SomeCallMeChris wrote:

on-yomi are pronunciations taken from (antiquated) chinese. They are usually only used in compounds, but a few like にく (にく) have become words in their own right.

kun-yomi are native japanese readings. These are usually words in their own right (sometimes with the addition of okurigana) that existed before kanji were used to write them. Sometimes, though, they form compounds ... usually obvious 'kun' compounds with kana between the kanji, but not always.

I don't pay any attention to on-yomi/kun-yomi anymore, at least not in the sense of actively studying it. I just learn what pronunciation goes with what word. There's no point in learning 'readings' unless you're learning a word that uses that reading.

Though, why is it that some Kanji have the same On Yomi, isn't it confusing. Also is it necessary to learn both?

I basically agree with everything SomeCallMeChris wrote.

screamingfields wrote:

Though, why is it that some Kanji have the same On Yomi, isn't it confusing.

Dunno. Never even considered it.

Also is it necessary to learn both?

As Chris just wrote:

I don't pay any attention to on-yomi/kun-yomi anymore, at least not in the sense of actively studying it. I just learn what pronunciation goes with what word. There's no point in learning 'readings' unless you're learning a word that uses that reading.

There's no point studying Kanji readings on their own when some are rarely used and you have no guarantee which reading goes with which word.
After studying vocab for a while you will start to remember how certain kanji are read in certain compounds and will be able to make educated guesses at how unknown words are read just like natives do. But the main thing is learning the vocab.

Last edited by Ash_S (2013 August 15, 5:09 pm)

yudantaiteki wrote:

I'm just going to echo what other people said -- the problem is that some readings are very common and others are quite rare.  There's no way to predict which ones are common or rare, so learning them in connection with words is the best thing to do.  There are many common kanji that have common readings, but then have some rare readings as well.  For instance, 政 is a common kanji with the on-reading セイ, which is used in a lot of frequent words like 政府 (government) and 政治家 (politician).  It also has a kun-yomi まつりごと which is very rare; I'm not sure I can ever remember seeing it used in modern Japanese.  Other kanji have the reverse; a common kun-yomi and a rare on-yomi.  Or one rare on-yomi and one common on-yomi.  Etc.

This more or less answers my question. I know both On Yomi and Kun Yomi need to be learnt, I just didn't know whether or not both should be learnt for all Kanji.

Last edited by screamingfields (2013 August 15, 5:34 pm)

If the OP or anyone else here wants to study a little bit more about the readings of Kanji, I have recently made a lesson just about this. http://www.imabi.net/onkun.htm

I don't know which Kanji's On Yomi/Kun Yomi is the more used one or not. How do I tell? Also do I use frequency lists?

gaiaslastlaugh wrote:

screamingfields wrote:

I don't know which Kanji's On Yomi/Kun Yomi is the more used one or not. How do I tell? Also do I use frequency lists?

If you learn from context, it doesn't matter. You'll develop an intuitive understanding of the different readings based on how they're used. It's less important to know how frequently a given reading is used than it is to know, e.g., how to pronounce 生 in 生活 vs. 生　in 生じる vs. 生 in 生きる vs. 生 in 生物. Over time, you'll learn that せい is a good first guess for this character in most compound contexts (先生、生徒, etc.)

So you mean through learning while reading? That sounds good but isn't it better to go through flashcards?

comeauch wrote:

screamingfields wrote:

I don't know which Kanji's On Yomi/Kun Yomi is the more used one or not. How do I tell? Also do I use frequency lists?

Didn't we just explain it to you? Stop thinking in kanji terms and start thinking about words. In Japanese, some words are only one kanji, some are two kanji, some are three.. some are only hiragana, some are kanji+hiragana... There's no reason for you to care about kun/on readings. As I've said before, it's the equivalent of latin and greek roots. Have you learned English by studying Old Latin? Then don't learn Japanese by studying individual kanji readings XD (*unless you really want to of course*)

Using frequency list might be a good idea, I know it works for me at least. Though again, look for WORDS frequency lists lol. Then copy-paste those words in a dictionary (e.g. jisho.org) and you'll see the reading.

Alright this should work better. I'll try it first, is there any site which has a good word frequency list?

screamingfields wrote:

gaiaslastlaugh wrote:

screamingfields wrote:

I don't know which Kanji's On Yomi/Kun Yomi is the more used one or not. How do I tell? Also do I use frequency lists?

If you learn from context, it doesn't matter. You'll develop an intuitive understanding of the different readings based on how they're used. It's less important to know how frequently a given reading is used than it is to know, e.g., how to pronounce 生 in 生活 vs. 生　in 生じる vs. 生 in 生きる vs. 生 in 生物. Over time, you'll learn that せい is a good first guess for this character in most compound contexts (先生、生徒, etc.)

So you mean through learning while reading? That sounds good but isn't it better to go through flashcards?

You can use Anki or Skritter. I use Skritter. The point is to learn whole words, not disconnected pronunciations.

I'm not opposed to frequency lists. When getting started, it's pretty much all you have. Once you get beyond a base set of words, however, I'd start deriving your new vocab from your current reading material. You'll grok words a lot better if they're words you have an opportunity to read and hear in context.