This time’s Kanji Tip doesn’t have a very pleasant meaning, but it is indeed interesting to acknowledge its origin! Read “tsunami”, the first kanji 津 (tsu) has the meaning of “port” or “harbor”, and the second kanji 波 (nami) means “wave”, so you can think of the whole meaning as “a wave that attacks ports”! There … More Kanji Tip 20: 津波 (tsunami)
As promised on the last kanji lesson which meaning was “storm”, here is a kind of a less used version of the kanji 嵐 (あらし, storm)! It’s read おろし (oroshi), and it means literally “wind blowing down from mountains”. As I introduced in this lesson, the bottom kanji means “wind”, and the upper one means … More Kanji Tip 19: 颪 (wind blowing down from mountains)
Today’s kanji meaning is pretty simple, and I think you can get it just by looking at it and remembering two of the kanji we already studied here! (THIS ONE and THIS ONE) “A wind coming from the mountain” it’s what they call a storm! It’s read あらし (arashi) – yes, like the music group I presented … More Kanji Tip 18: 嵐 (storm)
Some days ago there was a strong typhoon in Japan, so I thought this would be a nice kanji tip! 暴風, meaning windstorm, is read ぼうふう, boufuu. The first kanji is mainly related to violence, like in the word 暴力 (meaning violence, force), but it is also related to the sun or light, as the … More Kanji Tip 16: 暴風 (windstorm)
It’s been a while since the last Japanese Lesson, so I decided to come back with the names of countries in Japanese! To note that many of these countries’ names also have a kanji form, called “ateji” (当て字), where kanji are used through their sound to represent words. And here is the list! English Ateji Katakana / … More Japanese Vocabulary Lesson 30: World Countries
This one will make your eyes pop out, definitely! DID YOU KNOW THAT THE SWASTIKA IS ACTUALLY A KANJI? I’m not implying anything, just making a statement out of pure curiosity. It is read まんじ (manji), and it has a lot of meanings, from kanji origin and from many other cultures in the world. The … More Kanji Tip 6 – 卍 (Swastika)
This time, the kanji tip that I have to give you is really funny! Check out the kanji: It’s one of those words so very much used in anime and dramas (well maybe by Japanese in general!). 馬鹿 (baka) means “iditot” or “fool”, but… why is the person you are talking about, an idiot? Behold … More Kanji Tip 5 – 馬鹿 (idiot)
Still remember the lesson I made about numbers in Japanese? Well, I said that the number 0 also has a kanji, and here it is! It is pronounced れい (rei), and as I said, it is not that used to represent the number 0. It is used in words like 零下 (reika – below zero), 零細 … More Kanji Tip 2 – 零 (zero)
As I showed you in a lesson quite some time ago, Japanese names for the months of the year are really easy to memorize, because they literally mean “month one”, “month two”, etc. But did you know they once were called in a different way? Here is the list of the traditional names for the … More Japanese Vocabulary Lesson 28: Months Japanese traditional names
~~ ADJECTIVES ~~ As you might have noticed already, there are two types of adjectives: the i-adjectives and the na-adjectives. There is not a meaning difference between them (why they are “i” or “na” type), there are simply different words, which are divided in two groups. As the name indicates, i-adjectives end in “i”, and … More Japanese Grammar Lesson 11: Adjectives and Adverbs
The Rising Sky 