Differences between japanese and chinese

More info on the topic dealt in class:


Historically, the Kanji Writing System was taken into Japan from China, but as time the time went by, kanji writing has evolved into a part of the Japanese Writing System by using the borrowed ideograms to indicate pronunciation.

Japanese people use less Kanji characters comparing to Chinese people.

Even if you look at some of the Japanese culture, there are some adoption of cultural and religious materials from China too.
For instance, Chinese herbal medicine is quite popular in Japan.




So, are they DIFFERENT?


Many Western people may be thinking that Japanese Kanji and Chinese Kanji are exactly the same. They look very similar.
However, they are very different to Japanese kanji in structure.


Although the Japanese adapted Chinese characters into their langauge, they disregard the original meaning in Chinese.




Kanji,2 ways of reading:


Onyomi Reading - It is Chinese Reading, and developed from the original Chinese pronunciation but as the time went by, the Japanese writing system has adopted and became a part of the Japanese language.
It is often used with the kanji compounds, and naming English names in Kanji.


Kunyomi Reading - It is Japanese Reading, and usually used with a single kanji character. For instance, if the following kanji is read, it is pronounced: "Ki" with Kunyomi Reading.

Do you want to read more?:

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