      @mikael9325 2 роки тому +1

      @@vuuvovuuv the point was strokes per character

  • @AllNamesAreJustTaken
    @AllNamesAreJustTaken 2 роки тому +1

    theyre so cute and did a great job 😊

  • @cookiemonsterhacker3131
    @cookiemonsterhacker3131 2 роки тому +2

    well if i was old japanese and had a lot of time i would learn kanji because what else would i have to do all day it helps you with memory and eyes so its pretty good

  • @rozhin6055
    @rozhin6055 2 роки тому +3

    This is so reassuring & makes me hopeful 🥲

  • @kojisan1
    @kojisan1 2 роки тому +2

    Grandma was killing it.

  • @jamtea573
    @jamtea573 2 роки тому +2

    I was wondering when this video was coming back, I saw the first half of it yesterday before it suddenly disappeared! What was wrong with it if you don't mind me asking?

  • @matttheimperial6863
    @matttheimperial6863 2 роки тому +12

    You should totally do a video seeing if foreigners who know Japanese can remember Kanji

  • @marccuypers2439
    @marccuypers2439 2 роки тому +131

    This makes me wonder how technological advancement will influence the Japanese written language in the long run. When people are forgetting how to write Kanji due to the availability of auto suggestion, one might ask the question if kanji will very slowly be phased out entirely.

    • @andrewli6606
      @andrewli6606 2 роки тому +81

      Kanji will probably never get phased out entirely because there are way too many homonyms and that’d become extremely difficult to read. Hiragana and katakana would probably need to be revamped to include pitch changes somehow to differentiate words. It would also probably have to be changed to be like Korean and include spaces. Even Korean still uses Chinese characters to a more limited degree in technical written contexts. Overall, Japanese would have to drastically change to remove kanji entirely, which is unlikely.

    • @adonissherlock
      @adonissherlock 2 роки тому +64

      Dont be too sure. Japanese without kanji just sucks because of all the homophones. Even as a learner I often find it easier to read texts that have kanji rather than those that don't.

    • @_MRK87
      @_MRK87 2 роки тому +41

      Once you learn to read some kanji you start to appreciate it. Reading a text with only kana is difficult, especially complex sentences.

    • @180digi
      @180digi 2 роки тому +44

      on the contrary, i've read that the use of kanji is actually INCREASING because of auto suggestion. i guess there's a difference between remembering how to write something and simply recognizing it

    • @devenluca4737
      @devenluca4737 2 роки тому +6

      Can't be done. There are a lot of words that are too long or annoying to write in Hiragana that are just one kanji.
      祭り = Matsuri
      まつり = Matsuri but also in Hiragana.

  • @DrowningInTea
    @DrowningInTea Рік тому +2

    探險 is actually the correct one in Chinese. If you consider the context:
    探=find, discover
    險=uncharted, danger, unknown
    檢 is inspect, examine (something physical) so it does not make sense in this context.
    I guess in Japanese, 探検 was misused so many times over 探険, it eventually became the "correct" one...
    So, the old person was actually right when he wrote 探険. It's Japanese that is wrong.

  • @Goldenblitzer
    @Goldenblitzer 2 роки тому +1

    imagine have a picture based language where the pictures are based on odd translations of an ancient version of a foreign language, couldn't be me

  • @KH-tp7qx
    @KH-tp7qx Рік тому +1

    探険 is the etymologically correct one. In traditional Chinese it is also 險 with the ‘ear’ radical. As many have pointed out, etymologically 探険 means to search the danger, hence to explore, compare 危険. With the wood/tree radical 検 means to exam and check cf 検定 (to examine, approve),検疫(to check for disease, quarantine)。
    With the 新字体 some characters with similar meaning were mixed up. Still, we should not say 探険 is wrong. You can say it is obsolete or out-dated. Many writers write the Kanji they think are correct/suitable for the meaning anyway. That’s the beauty of Kanji.

    • @Shichitenhakki78
      @Shichitenhakki78 Рік тому

      I actually am able to find 探檢 as a rare word in some Chinese and Korean dictionaries. For example, the 重編國語辭典修訂本 defines 探檢 as 探索尋檢. In both Korean and Chinese, the two words are pronounced differently (探險/탐험 = tanxian/tamheom; 探檢/탐검 = tanjian/tamgeom). In Japanese, they are pronunced the same and Japanese dictionaries now list both versions but with perhaps different nuances. My guess is that they blended into the same word since they sound the same in Japanese. For some reason, 探検 has become standard in the Japanese media but 探険 is in the dictionary and should not be considered wrong.

  • @asususersupreme
    @asususersupreme Рік тому +2

    I still gonna learn how to write most of the kanji. It's like art.

  • @the_real_one4456
    @the_real_one4456 2 роки тому +1

    could u do a video of verb conjugation? would be very helpful :)

  • @backyardbuddy3167
    @backyardbuddy3167 2 роки тому +2

    Yuta never fails to promote his classes 😂

  • @ssanimess
    @ssanimess 2 роки тому +2

    3:25 "shiki" is incorrect, he missed a stroke on the right side.

  • @stripedsweater520
    @stripedsweater520 2 роки тому

    Yuta! Can you do a video reacting/reviewing Kotaro Lives Alone on Netflix. I wonder your opinion on the themes e shown in the anime

  • @makotohanazawa6560
    @makotohanazawa6560 2 роки тому

    探険 is actaully marked as a variation of 探検 in dictionaries

  • @davidanderson1818
    @davidanderson1818 2 роки тому

    I have a small very old copper knife that has symbols on it. How do I find out what it says? Showed to elderly Japanese man, he said it was writing long before his time.

  • @rexnemo
    @rexnemo 2 місяці тому

    I saw something about how words are read and apparently the brain looks at part of the words and fills in the rest .
    It is like how I try to remember a song that I've heard and yet cannot recall the words and yet if a different version is played on the radio then I can recognise it immediately as not being the version that I know .
    So a fairer test might be to show the people the Hanzi ( Kanji ) and then ask them what it means .
    The brain is doing lots of processing simultaneously and the skill required to write the word is probably being routed through lots of areas inside the brain .
    Maybe making a video showing people the character and asking them what it means would be interesting and a comparison could then be made . Plus it would give you an entire new project .

  • @TheWabbitSeason
    @TheWabbitSeason 2 роки тому +5

    If you don't have a computer and the appropriate word is kanji, but you don't remember it, do you fall back to the Hiragana or Katakana version?

    • @peterj6721
      @peterj6721 2 роки тому +3

      I'm still a beginner in Japanese, but from what I understand, they default to hiragana. I think katakana is only used for words that are borrowed from other languages, and from what I've observed, there aren't any kanji equivalents for katakana words.

    • @doggypi1532
      @doggypi1532 2 роки тому

      Hmm... If I don't know the exact word I'd probably use another term or just describe it lol...and yes in Hira/kata form~

  • @TheStickCollector
    @TheStickCollector 2 роки тому +1

    Interesting results

  • @_MRK87
    @_MRK87 2 роки тому +20

    my Japanese teacher insists on doing a 10 kanji hand writing test every two weeks :/

    • @momusufan964
      @momusufan964 2 роки тому +7

      It's great, hold on !

    • @doromizu.
      @doromizu. 2 роки тому +11

      That's good. Writing Kanji is a great way to remember it

    • @Mashiris
      @Mashiris 2 роки тому

      It depends if it's easy kanji I don't see an issue.

    • @musthaf9
      @musthaf9 2 роки тому +3

      If you can write it, you can read it. I’d say, continue on. I also practice writing them, because it helps me memorize them

    • @_MRK87
      @_MRK87 2 роки тому

      @@musthaf9 yea, but the question is: if it's necessary to write them in order to be able to read them. And I'm not convinced about that one. It's a conservative approach straight from the Japanese education system, kept from times when they had to write stuff by hand. It takes a lot of time to learn to write them and you forget the next day basically. I'd rather spend this time reading.

  • @gingajones3093
    @gingajones3093 2 роки тому +1

    it would be nice to see people learning Japanese vs elderly Japanese in writing kanji at that grade level

  • @superpowerdragon
    @superpowerdragon 2 роки тому +2

    3:20 the shiki is missing one stroke

  • @dinhvietluan2006
    @dinhvietluan2006 10 місяців тому

    4:29 In Vietnamese we use the word 探険 (tanken, literally means detect the danger) for the meaning of exploration; never heard of 探検 (detect and check??! sounds quite weird)

  • @raphaelmanarpz721
    @raphaelmanarpz721 2 роки тому +4

    鬱病 (utsubyō/depression)、飆 (tsumujikaze/whirlwind)、鬮 (kuji/lottery)and other complex kanji are killing me. At least I was able to memorize the first one.

    • @ernstschmidt4725
      @ernstschmidt4725 2 роки тому +3

      they seem to be highly composite, maybe lookin its radicals help to get a mnemonic of them.
      飆 in particular is three dogs and wind. maybe its a wind as loud as three dogs or is a wind that spins like three dogs chasing their tails.

    • @Meyy1105
      @Meyy1105 2 роки тому

      i think people will just go for katakana/hiragana for these words rather than these kanjis they look like headache lol

    • @as2s3hf7gff
      @as2s3hf7gff 2 роки тому

      if you searching depression in japanese at UA-cam、it's very rare to find the word 鬱病 at youtube, you'll just find うつ病。the word うつ just came with hiragana

    • @raphaelmanarpz721
      @raphaelmanarpz721 2 роки тому

      @@as2s3hf7gff yep, I've noticed that. More useful than the gruelling 鬱.

    • @as2s3hf7gff
      @as2s3hf7gff 2 роки тому

      @@raphaelmanarpz721 yeah, what about Taiwanese that still use traditional Chinese, they never have (or just a bit) simplification of their writing

  • @ndt10
    @ndt10 2 роки тому

    このようなコンテンツでもっと多くのビデオを作ってください。お願いします

  • @Martasaka83
    @Martasaka83 2 роки тому

    I feel a bit better abt myself when I look at those people in your kanji videos lmao, kanji are the bane of my existence as a Japanese studies student 😭

  • @mustafacr728
    @mustafacr728 2 роки тому

    the question is why adopt such a difficult writing system omg I love it thou

  • @thegreatchrispy
    @thegreatchrispy 2 роки тому

    This feels like the same level as "have you seen this movie?" versus "list all the movies you've seen", type of scenario.

  • @strongindependentblackwoma1887
    @strongindependentblackwoma1887 2 роки тому

    I'm writting complex kanjis that i encounter in my books, but not cuz i'm trying to memorize them but....to "get use to the stroke orders in case i see some similar kanji"

  • @kungszigfrids1482
    @kungszigfrids1482 2 роки тому +1

    The closest thing in my nation would propably be to ask people who to write names that need to be capitalized, but here again there are only 3 rules and everything else is 100% phonetic we write like we speak (but writing prefuxes roots sufexes and endings seperatly)
    For example "Latvijas Republika" bough are capitalized, while (at this point I whent looking up examples as I dont like the standart capitalization so use my own and dont want to give you my own by accident) "Baltijas jūra" only first is capitalized (this does line up with my personal capitalization rules, bough examples).

  • @matthiasb.p.8834
    @matthiasb.p.8834 2 роки тому +1

    "tanken" actually means "to fill up gas/petrol" in german

  • @Scarlett-vk5vg
    @Scarlett-vk5vg 2 роки тому +3

    are you Yuta Okkotsu

  • @Eisenkette
    @Eisenkette 2 роки тому

    Yuta! Can you keep the current kanji on the screen so we can see?

  • @user-ib5hi4tb5r
    @user-ib5hi4tb5r 2 роки тому +1

    This is a Japanese video that I as a Chinese can enjoy

  • @okitasan
    @okitasan 2 роки тому +1

    it's interesting that some of these elderly people are probably among the first of a generation that an even older generation complained about not writing kanji. Some of these guys were probably in their 30s-40s in the 1980s and 1990s when computers, electronic dictionaries, and phones were becoming big, and I would imagine the people in the 60s+ at that time were bothered about the digitization of kanji.

  • @Katcom111
    @Katcom111 2 роки тому +2

    You should make more videos of the elderly doing kanji but reward them after they solve the kanji right.

  • @pipo_pipo_
    @pipo_pipo_ 2 роки тому

    I do that thing all the time where I accidentally write the second kanji first and then I'll just write the first kanji to the left of that 😭😭 I'm glad that's a universal thing

  • @ldkmelon
    @ldkmelon Рік тому

    I think this is mainly a technology thing. all the words I'm spoiled to google the spelling that I had to know confidently before. all the phone numbers I used to know by heart.....

  • @sweetdurt2143
    @sweetdurt2143 2 роки тому +2

    Japanese people: kanji is difficult
    me: same

  • @Aschdra87
    @Aschdra87 2 роки тому

    Now I feel better for confusing kanji sometimes as a N4 student.

  • @thevinmeister5015
    @thevinmeister5015 2 роки тому +1

    Typing and the lack of handwriting things outside of your profession once out of school is my best guess

  • @Snow-Willow
    @Snow-Willow 2 роки тому +1

    Maaaan, I'm just a novice learner but these ojiisan make me feel like I'm doing it wrong. They lift up their pens waaay less than I do. When did the strokes become optional?? TwT
    We have this in the US to with cursive. I still remember, but my husband can't even read most cursive anymore.

    • @steeltalon2356
      @steeltalon2356 2 роки тому

      lots of things are taught strictly "by the book" in a very specific way. Later you just do what's easiest for you. Sometimes it's good reason, such as setting good fundamentals to discourage bad habits. Other times because of mass standardized. Or just because it's just traditional and it "always been done this way".

  • @cleanphreak5103
    @cleanphreak5103 Рік тому

    Video posted in march, but was it filmed in December?

  • @SphereBoxCube
    @SphereBoxCube 2 роки тому +2

    I'd fail if he asked me how to write いち from memory

  • @riberium1739
    @riberium1739 2 роки тому

    Last man said literally said my thoughts, actually i keep learning kanji and for now i can say their meaning (near to 1k), but if i will try to remember how to write them - just blur picture in front of me

  • @danielstandford4930
    @danielstandford4930 2 роки тому

    can someone explain to me how they dont remember? is it not common to write in kanji? forgive me I know nothing about the japanese language, just curious. I assumed that they used the alphabetical japanese (there might be a word for this) and kanji semi interchangeably. Is it that on their keyboards te=hey type it out semi phonetically and it changes it?

  • @andrewmtgx
    @andrewmtgx 2 роки тому +1

    hey yuta what's good japanese language guide

  • @LaFranceBonjour
    @LaFranceBonjour 2 роки тому +3

    a chinese guy I know can read kanji and understand a lot without knowing any Japanese. Apparently a lot of characters have been changed slightly or a lot; so a lot is guess work, but if he knows the context of the characters ,he can make educated guesses of the changed Kanji and still know basically what is being said. he explain he can understand like an english speaker would understand a sentance like, "hier je suis rentré chez moi et j'ai mangé du chocolat"

    • @brendanmurphy8727
      @brendanmurphy8727 2 роки тому +1

      A lot of nuance will be lost. 見る - to see, 見せる - to show, 見える - to be visible, and that's before you add tense or negatives. The hiragana part will be where whether something happened or didn't happen is indicated. Just knowing the kanji is likely to result in getting hold of the wrong end of the stick.
      As for the changes, Mandarin has simplified the characters a lot more than Japanese has. If your friend is Cantonese, he may know traditional Chinese characters which are a lot closer to Japanese characters.

    • @550077
      @550077 2 роки тому +2

      I’m not sure if an English speaker would understand anything in "hier je suis rentré chez moi et j'ai mangé du chocolat", other than "chocolat" though.

    • @brendanmurphy8727
      @brendanmurphy8727 2 роки тому +1

      @@andrewli9024 Cheers. I should have realised that as the move away from traditional in mainland China was due to the CCP.

    • @ray295
      @ray295 2 роки тому

      @@brendanmurphy8727 LMAO, please do some research next time, don't be so ignorant. Simplified Chinese can date back to Qin dynasty and the simplification initiative was first proposed by KMT before CCP, CCP simply adopted this plan later after 1949

    • @brendanmurphy8727
      @brendanmurphy8727 2 роки тому

      @@ray295 No. In its current form Simplified Chinese is entirely a product of the CCP. The simplifications used in the Qin dynasty were more akin to handwriting idiosyncrasies and were neither widespread nor well regarded at the time. The proposals under the KMT to simplify Chinese characters were rejected by the party and not implemented.

  • @HelgeMoulding
    @HelgeMoulding 2 роки тому

    So it's not just wapuro baka but also use it or lose it. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

  • @b1sII6
    @b1sII6 2 роки тому +1

    interesting to learn that 約束 means promise in Japanese. In Chinese it means constrain or constraint. It makes sense: we should not make a promise lightly, or it would become a constraint.

    • @physika
      @physika Рік тому +1

      I believe Japanese see the 2 words individually ie 约 = promise and 束 just means it's bounded on the person, on the other hand Chinese sees it in a broader context ie restrain.

    • @Shichitenhakki78
      @Shichitenhakki78 Рік тому

      Korean also uses 約束 (약속/yaksok) to mean "promise." It's interesting that a lot of Korean hanja and Japanese kanji have similar meanings but are different from Chinese. Like "airport" being 空港/공항 in Japanese and Korean, but 機場/机场 in Chinese.

    • @jaif7327
      @jaif7327 8 місяців тому

      @@Shichitenhakki78could it be because japanese and korean wanted to preserve whilst chinese diverged on its own?

  • @baganatube
    @baganatube 2 роки тому

    3:19 is incorrect - 織 is missing a stroke in the bottom right corner. But Yuta, you're almost as good as a 5th grader :D.

  • @ultimatelifeform882
    @ultimatelifeform882 2 роки тому

    Tanken can be written both ways, with the radical that looks like a B or with the “tree”.
    I can’t speak japanese and I even know that. My native language is spanish.

  • @Sakanakao
    @Sakanakao 2 роки тому +1

    Ha ha this is reassuring in my very slow quest to learn Kanji...

  • @RyneMcKinney
    @RyneMcKinney Місяць тому

    To someone like me, that would take years of articulate memorization of how and where to draw the lines and dots of the symbol