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+--- Thread: problematic keyword (/thread-424.html)
problematic keyword - twincy - 2007-03-09
so i studied, for example, the kanji 安 (relax) and saw in my rikaichan that it means "cheap".
huh?
it means that when i'll read a japanese text and find the 安 kanji will read it like "relax' instead of cheap, right? can't fit it together...
sounds mighty-o-baaad to me.
i enjoy reading and try to do it as much as possible though i'm only not far above the 200 kanji mark here... wouldn't it be quite a problem in the long run?
thankies.
::twincy
problematic keyword - aircawn - 2007-03-09
Yeah, it means cheap, but it can mean a whole lot of other things as well. Look at this character in compounds and you get a better idea of it's "essence".
安い - inexpensive, peaceful, quiet
安全 - safety
安住 - living peacefully
公安 - public safety, public welfare
安上がり - economy
(I pulled these from EDICT)
So Heisig's keyword of "relax" isn't quite right, but neither is "cheap". Try not to get too caught up in nailing a keywords meaning, most of them are slighty off anyway. It is simply impossible to find words in English that capture a characters possible range of meaning. Just keep reading and seeing characters in context.
problematic keyword - twincy - 2007-03-09
ah. cool.
so i kinda should wait with it until i get to RTK2 when i'll start with the readings?
problematic keyword - aircawn - 2007-03-09
Nothing wrong with that route, just hammer through RTK1 accepting the keywords as they are (they may not be perfect, but it's better than nothing...
) and then start reading afterwards.
problematic keyword - erlog - 2007-03-09
You can think of something that is cheap as having a very laid back or relaxed price to it. I don't think that's much of a stretch from the RTK meaning. The essence of the kanji is somewhere in the middle. English keywords are only an approximation of a kanji's overall flavor. This might sound like some sort of flowery/artsy explanation, but I assure you there is quite a bit of art in language.