Japanese characters in Taiwan

Language Learning Chinese
1

After being rejected by JET, I came to Taiwan and started to learn Mandarin. I took Japanese in college, so I picked up the writing OK
Despite my nipponophilia, Taiwan grew on me… then, one day I realized why Taiwan is so beautiful… Taiwan is… Kanjiland…

‘Kanji’ is literally 漢字, and for westerners, it’s one of the hardest things about learning Japanese… unless, of course, you’ve lived in Kanjiland for 10 years…

Actually, I’ve seen a lot of Japanese characters in Taiwan that I never learned in college: stuff that’s not in the Chinese dictionaries but still, popularly known by the locals.

For instance, 丼. It looks like 井 with a dot in the middle. Only by asking the chef at the restaurant will you learn it’s pronounced ‘dong4’. I think it’s just the Japanese pronunciation… like they say ‘Latte’ at Starbucks and ‘dong4’ at the Ramen shop…

Then there’s this one: 物語. It’s in that song about the ninjas that Jay sings. I think it means ‘jargon’…? But it’s not a Mandarin word, I guess, because I can’t find it in any dictionaries. But I did see an advertisement for a play from Japan. It showed 物語 and said ‘Monogatari’. Anyway, I remember 物 is ‘mono’ like ‘穿物’ ‘kimono’ (‘thing to wear’). But it seems like it means ‘jargon’. There’s also this store in Ximending in Taipei called 猴子物語… so is it ‘Monkey Jargon’???

Oh, and there’s that one Kanji that means ‘發’ but it looks different, and they write it with 賣: 發賣 (for sale…like on vending machines… and some fancy shops that want to use the fancy kanji…)

Oh, by the way, the best one is 糞. In Japanese, this Kanji is pronounced ‘kuso’, but only extrememly erudite Nipponologists know this one… However in ‘Kanjiland’, all the school kids know this one. They even practice it’s etymology, calling it 米田共.

Anyway, I’m glad JET rejected me, because now I live in Kanjiland…賽翁失馬焉知非褔…

2

Is 氣 except with an x under the top part a Japanese character?

3

Oh, ya…

Or… Isn’t it also a dummy mainland character?

But I know the Japanese word 人気 appears a lot in Taiwan. It’s not a Chinese word, either, I guess, because it’s not in the dictionaries. But it’s pretty popular in Taiwan. In fact, I think it means ‘popular’

'人気’超人気

4

[quote=“Mr. Sir”]Oh, ya…

Or… Isn’t it also a dummy mainland character?

But I know the Japanese word 人気 appears a lot in Taiwan. It’s not a Chinese word, either, I guess, because it’s not in the dictionaries. But it’s pretty popular in Taiwan. In fact, I think it means ‘popular’

'人気’超人気[/quote]
Yeah. It’s just “qi” simplified. And I’m pretty sure “renqi” (aka ninki) is one of the many Japanese adoptions to Taiwanese Chinese.

No, it doesn’t mean “jargon”, it means “tale” or “story”. As in the ancient Japanese novel, Genji Monogatari, “The Tale of Genji”.

Japanese ‘simplified’ fa, that’s all.

There’s also a lot of “sinicized” Japanese, like (Chinese) “Ou-ji-sang” and “Ou-ba-sang”, and “ka-wa-yi”, and a few kana used trendily, like hiragana ‘no’ used for Chinese ‘de’, since they share meaning and origin (‘no’ is just a majorly simplified ‘de’).

5

Some more Japanese kanji, don’t know about the accuracy of these translations since I copied them from somewhere else. However unlike most kanji, these are very different from Chinese in meaning.

上手 (good)
下手 (sux)
勉強 (learning)
手紙 (letter)
汽車 (train)
自動車 (car)
不器用 (incompetent)
辛抱 (to endure or in Chinese 忍耐)
床 (floor… I am guessing tatami mats??)
御袋 (mother)
邪魔 (to disturb)
素敵 (ingenious)
吸殼 (ciggy ash)
本屋 (book shop)
急須 (teapot)
泥棒 (thief)
怪我 (injured)
冗談 (joking)
金玉 (testicles)

6

Oh, so that Jay song about the ninjas goes:

‘ichi ni san shi’
‘A ninja story’

Hey… That rhymes in English…

Ya, Tetsuo… the hiragana 'の’is everywhere in Taiwan. I just read it as ‘no’. Some Taiwanese read it as ‘de’, and sometimes I’ve heard people say it as ‘zhi’…

‘ojisan’ and ‘obasan’ are usually just written with Mandarin characters (I think 歐吉桑 and 歐巴桑 (?). But that’s Japanese that leaked into Taiwanese and then spelled with Mandarin characters (like they do with 呷 for ‘eat’). Right? Anyway, it’s then ojisang and obasang in Taiwan…

7

I’ve found that I can read and understand Japanese kanji, whereas Japanese people often cannot understand the Chinese usage. (i mean just individual words not sentences)

8

That’s a big call. I majored in both languages at university, and found quite often making a cross-linguistic call meaning-wise ended up either being close but not exact, or being miles off. And there are a lot of kanji that are Japanese creations and do not exist at all in Chinese.

9

Japanese study classical Chinese in high school. They call it kanbun - 漢文。 Most people can understand simple classical sentences.

Some other Japanese made up words (they call them 国字):

掴 (tsukamu)
嵐 (arashi)
畑 (hata)

Japanese made-up vocabulary:

哲学 - philosophy. Obviously re-exported to China and Korea.

10

I still never figure out why Japanese call their communal baths “soup”

Hot water with meat is soup, I guess.

Or when did the Chinese decide to drink bath water?

11

[quote=“ac_dropout”]I still never figure out why Japanese call their communal baths “soup”

Hot water with meat is soup, I guess.

Or when did the Chinese decide to drink bath water?[/quote]

I think it’s an ancient meaning.

Japanese and Taiwanese, for example, retain some ancient meanings of Chinese. For example, 走 in modern Chinese means to walk, but in Japanese and Taiwanese, 走 means to run, which is the ancient Chinese meaning.