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KyleGoetz (Offline)
Attorney at Flaw
 
Posts: 2,965
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Texas
04-05-2010, 12:54 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by MonkeYMaideN View Post
Hello everyone, I’ve been studying my kanji and came across something that’s been bugging me…

On the website I use to study my kanji, it lists:

森 as “forest”
林 as “woods” or “forest”

AND

晩 as “evening”
夕 as “evening”

Is it the usage when writing a sentence or speaking to someone that makes them different? Based on the vocabulary words provided on the website, I assumed 森 was an actual forest while 林was some kind of adjective describing something with forestry.

I can understand the difference between 晩 or 夕 when compared to 夜 and 午, but I don’t get why they both have the same definition (evening).

Are there more kanji with similar definitions like these, and if so how do I differentiate between the two? I thought it’d be best to ask people experienced with the language rather than rely on Google. I couldn't find a thread asking a similar question, but if there is one please link me to it.

I can list the kanji/kana readings for some of the vocabulary words if you want me to.

Thanks in Advance!
There are subtle differences, just like the difference between "night" and "evening" and "dusk" and "dark thirty" and "bedtime" and "midnight" and "the dark."
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