The first kanji (会) means meeting, meet, join or party and has the readings – カイ, エ, あう, あわせる and あつまる. We’ll be using the カイ (かい) reading for today’s word.

The second kanji is – 話 meaning talk (or tale) and the readings are ワ, はな.す or はなし.

The meaning of 会話 becomes clearer when we join together 会 (meeting, meet, join or party) and 話 (talk) and we get a “meeting or a joining together to talk”, which gives us “conversation”.

Examples

I particularly like the last compound in the list – 世話人.

We can break these down in to their meanings to arrive at the final translation – 世 (generation, world, society, public ), 話 (talk), 人 (person). So that gives us “public”, “talk”, “person”, which is a “manager” or “agent” for a movie star or band as an example.

Any questions? Please leave a comment below.

• Word Of The Week: Monogatari (物語)
• Word Of The Week: Gaikokujin (外国人)
• Word Of The Week: Densha (電車)
• Japan Signs: Waiting Room
• Word Of The Week: Choushoku (朝食)

Why are there so many words for breakfast? If you think about it in English we have the same situation as breakfast can also be known as “brekkie”.

Choushoku is made up of two kanji – 朝食 (ちょうしょく).

The first kanji (朝) means morning and has the readings – あさ and チョウ. We’ll be using the チョウ (ちょう – hiragana) reading in today’s example.

As a beginner you’ll first see this kanji in the new N5 level (the first level of the new JLPT) and it can be used in situations such as 今朝 (けさ – this morning) and 毎朝 (まいちょう – every morning).

The second kanji is – 食 – meaning eat or food and the readings are ショク, ジキ, くう, くらう, たべる and はむ.

To wrap up this week’s Word of the Week we join 朝 – morning and 食 – eat, food, which gives us “morning food” eg breakfast.

Examples

Please note that I have only included the relevant kanji readings for this example in the table above. Almost all kanji have multiple readings but not all are applicable to the examples in this article.

Any questions? Please leave a comment below.

• Word Of The Week: Monogatari (物語)
• Word Of The Week: Toshokan (図書館)
• Word Of The Week: Densha (電車)
• Word Of The Week: Gaikokujin (外国人)
• Word Of The Week: Kaiwa (会話)

Monogatari is made up of two kanji – 物語 (ものがたり).

The first kanji (物) means thing or object and has the readings – ブツ,モツ, もの – although we’re only interested in the もの reading for today’s example.

At the beginner level (JLPT4/N5) you’ll come across this kanji in several words including 食べ物 (food – たべもの), 動物 (animal – どうぶつ) and 飲み物 (drink – のみもの).

The second kanji is – 語 – meaning word or language. The readings for 語 are ゴ (ご), かたる, かたらう and a popular example for those of us learning Japanese is にほんご (Japanese language – 日本語).

To wrap up this week’s Word of the Week we join 物 – thing, object and 語 – word, language, which gives us objects of language or words eg a story.

Examples

Please note that I have only included the relevant kanji readings for this example in the table above. Almost all kanji have multiple readings but not all are applicable to the examples in this article.

Any questions? Please leave a comment below.

• Word Of The Week: Choushoku (朝食)
• Word Of The Week: Gaikokujin (外国人)
• Word Of The Week: Toshokan (図書館)
• Word Of The Week: Densha (電車)
• Word Of The Week: Kaiwa (会話)

A train station such as Shinjuku in Tokyo claims over 3.5 million commuters passing through its gates daily – an incredible figure.

Densha is made up of just two kanji – 電車 (でんしゃ).

The first kanji (電) means electricity and only has one reading (デン) or in hiragana – でん. At the beginner level you will most likely come across this kanji in the word for telephone (電話 – literally Electricity Talk).

The second kanji is – 車 – meaning car or vehicle. The reading for car is most often くるま but as part of another word we use しゃ. An example is the word for bicycle – 自転車 (じてんしゃ).

So to wrap up this week’s Word of the Week we join 電 – Electricity and 車 – Vehicle, which gives us an Electric Vehicle or Train.

As a side note, you may have noticed the little ゃ in the reading しゃ for the kanji 車 and wondered what was going on.

A beginner may read しゃ as “shiya” but when you see the small “ゃ” you need to use a different rule and the reading is actually “sha”. This can also happen with ゅ (yu), ょ (yo) and っ (tsu). See my article about the small tsu for more information.

Examples

Please note that I have only included the relevant kanji readings for this example in the table above. Almost all kanji have multiple readings but not all are applicable to the examples in this article.

Any questions? Please leave a comment below.

• Word Of The Week: Choushoku (朝食)
• Word Of The Week: Monogatari (物語)
• Word Of The Week: Toshokan (図書館)
• Word Of The Week: Gaikokujin (外国人)
• Word Of The Week: Kaiwa (会話)

Foreigner is made up of three kanji – 外国人 (がいこくじん).

The first two kanji (外国 – がいこく) form a compound, which is where two (or more) kanji join together to form a new word.

The two kanji used in the word – 外国人 – are 外 (outside) and 国 (country). As a compound we predictably get 外国 (がいこく), which means “foreign” (outside country).

The final kanji is 人 (じん), which means person and reads as じん (ji-n). It is also commonly read as ひと (hi-to) plus it is used as a counter for people. As an example, you might see on a train ticket for five people – ５人.

Examples

Please note that I have only included the relevant kanji readings for this example in the table above. Almost all kanji have multiple readings but not all are applicable to the examples in this article.

Any questions? Please leave a comment below.

• Word Of The Week: Toshokan (図書館)
• Word Of The Week: Kaiwa (会話)
• Word Of The Week: Choushoku (朝食)
• Word Of The Week: Monogatari (物語)
• Word Of The Week: Densha (電車)

This week’s Word Of The Week – Toshokan (図書館) meaning Library – is probably still relevant for those of us who have our heads constantly in a book studying a language. I can’t say I spend alot of time in them anymore though since the interwebs came along ^_^

Library is made up of three characters – 図書館 (としょかん). The first two kanji (図書 – としょ) form a kanji compound, which is where two (or more) kanji are joined together to form a new word.

The two kanji we have here are 図 (map, drawing, plan) and 書 (write) – as a compound we get 図書 (としょ), which means “books”.

The last kanji in this word is 館 (かん), which in today’s example means building.

Examples

Please note that I have only included the relevant kanji readings for this example in the table above. For example, 館 has three readings – カン (かん), やかた、 たて.

Any questions? Please leave a comment below.

• Word Of The Week: Gaikokujin (外国人)
• Word Of The Week: Densha (電車)
• Word Of The Week: Choushoku (朝食)
• Word Of The Week: Monogatari (物語)
• Word Of The Week: Kaiwa (会話)

Doubutsuen (どうぶつえん)

When we were last in Tokyo we visited the sprawling Ueno Zoo located in Ueno Park (上野公園), about 15 minutes train ride north of Tokyo.

There was plenty to see and do in the park (and also in Ueno itself) including the zoo, an amusement park, temples and much more.

So Doubutsuen (どうぶつえん) is made up of 動物 (Animal) and 園 (Park, Garden), which gives us Animal Park or what is more commonly referred to as a Zoo.

If you’re ever in Japan, you are more likely to see the kanji for park (園) in the context of a sign for a public park – 公園 (こうえん).

Usage Examples

You’ll find it’s a great way to learn more about the use and context of the kanji by looking up each character in the table above.

For example – Cemetery is made up of 霊, which means Departed Soul, Spirit or Ghost and of course 園, which we learnt is Park or Garden. Together you get a garden of departed souls eg cemetery.

• Japan Signs: A Day At Ueno Zoo
• Japan Images: Park Fishing Tokyo Style
• Word Of The Week: Monogatari (物語)
• WTF….$70 Grapes!
• Japan Images: Ueno By Night