Lesson 15 of 28
Kanji Unit 15 — three drops of water
about 9 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Recognise 氵 and 飠 on the left of a character and say what each promises.
- Read 漢字 — the word for the thing you are learning.
Words this lesson teaches
- 注
- pour; note — as in 注文, an order
- 洋
- the ocean, and so the West — as in 洋服
- 海
- the sea
- 漢
- Han, China — the 漢 of 漢字
- 飯
- cooked rice, and so a meal — ご飯
- 館
- a hall or public building — 図書館, 大使館
- 茶
- tea
- 料
- materials; a charge — 料理, 入場料
- 英
- outstanding; England — the 英 of 英語
What it explains
漢字 means Han characters
The word for what you are learning is 漢字: the characters of Han, the Chinese dynasty Japan borrowed them from. That is why every character has two kinds of reading — one Japanese, one an imitation of the Chinese sound — and why the unit-1 explanation about 一 being both いち and ひと was not a quirk but the whole design. Being able to read the name is a small thing that changes how the rest looks.
料 and 理 make cooking
料 on its own means materials or a charge — 入場料 is an entry fee. Paired with 理, which is arrangement, it gives 料理: arranged ingredients, which is cooking. 英 works the same way: alone it means outstanding, and in 英語 it names English. Neither character is much use alone, and both are unavoidable in pairs — which is why this course teaches characters and words at the same time rather than one before the other.
The scene itself is in the app.
Lesson one of this track is free to read in full. From lesson two on, the story, the audio and the review are part of a free account.