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kirakira (Offline)
己所不欲勿施於人
 
Posts: 350
Join Date: Jan 2009
02-22-2009, 01:47 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by KyleGoetz View Post
I made reference to my 新漢英字典, and it gives a usage note that, in regards to river names, 川 is a suffix particularly for Japanese rivers, whereas 河 is used more for non-Japanese rivers.

For example, アマゾン河 (Amazon River, in S. America) vs. 江戸川 (Edo River, in Kanto).
You are right. 河 is to refer to big rivers overseas except for China and Korea where fixed names are used such as 揚子江 and 清渓川。

However, unless you know what you are doing, 川 is the most commonly used character to refer to a river.
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