Re: Rating Languages

From: "Amber Adams"

> As many Chinese words are two-character compounds, especially the ones in
> Japanese, it can be safely assumed that characters in compounds should be
> read using their on-yomi, and characters standing alone should use the
> kun-yomi.
Not *always* that safe. I reached the same conclusion when I was in Japan (I
was already well versed in Chinese characters, thank God (!), so it was
simply a matter of grafting new phonetic values onto them as opposed to
having to learn the meanings *and* the eighteen ways to read them). One day,
I encountered the Japanese compound (in Chinese) "mu3qin1", "mother", so,
mentally converting it to "boshin" (onyomi),  I decided to impress the
natives with my new-found word. Fortunately, I tried it out on a kind woman.
"Boshin?" she sniggered, and after a few moments of uncontrolable
tee-hee-heeing, she gently said, "Actually, we read that 'hahaoya'
(kunyomi)." The compound "fu4qin1", "father", is also read "chichioya"
(kunyomi). So there are some land mines out there. ("Yomiuri" Shimbun, not
"Dokubai" Shimbun)

But by and large I agree with you. I used to imagine it as a kind of mental
slot machine. I'd hear a theretofore unheard compound word and quickly run
through the kanji possibilities in my head, and then hit the jackpot: "Oh,
*that's* what you're talking about!" (to myself, of course; such emotional
outbursts aren't cool).

Kou

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