Changes

Each character may be read (pronounced) in a number of different ways. The vast majority of characters have at least two readings: a ''kun-yomi'' and an ''on-yomi''. The ''kun-yomi'' is sometimes called the Japanese or Japanese-style reading; these are native Japanese words, not derived from Chinese. The ''on-yomi'', meanwhile, is often called the Chinese or Chinese-style reading; this reading is often somewhat related to the actual pronunciation in Chinese, but should not be confused for being the actual Chinese pronunciation. To take one example, the character 港, meaning "port" or "harbor", is pronounced ''gǎng'' in Mandarin, and ''kong'' (as in [[Hong Kong]]) in Cantonese, but is ''kô'' (こう) in the Japanese "Chinese-style" ''on-yomi'' reading. The ''kun-yomi'', having no relation to the Chinese, and drawing upon native Japanese vocabulary, is ''minato''.

Each character may be read (pronounced) in a number of different ways. The vast majority of characters have at least two readings: a ''kun-yomi'' and an ''on-yomi''. The ''kun-yomi'' is sometimes called the Japanese or Japanese-style reading; these are native Japanese words, not derived from Chinese. The ''on-yomi'', meanwhile, is often called the Chinese or Chinese-style reading; this reading is often somewhat related to the actual pronunciation in Chinese, but should not be confused for being the actual Chinese pronunciation. To take one example, the character 港, meaning "port" or "harbor", is pronounced ''gǎng'' in Mandarin, and ''kong'' (as in [[Hong Kong]]) in Cantonese, but is ''kô'' (こう) in the Japanese "Chinese-style" ''on-yomi'' reading. The ''kun-yomi'', having no relation to the Chinese, and drawing upon native Japanese vocabulary, is ''minato''.

In standard Japanese, kanji are used intermixed with the phonetic ''kana'', which serve as particles linking parts of speech, as ''okurigana'' indicating conjugations and other forms of words, and so forth, and sometimes spell out words without the use of kanji. To give a simple example, in the sentence 「私はこれを食べています」 (''watashi ha kore wo tabeteimasu'', "I am eating this"), the words ''watashi'' (私, "I") and ''ta[beru]'' (食, "to eat") are written in kanji, while ''kana'' are used for the word ''kore'' (これ, "this"), the ''okurigana'' indicating the current action aspect conjugation of the verb ''[ta]beteimasu'' (～べています, "am [eat]ing"), and the particles ''ha'' (は) and ''wo'' (を), which mark the subject and direct object of the clause, respectively.

Up through the early 20th century, and to a small extent today, many materials were written exclusively, or almost exclusively, in kanji, with minimal or no use of ''kana'', a form known as ''[[kanbun]]''. In standard Japanese today, however, kanji are used intermixed with the phonetic ''kana'', which serve as particles linking parts of speech, as ''okurigana'' indicating conjugations and other forms of words, and so forth, and sometimes spell out words without the use of kanji. To give a simple example, in the sentence 「私はこれを食べています」 (''watashi ha kore wo tabeteimasu'', "I am eating this"), the words ''watashi'' (私, "I") and ''ta[beru]'' (食, "to eat") are written in kanji, while ''kana'' are used for the word ''kore'' (これ, "this"), the ''okurigana'' indicating the current action aspect conjugation of the verb ''[ta]beteimasu'' (～べています, "am [eat]ing"), and the particles ''ha'' (は) and ''wo'' (を), which mark the subject and direct object of the clause, respectively.

 

Up through the early 20th century, and to a small extent today, many materials were written exclusively, or almost exclusively, in kanji, with minimal or no use of ''kana'', a form known as ''[[kanbun]]''.

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