Japanese High School

[mrnicekid]

Originally Posted by MMM

No, Japanese people cannot read Chinese. They may be able to recognize characters, but the way Chinese characters are used is very different than Japanese.

Japanese adopted Chinese characters in the same way English adopted the Roman alphabet. That doesn't mean we are able to read Greek, though.

yeah one who knows Kanji in the Japanese language might be able to make out the meaning of Chinese sentences, but it would be very hard because the Kanjis in Chinese language is much more complicated and the variations is much wider and bigger in numbers.

and actually, there is such subject where they read Chinese literature/scriptures, and not many student would took that class because it requires an advanced knowledge of Kanji.

[kirakira]

Originally Posted by mrnicekid

and actually, there is such subject where they read Chinese literature/scriptures, and not many student would took that class because it requires an advanced knowledge of Kanji.

I suspect it's because it's more akin to learning Latin, i.e. not very useful. And for Japanese people who really want to learn Chinese, learning the Classical version absolutely does not help them communicate with people in China so they just go straight to the point and take modern Chinese instead.

Modern Chinese has more 当て字 than Japanese and half the characters used are used just to express sound, not meaning, bit like kana. For languages like Korean and Japanese that uses Kanji purely to express meaning, it will totally confuse them.

[mrnicekid]

Originally Posted by kirakira

I suspect it's because it's more akin to learning Latin, i.e. not very useful. And for Japanese people who really want to learn Chinese, learning the Classical version absolutely does not help them communicate with people in China so they just go straight to the point and take modern Chinese instead.

Modern Chinese has more 当て字 than Japanese and half the characters used are used just to express sound, not meaning, bit like kana. For languages like Korean and Japanese that uses Kanji purely to express meaning, it will totally confuse them.

some might say that classical chinese is useless, but i just think that the whole literature subject is equally useless. :P

why take literature when you could take english?

anyways, the kids that took chinese literature in my school at that time were all girls... i guess boys don't like subjects that has no practical use

[kirakira]

Originally Posted by mrnicekid

anyways, the kids that took chinese literature in my school at that time were all girls... i guess boys don't like subjects that has no practical use

You'll find on the other side of the pond, Chinese students are equally not too excited by Classical Chinese.

Still for Japanese literature scholars in Japan, you'll find most of them would know quite a bit of Classical Chinese and some knowledge of the modern bastardized version.

This is because every so often, you'll find hidden bits of Chinese grammar lurking in Japanese.
日々是好日 (ひびこれこうじつ) comes to mind. Everyday (日々) is (是)　a good day　（好日）. 是（これ） here means です.

[mrnicekid]

Originally Posted by kirakira

This is because every so often, you'll find hidden bits of Chinese grammar lurking in Japanese.
日々是好日 (ひびこれこうじつ) comes to mind. Everyday (日々) is (是)　a good day　（好日）. 是（これ） here means です.

i have zero knowledge of the Chinese language, but i guess it can be expected for the Chinese language to have an influence on the Japanese language, because Japanese civilization used to look up to Chinese civilization.

anyways, i'm impressed with your knowledge on both languages. are you Chinese?