Hatrack River Forum: Japanese readers -- do you know these kanji?

This is topic Japanese readers -- do you know these kanji? in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Dav (Member # 8217) on :

Hi readers of 日本語! It seems like there are a lot of multilingual folks hanging out at hatrack, so perhaps someone can help me finish reading a postcard a Japanese pen-pal sent me.

Specifically there are 5 characters and/or expressions that I'm having trouble with. I scanned them and put them on a web page here:

(edit: I removed the link because I now have the meanings)

The last time I took a Japanese class was about 7 years ago. My Japanese friend has kindly continued to send me occasional postcards (maybe once or twice a year) since that time, but my ability to read them has steadily declined ...

So rather than spending more hours searching through my kanji dictionary, I figured I would see if there's someone out there who could tell me about them just by glancing at them.

Or if no one on hatrack knows what they are, that's ok too.

Thanks!

[Edit #2: Removed the "mayfly" notice from the subject. Might as well let the thread hang around.]

[ May 04, 2007, 09:13 PM: Message edited by: Dav ]

Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :

Number 2 means "cold".

I have a vague idea about the others, but I don't want to toss them out in case I'm way off. If I were at home, where my kanji and Japanese dictionaries are, I could find out in an instant. As it is, I'm left with impressions rather than certainty.

Posted by pfresh85 (Member # 8085) on :

Bah, I don't know them. I wish I could help. I have similar problems with letters from my friends and old host family in Japan. They often throw out kanji I don't know, and so I'll have to send them an e-mail or something asking for the reading of it so that I can be sure to get it.

Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :

Sean (Euripides) might know. I have no idea how well he can or can't read kanji, but I know he speaks Japanese impressively.

Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :

Go Go Chinese Kanji being almost identical to Japanese! Also its nice having a Chinese/Korean/Japanese/English electric dictionary [Big Grin]

1: Its more then one character and the one to the right looks like its katakana not kanji. The first character particle is, "evil" but the full character does not exist in Chinese so I can't help you [Frown]

2: adjective, "cold" I can't believe I had to look that one up I should have known that off the top of my head.

3: Definitely "Scenery"

4:First character is "name" or "famous" second character could be "cow" or could be "noon" its a bit unclear, third character is, "impossible" or "do not/must not" and the final character identifies the phrase as an adjective. I cannot really say what the phrase means, but those are the concepts.

5: Can't help you. No thats not what it means, I have no idea what that is supposed to be.

edit: I tried writing every character into my dictionary before admitting any sort of defeat on any of the phrases.

Posted by Euripides (Member # 9315) on :

My Japanese is no-where near the level it should be, but with a little prodding and help from my mum:

1. nokori - remaining
2. samui - cold (as in 'I feel cold' rather than 'It is cold')
3. keshiki - scenery
4. meibutsuno - famous
5. Obihiro - a city in Hokkaido. (I was clueless too.)

Hope that helps [Smile]

[ April 16, 2007, 06:19 AM: Message edited by: Euripides ]

Posted by Dav (Member # 8217) on :

Euripides -- thank you very much, that fills in the gaps!

And thanks to the rest of you for giving it a try, I appreciate it!

Posted by Euripides (Member # 9315) on :

No worries Dav.