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July 14th, 2008 | help Need help?

Do you use 4 letter words? Well, the Japanese love them! 4 kanji words, usually taken from Chinese Classics are called yojijukugo. In this series, we’ll learn some of the most common and interesting 4 kanji words and the contexts in which to use them! Today we’ll look at ichinenhokki and ichimokuryōzen.

Whether you’re an advanced Japanese student or want to start learning Japanese, this series is the perfect place to begin learning kanji or refine your use of kanji. Perfect for Japanese learners of all levels!

Learn Japanese at JapanesePod101.com!

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Voice Actors: | Hosts: Peter, Sakura
Category: Yojijukugo |
Topic: , | Politeness Level:
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This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Yojijukugo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

15 Responses to “Yojijukugo #2 - Obvious Decisions”

avatar JapanesePod101.com says:

Mina-san, these are two great words to add to your arsenal of erudite vocabulary! Hope you enjoyed this one!

avatar プチクレア says:

Love the 四字熟語! :kokoro:

How often do they actually appear in japanese texts, and in what context ? Because I don’t remember coming into contact with many 四字熟語, at least in the (few) novels I’ve read. Is it more often used in speech, 漫画, newspapers … ?

avatar Christmas Burger says:

Hehehehe, you said “erudite.” Nice word choice! :cool:

avatar maxiewawa says:

このレッソンはどうもありがとう!

avatar Eric says:

great lesson ! :dogeza:

avatar Alain says:

In the kanji kentei, yojijukugo questions begin at 5 kyuu, which is the latest level of shougaku (6th year).
In the 5kyu ’s renshuu dictionaey, there is 700 yojijukugo you have to know the writing ! Only for that level !

avatar stephen says:

um, you might want to change 3008 to 2008
cheers :wink:

avatar HighBridge says:

:dogeza: :dogeza: :dogeza:

avatar マイク says:

Fantastic podcast, as always. I like how deep you delved into these words and expressions, including their ancient Buddhist origins!

avatar bshock says:

The question of 四字熟語 use frequency is interesting to me. I watch a certain amount of downloaded Japanese tv, and I occasionally hear expressions such as 一石二鳥 or 七転八起. I have also seen various expressions (such as 一世一代) as slogans on the walls of schoolrooms or offices in these shows.

However, I am not at all clear about the appropriate instances to use 四字熟語. In English, such expressions might be considered cliches to avoid, and frequent use of them might mark you as a boring writer or speaker. But I have read that the Japanese consider stock expressions to be comfortingly familiar and perhaps wise, sort of like “cultural code words.”

avatar Mayumi says:

bshock-san,

We read yojijukugo in newspapers or novels, rather than hearing them in conversation. We use some very popular yojijukugo in our daily conversation, like 一石二鳥 as you said. I think when you use 四字熟語 too often, it might sounds like talking with a knowing look. But, when we want to say something in short, or when we want to make your writing look more sophisticated, we sometimes use 四字熟語.

avatar jenny says:

i always listen two or more times to ensure i get them down pat :mrgreen:
:kokoro: :nihon:

stop by my blog if you have time!
http://lunchmaniac.blogspot.com/

avatar Peter says:

プチクレアさん、Jenny-san, thanks for listening, and nice pics! :grin:

Bshock-san, I love using them, as the listening party always seems to get a kick out them. :grin:

マイクさん, yes. Mayumi did the research for these. They are really something! And they get better. :grin:

Stephen-san, thx!

Highbridge-san, :grin:

Christmas Burgerさん、久々! Who said that word? :wink:

Eric-san, ありがとう!

Alainさん、 as always, thanks for that great info!

avatar トム says:

Wow. I just came across 一目瞭然 while reading a blog entry! I thought to myself, “I’m sure I remember that from JapanesePod101.com” and sure enough, here it is. In case anyone is interested, here’s the link - it’s a technical blog but it’s very short and no special knowledge should be needed to read this part:

http://blogs.wankuma.com/rti/archive/2008/09/26/157515.aspx

It’s such a pleasure to come across recently learned things in the real world.

avatar JKid says:

トム-san,
Neat! :)

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