Speak and Read Japanese Read online

  Fun Mnemonic Devices for Remembering Japanese Words and Their Meanings

  Larry Herzberg

  Stone Bridge Press • Berkeley, California

  Published by

  Stone Bridge Press

  P. O. Box 8208, Berkeley, CA 94707

  TEL 510-524-8732 • [email protected] • www.stonebridge.com

  ©2017 Larry Herzberg.

  First printing, 2017.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  p-ISBN 978-1-61172-040-2

  e-ISBN 978-1-61172-928-3

  CONTENTS

  Preface

  Radicals and phonetics

  Common Japanese Words

  English–Japanese Index

  Chart of Radicals

  PREFACE

  In studying eight foreign languages over many decades, I discovered that the best way for me to learn new vocabulary in those languages was to think of mnemonic devices, i.e., memory hooks, for each word. If I could relate the sound or meaning of a word I was trying to learn to a word in English, I had a much better chance of cementing that word in my memory.

  Using mnemonic devices—or “mnemonics”—to learn new vocabulary is not so crucial for an English speaker trying to learn a Romance language, given that 60 percent of words in French, Spanish, and Italian have English-language cognates. However, in a language as different from English as Japanese, having clever ways to jog your memory is most helpful when trying to learn new vocabulary.

  When I was first learning Japanese, it helped me to remember the phrase for “you’re welcome,” doo itashimashite, by thinking “don’t touch my mustache.” It was also easy to remember the word anata (“you”) by creating my own memory hook of “there’ll never be anata (another) you.” And the Japanese verb ikimasu (“to go”) was much easier to recall if I thought about going anywhere in winter in a northern clime being an “icky mess.”

  I don’t have particularly catchy memory hooks for every single word in Japanese. And even if I did, I could never fit them all into this book. What I have done here instead is provide mnemonics for almost three hundred commonly used Japanese words that all students learn in the first year or two of studying Japanese. I hope that these will encourage you to think of your own mnemonics for the words I do not include.

  I taught Japanese at the college level for over twenty years. When some years ago I anonymously surveyed nearly a hundred of my Japanese-language students as to how helpful they thought my mnemonics were, nearly all of them answered that they found them either very helpful or somewhat helpful. Only one student responded that he/she found them slightly annoying. I have, therefore, continued to use them in my teaching and hope to share them with a wider audience.

  I do want to share a few words of caution about using mnemonic devices to remember vocabulary. First, these are just whimsical creations that have absolutely no etymological basis. Second, mnemonic devices, or “demonic devices” as some of my students have called them, cannot be relied upon for exact pronunciation. For that you have to try to mimic your Japanese teacher, your Japanese friends, and the native speakers in the listening exercises that you do for your class. My encouraging you to remember the word for “test,” shiken, by thinking “she can ace the test, but I can’t,” might help you learn the word. But “she can” is hardly an exact guide to proper Japanese pronunciation.

  I have yet to encounter another Japanese teacher who uses mnemonics to help students remember Japanese words. Most likely that is because most Japanese-language teachers are native speakers of the language. They have been listening to and speaking in Japanese from the time they were infants and see no reason why anyone would need tricks to learn words that they acquired with their mother’s milk. A non-native speaker like me who learned the Japanese language as an adult, however, understands well the difficulty of remembering words in a language that is so incredibly different from English.

  In addition to the mnemonics I have provided for spoken words, I have provided mnemonics for the kanji (Japanese characters) for those words as well. There are Chinese etymological texts that give the true origin of at least some kanji. There are other books that give tricks for remembering kanji in creative ways that have nothing to do with their actual origin. In this book I have tried to provide both the correct etymology, should that be known, as well as my own fun and hopefully helpful tricks for remembering how to read and write the kanji. The explanations of the true etymology of kanji are generally based on those found in the Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字), a 2nd-century Han-dynasty Chinese dictionary.

  The Japanese words included in this book are ordered alphabetically based on their spelling in roomaji. The romanization used is the Hepburn system, the system most commonly used in Japanese-language textbooks for English speakers. I have, however, opted to show double vowels by writing the vowel twice, rather than using a macron (ō). For example, the long vowel “o” (おう) is thus rendered here as “oo.”

  Every Japanese word in the main entry is rendered in roomaji, kanji, and hiragana, except kanji are not provided for words for which there are either no kanji or for which kanji are no longer commonly used.

  The English definitions of Japanese words are based on the most common meanings of those words and conform with the definitions given in the most commonly used textbooks in Japanese-language classes in the U.S., most notably the Genki series of textbooks published by Japan Times.

  The mnemonic device offered for each Japanese word directly follows the English definition. For verbs the mnemonic is sometimes based on the dictionary form of the verb and sometimes on the –masu form. For adjectives, the mnemonics are for their root forms.

  Radicals and phonetics

  Every kanji contains at least one “radical,” which is a simple picture that helps to show the general meaning of that kanji. For example, the “water” radical 水, usually stylized as 氵 and placed on the left side of a kanji, is found in almost all words that are either bodies of water (河 “river”; 湖 “lake”) or that have something to do with water, such as the character 渇 for “thirsty.”

  The “tree” radical 木 is found in almost all kanji that are either names of trees (松 “pine”) or words for things made of wood ( 椅 “chair”). The radical is often found on the left side of a kanji, but sometimes appears on the right side, the top, or the bottom. There are 214 radicals in all, 100 of which account for nearly 99 percent of all kanji.

  Approximately 90 percent of kanji currently in use also contain another type of pictograph that gives a hint as to the pronunciation of the kanji. These are called “phonetics.” They are often kanji by themselves but can be written as parts of more complex kanji to help give the reader a clue to the pronunciation, at least when the kanji use the “onyomi” (Chinese pronunciation) in words composed of two or more kanji in combination. For example, the kanji that means “wash” is 洗. It’s pronounced sen in combination with other kanji, such as in the word for “laundry” 洗濯 (sentaku). 洗 contains the kanji 先 that means “first,” also pronounced sen in kanji combinations such as 先生 (sensei, “teacher”), and serves as a phonetic clue to pronunciation.

  Part of the brilliance of kanji is that phonetics often contribute to their meanings, as well as give a clue to pronunciation. For example, the kanji 新, pronounced atara in the word for “new,” 新しい (atarashii), is pronounced shin when it’s used in combination with other kanji. This character has the “axe” radical 斤 on the right, showing the handle on the bottom right and the blade of the axe on the top and left side. The actual idea was that in or
der to make a new home you have to hew wooden beams with an axe. The phonetic on the left, used notably also in the first kanji in the word for “relatives,” 親戚 (shinseki), seems to contribute to the meaning. It is written with the kanji 立 meaning “to stand” on the top, and the kanji 木 for “tree” on the bottom. When you use an axe to make a new home for yourself, you must first cut down the trees standing there to clear a space.

  * * *

  I hope this slim volume will serve as a good supplement to whatever other resources you are using to learn Japanese. I also hope that you will continue to study a language so vital for Americans, Canadians, and other Westerners to learn. Japan is not only the world’s number three economy, but a fascinating and beautiful culture with much to offer the world.

  Larry Herzberg

  Professor of Asian Languages

  Director of Asian Studies

  Calvin College

  Grand Rapids, Michigan

  COMMON JAPANESE WORDS

  ai 愛 / あい love

  Sometimes you eye somebody and fall in love with them, and then ay, yay, yay the consequences!

  愛 The kanji shows a hand on top reaching in for someone’s heart, the character 心, through a roof. This roof is the metaphoric barrier we all keep around our hearts for fear of getting hurt. The person whose love is being sought reciprocates by offering up their heart with both hands to the hand reaching in for love.

  ame 雨 / あめ rain

  Ah, me! Oh, my! It’s raining!

  雨 The top horizontal line of the kanji shows the sky, with rain drops pelting down from a cloud.

  anata あなた you

  There will never be anata you!

  Formal word for “you.”

  aoi 青い / あおい blue

  When sailors sail the deep blue seas and spot land, they shout “aoi” (ahoy)!

  青 This kanji is a general color word that originally meant everything from “green” to “indigo.” On the top of the kanji is a plant coming out of the ground, symbolizing the color green. The bottom part, written exactly like the moon, was originally written with the kanji 丹. It shows a crucible in which the red metal cinnabar was placed in an attempt to create the elixir of immortal life in ancient times. In Japanese this kanji is now only used to mean the color “blue.”

  arau 洗う / あらう (to) wash

  When things go awry and you get dirty, you need to wash.

  洗 The kanji has the “water” radical 氵 on the left, logically enough. The phonetic on the right side, pronounced sen in sentaku (洗濯 “laundry”), is the sen in sensei (先生 “teacher”). 先 looks a bit like a person carrying a bath towel into the bathroom to wash up.

  asa 朝 / あさ morning

  Lots of us feel like asses in the morning, before we’ve had our coffee!

  朝 The kanji has the “moon” radical on the right, since the moon is sometimes still visible in the sky when early morning comes. The phonetic on the left contributes to the meaning by showing the sun (日) coming up over the horizon.

  ashi 足 / あし foot/feet

  When you walk on a bed of hot coals, you’ll get ash on your feet.

  足 The bottom part of the kanji shows the foot in motion, with the heel and sole of the foot raised on the bottom left. The little box on top portrays the contour of the leg, although it looks like the kneecap.

  ashita 明日 / あした tomorrow

  From the ashes of today comes tomorrow.

  Literally: “bright-day.”

  明 This kanji means “bright.” It has the “sun” on the left and the “moon” on the right. Both of these heavenly bodies appear as bright lights in the sky. Tomorrow is the bright day of promise to come.

  日 This kanji means “the sun” as well as “day.” It was originally a circle with a dot in the middle, indicating the sun, the rising and setting of which divides day from night.

  atama 頭 / あたま head

  The head is composed of billions of atoms.

  頭 The kanji has the “head” radical 頁 on the right, as you might expect. The phonetic on the left shows a ritual cup or other vessel, with the top line being the lid, the box below it representing the mouth of the cup, and the bottom three lines the base of the cup.

  atarashii 新しい / あたらしい new

  Atari continues to produce new video games.

  新 This kanji has the “axe” radical 斤 on the right, showing the handle on the bottom right and the blade of the axe on the top and left side. In order to make a new home for yourself, you have to hew wooden beams with an axe. The phonetic on the left, used notably in the kanji 親, meaning “relative,” seems to contribute to the meaning. It is written with the kanji 立 meaning “to stand” on the top, and the kanji 木 for “tree”on the bottom. When you use an axe to make a new home for yourself, you must first cut down the trees standing there to clear a space.

  au 会う / あう (to) meet

  Should you bump into someone when you meet, you’ll probably say “ow!”

  The kanji seems to show two noses (云) meeting under a roof.

  basho 場所 / ばしょ location; place

  We always need to know at what place a birthday bash will take place.

  Literally: “field-place.”

  場 This kanji means “field” or any large plot of land. It appropriately enough has the earth radical on the left. The phonetic on the right shows the sun shooting down its rays on the ground.

  所 This kanji has the “doorway” radical 戸 on the left, which is a separate radical created by just borrowing the left half of the “gate” radical 門 and distorting it a bit. The right side of 所 shows an axe (斤). In ancient times you had to use an axe to carve out a doorway as you built a place for your family to live.

  beki da べきだ should

  You should always bake dough and never eat it raw.

  benri 便利 / べんり convenient

  Uncle Ben’s rice is very convenient, since it cooks up so fast.

  Literally: “convenient-benefit.”

  便 This kanji means “convenient.” It has the “person” radical 亻 on the left, since we humans are always looking for more convenient ways to do things. The right side shows a messenger striding along (史) carrying a bundle or package of some kind. It’s certainly more convenient to have someone else carry a heavy burden for you than to do it yourself.

  利 This kanji means “benefit” or “advantage.” It is composed of two radicals, namely the “grain” radical on the left and the “sword” radical 刂 on the right. The actual etymology is that when you cut down the grain with a sharp instrument like a scythe, you reap the benefits.

  binboo 貧乏 / びんぼう poor

  That bimbo is really poor after she lost her modeling career.

  Literally: “poor-lacking.”

  貧 This kanji has the kanji 分 on top, which shows a knife 刀 cutting something into two parts, as depicted by the two lines at the top. On the bottom of 貧 is the “money” radical 貝. If you divide up the little money there is, you will be poor.

  乏 This kanji means “to be lacking.” It shows a hand on top pulling out a plant on the bottom, creating the idea of taking something away.

  booshi 帽子 / ぼうし cap; hat

  The red bow she wears on her hat is pretty cute.

  帽 This kanji means “hat.” It has the “cloth” radical on the left, which originally showed a flag on a flagpole. The right side has the sun on top (日) and the eye under it (目). The idea was that a hat is something made of cloth that helps keep the sun out of your eyes.

  子 This kanji, which shows a child in swaddling clothes, is a common suffix for nouns in Chinese and does not contribute to the meaning.

  bunka 文化 / ぶんか culture

  To some ignorant people, culture is just a lot of bunk.

  Literally: “language-transformation.”

  文 This kanji shows a series of lines representing written language
.

  化 This kanji shows a person standing on the left and sitting on the right, changing position and thereby symbolizing transformation. The two kanji in combination convey the idea of the transforming power of a written language in creating civilization and culture.

  bunpoo 文法 / ぶんぽう grammar

  Grammar is the big speed bump in the study of any language!

  Literally: “language laws.”

  文 This kanji shows a series of lines representing written language.

  法 By itself this kanji means “law” or “way.” The kanji shows water on the left and the kanji 去, meaning “to go,” on the right. The true etymology of this word comes from the Chinese belief that just as water runs in certain channels, human behavior should be guided in certain channels by the rule of law. The two kanji in combination literally mean “language laws,” i.e., grammar.

  byooin 病院 / びょういん hospital

  You may smell a lot of BO (body odor) in a hospital!

  Literally: “disease-courtyard.”

  病 This kanji means “sickness; illness.” The right side looks like a person enclosed in a room wearing a nightcap. The left and top parts of the kanji show the body as a structure that houses us, with a roof and sidewall. The two little skewed lines on the far left show germs assailing the body. In reality, the kanji has the “sickness” radical on the left, which some of my students describe as a bed, with the two feet of the patient sticking out on the far left and a hot water bottle on the very top. 丙, the phonetic on the right, shows an axe-head turned upside down.

  院 This kanji means “courtyard.” The radical阝on the left is the outline of a mound of earth piled up, in this case to make the walls of a courtyard or compound. The phonetic on the right is the kanji “to finish.” It has the “roof” radical on top. As the 2nd-century etymological text Shuowen Jiezi explains, in finishing the building of a house you put on the roof. Under the roof, as the phonetic for the phonetic, is the kanji 元, meaning “primordial; original.” The horizontal lines symbolize the rising up out of nothingness of something being created from a primordial state. However, it looks like the legs of a person, showing from under a hospital gown. Hopefully the patient will return to his or her original state of health after being in the hospital.