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  • Danilova
    Points:33
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    Studying Japanese by comparing it to Chinese

     I currently have the time to self-learn some Japanese and I\'ve found that for every single word I learn I find myself going to a Chinese dictionary to compare how it\'s written in Chinese or if those kanji combination have a different meaning in Chinese.    

    Edit: let me put a very basic example.

    本 Means book (among other things) in Japanese but it\'s mostly used as a measure word (for books) in Chinese.

    手帳 Is notebook in both languages (written as 手帐 in simplified characters).

    Does anyone do this kind of comparisons?


    3 years agoin Arts & Entertainment-Overseas
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  • Modaresi
    Points:36
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    I\'m curious where did you get the 手帳 definition. I couldn\'t find it in 新華詞典, 現代漢語詞典, 漢語大辭典, or 辭海. Yes, in both languages 手 means \'hand\' and 帳 \'ledger\'. But I\'ve never seen the combination 手帳 (probably for good reason - the only shou3zhang4 I can think of is 手杖) except in Japanese where there\'s also 電話帳(電話簿), 写真帳(影集/相冊), 通帳(存摺). Maybe it exists in regions where Japanese influence is strong such as Taiwan, or among younger generation 哈日族, 御宅控?
    3 years ago
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  • Iuliana3
    Points:50
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    You guys raise many interesting points here. Yes, fortunately kanji won\'t be a newbie problem and so far I can say Chinese hasn\'t interfered in a bad way. But you just made me realize that trying to compare characters and vocabulary may not be such a good idea (as happens with the 手帳 example since, even though 手帐 exists, 笔记本 is much more commonly used).
    3 years ago
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  • PAOLA2I
    Points:52
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    I learned Japanese first, lived and worked in Japan, etc. then I started learning Chinese as a hobby.
    3 years ago
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