kanji/chinese/japanese

From: Gabor Farkas (gabor_at_z10n.net)
Date: 12/22/04 

Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 12:38:32 +0100

hi,

short version:
is half of the words in japanese language chinese?

long version:
i've been learning japanese for a year and half approximately.
but i haven't learnt too much (about) kanji.

of course i know things like $B7n(B means moon and $BF|(B means sun and such,
but not much more...

now i started to learn more about kanji..

i understand the on/kun-yomi thing, and that usually single-kanji words
are spelled as kunyomi, and multi-kanji words are spelled using the onyomi.

btw1: whatis the definition of 'compound'? from the things i've read on
the internet the compound is a japanese "word" that is made of
more-than-one kanji. is this correct? or a compound is specific the a
given kanji? so you only say the-compounds-of-$B7n(B?

let's look at the word airport: (materials from edict and kanjidic).
airport: $B6u9A(B, reading: $B$/$&$3$&(B
the kanjis:
$B6u(B:
readings: $B%/%&(B, $B$=$i(B, $B$"(B.$B$/(B, $B$"(B.$B$-(B, $B$"(B.$B$1$k(B, $B$+$i(B, $B$9(B.$B$/(B, $B$9(B.$B$+$9(B, $B$`$J(B.
$B$7$$(B,
meaning: empty; sky; void; vacant; vacuum;

$B9A(B:
readings: $B%3%&(B, $B$_$J$H(B
meaning: harbor

so it seems that when they invented the word for airport, they took the
kanji for sky and the kanji for harbor.

but the japanese word for sky and harbor is ( $B6u(B, $B$=$i(B) and ($B9A(B,$B$_$J$H(B).

i understand that as usually, they used the on(chinese) reading.what i
don't undestand is: why?.

but what i don't understand is that what about people who do not know
the kanji? like children?

my native language is hungarian, but i'm quite fluent also in slovak
(because i live in slovakia), and i understand german too.
airport in those languages:(accents removed)
hungarian: repuloter: flying square
slovak: letisko: a place where you can fly
german: flughafen: a flying harbour / a harbour for flying things

so, the same way as in english, it's made from flying and harbour.

if i tell airport to a small child, who knows what does air and port
mean, he will kind of understand what an airport is.
maybe he will imagine a harbour in the clouds, where ships flying in the
skies arrive, but still he will have a quite good understanding.

but what happens when you tell a japanese child $B$/$&$3$&(B? will he know
that it's made of sky+harbor?

why are new japanese words ( i chose airport because it should be quite
new) spelled as chinese words?

i know that probably the answer is:because it is like that. live with
that, but i'd like to understand it...

questions:
why is it like that? (i know that in the past, when the japanese people
started to write, they used the chinese symbols and so on. but when in
the 19/20-th century they invent a new word, why don't they use the
kunyomis? or i reformulate: when they invent a WORD, why don't the base
it on the SAYING/audio/voice part? why base it on the writing?)
is it not a problem for them?
does this mean that a lot of words (half of all?) in japanese are in
fact pronounced as chinese? (afaik chinese and japanese doesn't have
much in common...aren't they worried about such a 'contamination'?)

or maybe i just don't understand something.. :)

thanks,
gabor

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