Can Japanese Speakers Read Chinese? - 雙語字幕
In this video, we're going to see if Japanese speakers can read Chinese.
In my previous video, I tested how well Chinese speakers could read Japanese, and the results were incredibly interesting.
That's so weird.
So in this video, I'm going to try to do the opposite.
Why might Japanese speakers be able to read Chinese?
Are the two languages similar?
Well, as I said in the last video, Japanese and Chinese belong to completely different language families and are very different.
But Japanese inherited kanji, Chinese characters from classical Chinese, and a lot of Japanese vocabulary that's written with kanji is of Chinese origin.
So Japanese speakers can probably understand some Chinese based on their knowledge of kanji.
of Chinese characters.
In many cases, the meaning of the kanji is the same, or it's a little different, but related.
For example, in Japanese, this character means I.
While in Chinese, it means private, or personal, or selfish, meaning it also has in Japanese when it's founded compound words.
In other cases, the meaning is fairly different and probably hard to guess exactly.
For example, in Japanese, this character means thought or to think, while in Chinese, it means to test or verify.
And Japanese isn't written entirely in Chinese characters, and it uses fewer of them than Chinese does.
So it'll be interesting to see what proportion of the Chinese characters they recognize and can understand.
Chinese is written in simplified characters in the PRC and Singapore, but traditional characters in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
In many cases, the Japanese form of the character is more similar to the traditional Chinese character, but not always.
So I'll show them both the simplified and traditional characters to see if they understand one better than the other.
We'll meet our first participant in just a minute.
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Now, let's meet some native speakers of Japanese and see how well they can read Chinese.
The topic of the video is checking if Japanese people can read Chinese.
Tell me what you think this means.
Okay, so second character is probably...
And then third character is like other, maybe.
And then the fourth character is like ish.
And the first character is not I or you, I guess.
I don't know.
I actually have no idea.
And the last character, I seen it at all.
Okay, so this is a simplified Chinese sentence.
I'll show you the traditional Chinese to see if that gives you any more hints.
Mazi there.
That's right.
We can't put about that.
That's the simplified one.
Korega?
This?
Yeah, this is the same kanji.
It's just the same Chinese character.
I don't know.
I like I'm not getting it all.
So it means this, that's his book.
Ah, so like the first one is that and then like second one is is and he and then possessive.
Yes, that's right.
Word for word, the sentence is that is he possessive marker book.
Every character in this sentence is used in Japanese, but differently than in Chinese.
For example, this first character means that in Chinese, but in modern Japanese it's rarely used.
It's most commonly seen in the name of the city Naha in Okinawa, and only represents the sound Na, with no meaning.
This character means to be in Chinese,
while in Japanese it's used in various words with the meaning of correct or certainly, meaning it also has in Chinese.
This character meaning book is used in Japanese with the meaning of to write,
and with the meaning of book or written materials in compound words, but the standalone word for book, Hohen, is represented by a different character.
Also, none of the participants recognized this character in its simplified form.
I don't understand the first character in the last character.
So let me show you the same sentence but written in traditional characters.
Oh, maybe this means this is something that others wrote.
This is something written by others.
Okay, so this is the sentence in English.
That's his book.
Oh, it's his book.
So the middle character means yes.
That's right.
So in in Japanese,
it means other,
but in Chinese,
it's the regular character for he, and then with the with the next character after that, it makes it like a possessive like his.
So that one was interesting.
I mean,
it's a pretty simple sentence in Chinese,
but there are so many differences that is hard for a Japanese speaker to guess unless they know a little bit of Chinese.
Let's look at another sentence with some new participants.
So how would you read the sentence?
The first time.
It's like I, or my, and the second one, seems like a kobai.
So like a horse?
Horse, yes, thank you.
And then the third one, it's like up.
is give like we use like studio and then next one I study now it's key or something like that
next one is hit and then next I don't know that that's why it's like living or I want to up my side.
Let me give you the traditional characters.
They might help you a little bit.
Wow, okay.
Last two characters are so telephone.
So I think I call to someone.
Okay, so I'll show you the English sentence.
Here we are.
I'll phone him right away.
word for word this sentence is I right away to him hit phone in Chinese these two characters
mean horse and on or above but are generally used together with the meaning of right away
or immediately but Japanese speakers can't really guess that meaning and read the characters literally.
So it's I And then right away,
so what did you say it means horse and up I think it originally meant on horseback like riding a horse though I'm not sure but if I
think about the meaning maybe it means like I'll be there quickly because I'm riding a horse not well Please try to read this sentence.
This is in traditional characters.
In English, I'll phone him right away.
그요 그요 그요.
phone.
Another about this sentence,
this character is used with the meaning of I in Japanese,
pronounced ware, but it's more literary and old-fashioned and is no longer the main word for I.
But it's still used in numerous compound words and expressions with the meaning of I or we, so all Japanese speakers know it.
This word means to give or to provide in Japanese and appears in some compound words.
For example,
kyu-ji-ji In Chinese, it has that meaning of give, but is also used as a preposition meaning too, as it's used here.
So far, these simple sentences have been challenging to read, but that's not always the case.
Alright, how would you read this sentence?
Oh, I think I understand.
Well, it seems like I drink coffee every day.
I drink coffee every day maybe I drink coffee every day or something like that
right so this one means I drink coffee every day that's correct
in English it means I drink coffee every day this word meaning coffee was easy for
everyone to read we use this coffee a character for coffee is it the same in Japanese I think so.
Is it?
I could read it.
I know why, but at least they're similar.
I only noticed it because I looked it up during my research for this video.
In Japanese, there's a different element on the left, but you would still read it the same way based on the element on the right.
I didn't even notice that the...
The Japanese word for coffee, Ko-hee, is usually written in katakana.
But still see the kanji sometimes on coffee shop signs, bags of coffee, and things like that.
Do you often see coffee written in Chinese characters?
Oh, yeah, I do.
The most common one is maybe katakana, or in...
All of the participants basically understood this word meaning every day, even though in Japanese it's a little different.
Did you understand this as every day when you first saw it?
The first one is each, and then the next one, I say that it's sky, and then in Japanese we have meaty.
my nitty.
And the nitty means like, it's not sky but it's fun.
So...
Umpoco similar.
You may have noticed Nozomi using some Spanish words.
She actually speaks Spanish better than she speaks English.
So when she speaks English, the occasional Spanish word creeps in.
I'm sure lots of you who speak multiple languages have experienced something like that.
This character is fairly uncommon in Japanese and isn't used with the meaning of drink,
but most participants were able to guess its meaning in context.
Yeah, I can understand the whole word or the other words.
So I would mean trick.
The meaning of this character in Japanese is more like cheering someone on,
specifically the phrase katsuo-e-de-du, which means to give someone a pep talk.
It also refers to the practice in Zen Buddhism of shouting or striking with a stick to bring
a student's focus back to the present moment when they lose focus during meditation.
Can you think of me with a bard or more together than by shouting, like the opposite.
Let's look at another sentence.
Okay.
I and the second one,
I literally have no idea what that is,
and then every day,
zai-e-e-de-de-de and at home and then honestly this one i said here last video so i know that it's easy
Okay.
And then the last one is like Gohan, maybe.
So IE and Gohan, like a meal, like every day at home, maybe.
Okay.
That's pretty close.
Let's have a look at the traditional and see if that gives you any more information.
Yeah.
Mm.
Mm.
I've never seen second conjecture.
Okay, so here's the meaning we eat at home every day.
We are, okay.
Right, so that second character Makes it plural.
So I becomes we work for word.
It's we every day at home eat meal The second character which makes the pronoun plural isn't used in Japanese different endings touchy or dah are used to make the pronouns plural
They're sometimes written in kanji, but more often than he'd be Nagana.
This character is used in Japanese with the meaning of to exist or to be present somewhere, as it is in Chinese.
But in Chinese, it's also the usual stand-alone preposition meaning in or at, which it isn't in Japanese.
If you saw the last video on Chinese speakers reading Japanese,
then you know that this character by itself means eat in Chinese, while in Japanese it means to stutter.
Another sentence.
What does this sentence mean?
They lived in China for three years.
So that was correct.
How would you read this one?
I think we have been in China for three years.
So let me give you the They lived in China for three years.
year.
This seems like a straightforward sentence for Japanese speakers to read,
except for the first two characters, which the participants had already seen by this point, and this character.
In Japanese,
it's used with the meaning of end or be completed,
but it's not used grammatically to mark past tense or completed action like it is in Chinese.
But some participants figured out that this character put the sentence in the past.
The main thing to point out is this like what does this mean in Japanese in Japanese it means ends
But there's a you know word using this character con con dual which means like help not so In both languages,
the word for China consists of two characters, meaning middle and country.
In Japanese, the kanji for country is usually the simplified one, but the traditional one is also sometimes used.
Are you familiar with the second character here?
I've seen it like when something is trying to look cool, like anime, like sometimes we use traditional kanji to make it look cooler.
So yeah.
Okay, another sentence.
How would you read this sentence?
The first one I don't know, the second one is like happy and third one I don't have any ideas.
The last one I know that it's like a game where he is.
I think there's one difference in the traditional characters.
And the third one is like welcome, like I understand in Japanese, but calm.
And by this sentence, it doesn't make sense for me.
So it means she likes him.
What for would it she likes him?
This is another sentence that's very simple, but it's hard to guess the meaning unless you know at least very basic Chinese.
Okay, how about the sentence?
What does it mean?
Good.
I this.
Let me show you the English meaning she likes him
The first character meaning she isn't used in
Japanese But you can see that it partially resembles the pronoun meaning he which comes at the end of this sentence
The difference is that it has the radical meaning female instead of the radical meaning person one of the four participants noticed that and figured out
It meant she
She she
makes him
Here's the meaning in English
She likes him
The word for like consists of two characters both referring to happiness or joy in Japanese
Both characters are used with the same core meaning though the second character has an alternate somewhat simplified form
Most participants understood that the meaning had something to do with happiness,
but didn't exactly get the meaning of like Earlier,
nozomi associated it with the meaning of welcome probably because this character is frequently seen in the noun kang-ge meaning welcome Which I would say literally means happily welcome or happily receive
Okay, let's look at a sentence that's a little longer.
How would you read the sentence?
I want, I hope they then marry possible I myself.
Okay, they want me to marry, but I don't want to Mary.
Okay, so here's the meaning of the sentence.
I hope they get married, but I myself don't plan to get married.
Or I don't want to get married.
But for word it's I hope they marry, but I myself don't want to marry.
Okay, how would you read this one?
I want them to get married.
Don't I don't Okay, so here's the English translation.
I they get married, but I myself don't plan to get married, or don't want to get married.
It seemed like the participants could catch a lot of the meaning here,
but the connection between the first clause and the second clause was a little unlikely.
but I didn't know the word for but though in at first and without the compass I thought it might mean if or something.
First you said I hope they get married or hope they marry.
And then you started to change it and said,
they want me to get married because like second sentence looked like I don't want to get married so context wise like it could be like
they want me to marry maybe.
By this point,
the participants knew the pronoun he and the plural marker,
but probably would have had trouble understanding this word meaning they if this had been their first time seeing those characters.
These three characters mean I myself and these two characters are also used together in Japanese with the meaning of self,
but in a different context in this context,
you would likely hear This character is also used in Japanese to negate, with meanings like not, non, or un, but in compound words.
It's not used grammatically to negate verbs like it is in Chinese.
In Japanese,
this character has the meaning of think or conceive,
meaning it also has in Chinese, but in Chinese it also has the meaning of I want or I want to.
It's not used that way in Japanese, but it seems like the participants were able to figure it out.
You know, I said I had never learned Chinese in my life, but I have seen this, you know, want to.
I don't know, but I think I knew it.
To a certain extent, this experiment went as I expected.
The Japanese speakers were able to partially understand the Chinese sentences some of the time.
But I was a little bit surprised by how hard it was to read some of the very simple sentences in Chinese.
That's no fault of the participants, of course.
It just shows that many of the basic Chinese characters used for everyday vocabulary are different,
and in some cases aren't used at all in Japanese or are used It was also interesting to see how hard it was to read some of the simplified characters.
There were several times when the participants couldn't recognize the simplified character and seeing the traditional form changed their understanding of the sentence.
This is basically what I expected,
and it matches my own experience of trying to read Chinese as someone who's more or less proficient in Japanese.
recognize more of the characters I see in Taiwan than in mainland China because in Taiwan they use traditional characters,
but in some cases it's the other way around.
If you're a native speaker of Japanese or Chinese, how well are you able to read the other language?
Is your experience similar to that of the people in the video?
And other people, are you able to read any languages that are related to your yours, or have lots of shared vocabulary?
Let us know in the comments.
And now it's time to give a shout out to all of the Langfocus Patreon supporters, especially the ones whose names appear on the screen.
They're the top tier Patreon supporters, so let's give them a special round of applause.
If you liked this video be sure to check out this one too.
I'm sure you'll find it just as fascinating or even more
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