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      • Chinese-Japanese False Friends

      Chinese-Japanese False Friends

      • Date March 27, 2017
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      In this lesson, we’re going to look at twenty false friends between Chinese logographic characters and Japanese kanji. Because the Japanese concept of kanji has its origins in the more complicated, Chinese traditional characters, many kanji do indeed have the same or similar meanings to the Chinese characters from which they were borrowed. As with any pair of languages with a shared linguistic history, however, you need to be especially careful of false friends. In particular, you should be mindful of Chinese-Japanese false friends when writing. False friends are much less of an issue in spoken Chinese and Japanese because the false friend characters usually have entirely different pronunciations in their respective languages.

       

       

      Character(s) Chinese

      Pronunciation

      Chinese

      Meaning

      Japanese Pronunciation Japanese

      Meaning

      暗算

       

      Ànsuàn Plot, scheme Anzan Mental arithmetic
      吃る Chīru

       

      Eat Domoru Stutter
      大丈夫

       

      Dàzhàngfū Real man, gentleman, man of honor

      (lit. “big man”)

      Daijōbu All right, okay
      方面

       

      Fāngmiàn Aspect Hōmen Direction
      非常

       

      Fēicháng Very much Hijō Emergency
      怪我

       

      Guàiwǒ Blame me Kega Injury
      娘

       

      Niang Mother Musume Daughter
      切手

       

      Qièshǒu Cut one’s hand Kitte Stamp
      親友

       

      Qīnyǒu Friends and relatives in general Shin’yū A close friend
      侍

       

      Shì To serve, wait on, attend upon Samurai Samurai, warrior
      手紙

       

      Shǒuzhǐ Toilet paper Tegami Letter
      私 Sī Personal, private, selfish Watashi I
      汤

      湯

      Tāng Soup Yu Hot water,

      hot spring

      先生 Xiānshēng Mr. Sensei Doctor, mentor, teacher
      下手 Xiàshǒu Start with (something) Heta

       

      Awkward, clumsy, inept, unskilled
      邪魔

       

      Xiémó Demon, devil Jama Hindrance
      演出

       

      Yǎnchū To act in a play, show, performance Enshutsu Director, producer of a show/play
      有難う Yǒunánu Difficulty, hardship, calamity Arigatō Thank you
      约束

      約束

      Yuēshù Constraint, bind, restrict Yakusoku

       

      A promise
      丈夫

       

      Zhàngfū Husband Jōbu Sturdy, strong, robust

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      Tag:atlanta, chinese, Chinese-Japanese False Friends, false friends, ga, georgia, Japanese, language island, similar words

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