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Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com! Well, you’ve gotten the concept of drawing a tree and then a grove of trees to create two types of kanji. Now, you’re ready to turn that grove into a forest. Just imagine a big tree that stands atop your two smaller trees, and you’ve written the Japanese kanji meaning “grove.”

This excellent Japanese video lesson is provides detailed instructions on the target kanji as well as sample words and phrases to really drive the point home.





This entry was posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Kanji Videos with Hiroko . 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.

52 Responses to “Kanji Video Lesson #3: A Forest Full of Kanji!”

JapanesePod101.com says:

Mina-san, ikaga deshita ka? What did you think?

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SashTheRed says:

Wow, this is pretty cool.
Although I know this simple tree kanji (Although I admit, it did have a few new things for me, like the example of some words), but it can develop into quite a good serious. Will you continue with this through harder kanji as well?
Thanks,

Sash

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Peter says:

Hello Sash-san, thx for the feedback! This is going to be a pretty cool series, and hopefully add some insight for people new to Kanji. The Kanji were chosen in a specific order by our academic team, so this is the perfect time to start learning Kanji. :grin:

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Alain says:

One new tool every day !
Fantastic !
This video kanji is a real must for beginners, and Hiroko-san is very convincing.
Speaking of kanjis, Peter, I just translated the jouyoukanji part of Kanjidic in french. As there are also a spanish and a portugese translation, perhaps in the far future can become the Learning center kanji tool multilingual?
Thanks to Hiroko-san and the team !

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Zero says:

Haha! I love the way you teach.
I’m having fun while learning. That’s hard to do!
Loved this lesson.
What I like most about the Tree Kanji, is the fact that adding more trees,
actually adds more trees to the meaning of the word :P

Great as always!

Have a good day ^_^

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rigo says:

Hiroko san and jpod thanks for this series
it’ll be very useful

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Lia says:

Omg, you’ve made kanji approachable! The thought of kanji still gives me cold sweats, so I’m very pleased with what I’ve just seen. Please keep it up!

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Thomas says:

Funny!

Even though I already knew this Kanji, I had fun viewing this video. All the tips are worthy especially the example words at the end, which used the different on- and kun-readings. In addition to the imagination of a tree to memorize the form of this special Kanji, this may help to memorize the readings and build up learner´s vocabulary also. Great!

Later in this series, you may make a video to explain the different brush strokes to ‘paint’ more beautiful Kanji? I love japanese calligraphy! Or this may be an idea for a “Advanced Kanji Course”-Series? :)

Keep at it!

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Justin says:

Great lesson! I will be sure to view them all.
As we all know, one of the frustrating things about learning Japanese vs another language like Spanish is not only do you have to learn the pronunciation of the new words, but also a new way to write — in Hiragana, and Katakana, and Kanji (3 new ways to write)! Now, the video lesson reminded me that there’s another layer of complexity outside of the straight Kun-Yomi reading… On-Yomi! Finally, my question is could a person learning Japanese simply ignore learning the On-Yomi? I know it’s probably not possible, but jeezzzz!
Again, loved the lesson! Justin

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Zero says:

Do you remember the image/sound quality of the first videos?
Sakaisan no introduction, for example.

You’ve come a long way, if you know what I mean.

Makes me feel, somehow… proud, i guess.
People doing things, reaching goals in order to help others.
That’s nice.

KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

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Peter says:

Mina-san, thanks for the great feedback! :dogeza: We’re really excited about this series, and encouraged by the positive feedback.
We’re experiencing a small technically difficulty, but we should be back shortly.

Thanks for the great feedback and your patience!

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Daro-san says:

Hi everyone at jpod101 ^^

Thank you very much for this kanji series, I think I’ll enjoy it a lot as well as learn kanji faster :D

I’d like to know when to use On and Kun reading… I’ve always been kind of confused by it… especially when I used to read 木ようび as きようび because I didn’t know when yo use the On and the Kun reading :S (BIG MISTAKE! :$). An also… using 木 as an example… when would I know when to use き or こ from On reading and もく or ぼく from Kun reading?

Thanks again!

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Kate says:

Am I missing something? I see ‘Kanji Close-Up’ in the Free Content, and that’s it. … Where’s the video? ^^

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Justin says:

See Peter’s post about the technical difficulties…

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Peter says:

Videos, 2 for 1. :grin: Here is the 3rd video in the series. We jumped ahead 2 weeks. :) We’ll get the older videos up as soon as possible. For now, here is lesson 3. :)

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Todd says:

Great video! I remember you showing me this when I visited your office last month. Good camerawork and editing, very clear instruction by a great talent. Keep up the great work!

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Gabe says:

This is great stuff!! I love how it’s so practical and easy to understand. I’m looking forward to this series!!!

ありがとう
がんばってください

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Rhys says:

Cool series guys, really looking forward to it!

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Jan says:

Great series while I’m digging into those Kanji now :)
Keep them coming! I like the approach

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Jason says:

On kanji readings, my teacher in college always suggested, while it’s good to be familiar with the readings by themselves, not to worry too much about trying to memorize on- and kun-yomi for each kanji. She always stressed learning readings in the context of words. It really helps them stick better than trying to memorize them out of context.

Also, ひろちゃんかぁいい!  :kokoro:

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ジャービジ says:

Justin,

I agree, learning the writing system takes hundreds of hours of study away from learning the language itself! It does, however, bring with it a sense of achievement at having conquered something so foreign and complicated, and it’s not as impossible as you may think.

Can you get by without on-yomi words? Since they comprise probably more than half the language, I’d say not. Can you get by without memorising on-yomi and kun-yomi readings? I’d say yes. Like Jason said, learning to read in context is not only easier, but more reliable in the long-term. After you learn to write and recognise characters, everything else begins to fall into place.

Daro-san,

As Hirokoさん explained in the lesson, on-yomi readings are used for Sino-Japanese (Chinese origin) words, and kun-yomi are used for Japanese words. A rule that works about 90% of the time for distinguishing the two is that SJ words will not contain any hiragana and are usually compounds of 2 or more characters, whereas Japanese words are either the character by itself or with okurigana (trailing hiragana). It might have seemed confusing in the lesson because the compounds weren’t written in full kanji, since the focus was just on 木.

There are exceptions to this rule, and that’s why learning in context is the best way to go; if you’ve learnt the word then you’ve learned the exception, that’s why I don’t have trouble with any of the ones below. You’ll find that the frequently used, simple characters can be the most tricky because they’ve been used in so many words, and have come to have lots of special readings (not even including nanori). Rest assured, some of the more complex kanji only have one reading.

Kun
上 (うえ)
上げる (上げる)
上る (のぼる)

On
以上 (いじょう)
上海 (しゃんはい)
上手 (じょうず)

Exceptions (uh-oh)
年上 (としうえ)
上着 (うわぎ)
上履 (うわばき)
上期 (かみき) this one is kun+on hybrid

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ジャービジ says:

I saw both the videos, and I thought they were pretty well done. I’ve seen some other podcast videos where somebody tries to teach like that, and they were a little bit embarrassing, but Hirokoさん pulled it off with some style :hachimaki:

Unfortunately, until you have a large archive of these things, it’s probably going to be difficult for people to make any headway with kanji, but in the meantime it at least seems to be getting a lot of people interested in learning and the website itself. Keep up the good work as usual :mrgreen:

By the way, I hope Peter did something to earn that producer credit, and isn’t just trying to look cool :razz: :mrgreen:

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Enrico says:

The video is awesome :dogeza: good quality, good (and pretty ) teacher, but only too short.
The PDF refers to the first lesson 木 while the video refers to the 3rd lesson 森
And I can guess the second lesson would be 林 :nihon: .

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spidey says:

Can anyone understand my original riddle?

In the kanji of grove, why is one branch shorter?

なぞなぞ

林の字の中で何で一部が少し短いですか?
木が変わた! or 気が変わた!

This riddle will freeze into your memory!

:lol:

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kino says:

Thank you very much to all of you who put much effort to teach the people like me who interested in Japanese language and culture… mina san arigatou gozaimasu… gambatte japanesepod101.com… :wink: :wink:

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João Paulo says:

Those videos are a really cool idea.

It’s like being in class with a tutor.

I just have to thank all the staff of JPOD again! :wink:

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ggenglish says:

this video 3 has elevated another thing thats being bugging me that i don’t understand. why are 2 kanji’s needed to make the meaning that 1 has?

if 森 means forest than why do we need 森林?

another example is 音楽 for music when doesn’t 楽 mean music by itself?

The only thing i can think of is that a single kanji can make up so many compound words meanings that its best to never use in a single state.

someone show me the light!!!

:twisted:

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Skasska says:

:kokoro: Loved the lesson!!!!!!! Please don’t stop!!! :dogeza: Onegaishimasu!

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Skasska says:

ggenglish 楽 means “fun” )))))) 音楽 - is “sound+fun” so = music ))) :razz:

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noriyuki says:

じぇいそん、きもぉぉい! :kokoro: (笑)

kidding lol

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Hiroko says:

ggenglish san> 森 is a forest. 林 is more like a smaller forest, or a grove, and when 森 and 林 are used together it indicates even bigger forest than 森。  :grin:

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Hiroko says:

Mina-san> Thank you for all your feedback! ありがとうございます  :dogeza:
More videos coming :wink: After watching this video, maybe I need to start putting on a mask to cover my face :hachimaki:

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ggenglish says:

@Skasska-san: i guess you are right. although i think 楽=comfort would be a better meaning….音楽=”comforting sound”. Although some of my favourite german aggrotech music wouldn’t be that comforting to some. :mrgreen:

@hiroko-sensei: hmmm, now i’m confused as why an adjective wouldn’t be used to show that its big. 大森 or something. perhaps this is one of those questions where only when used in context will the real answer answer be shown. i need to learn more vocab quickly!!! lol.

…mmm, and don’t cover you face hiroko-sensei. you are a natural in front of the camera. that is unless it took 100 takes :-P じょうだん!!!. i can’t wait to see the other vids of the series.

:twisted:

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ジャービジ says:

A lot of kanji have different meanings completely, depending on how they’re used, like with 楽 (comfort, ease; music). Again, seeing them in context should help you learn the differences. Appreciating the differences also makes them easier to remember when you’re writing or guess when you’re listening, since awkward translations like ‘comfort sound’ don’t sit well in the memory :mrgreen:

紘子さん、テングのように見える先生が漢字を教えるのは、確かに面白いことになりますけど、紘子さんのような顔立ちは覆面をかぶる必要なんてないんじゃいないですか。顔を堂々として頑張っていってくださ~いね :hachimaki: :mrgreen:

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チュトイ says:

Thanks for an excellent lesson. I am really looking forward to this series :)

I have one request though… The 640×480 resolution .m4v file works fine in iTunes (and I assume also on iPhone/iPod Touch); however it doesn’t play on my G1 phone or PSP which are my primary video watching devices.

Would it be possible to encode a 480×320 H.264 .mp4 version of the video so that it is compatible across a larger range of devices?

It doesn’t take me long to do the conversion myself because I do video conversion quite a lot anyway, but I am sure there are others out there who are missing out :)

どうもありがとうございます。

じゃまた。

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きんよび says:

Thank you very much for you video lesson in Kanji, I was hoping the team would do this as want to learn Kanji along side the regular lessons as sort of break away period.

Great job Hiroko-sensei!! まいにち おねがいします。  :dogeza:

どうもありがとうございました!

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Hiroko says:

きんよびさん>Thanks for the kind comment :grin: がんばりま~す :mrgreen:

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マイコー says:

This looks like it will be a good series for beginners as well as review for those of us in the intermediate levels who have forgotten some of the kan’ji we learned a long time ago. :roll:
Great Job!

Hope the technical difficulties are resolved easily. Looking foreword to seeing the other video(s). By the way, does anyone have a good translation for “technical difficulties?” My dictionaries have failed me. Here is my guess: 技術上の困難.

よろしく!
マイコーより

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Bjorn says:

ひろこさん、このシーリースは本当に便利だね。
楽しみにしています。 :kokoro:

I’m looking forward to another great resource.
You could call it “video flashcards”. Absolutely fantastic tool!

ジャービジさん、thanks for your great explanation.

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Hiroko says:

マイコーさん>技術的問題 ですね :dogeza:

Bjorn san> ありがとうございます :dogeza:  

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ジョン says:

紘子先生、今晩初めて拝見しました。とてもいいレッスンでしたね。JPod101がこういう講座をも提供するとは知りませんでした。恐れ入りますが、たまに中級や上級漢字も入れて講座を行ってはいかがでしょうか。面白いかもしれないので、ぜひ考えていただきたいです。

そして、紘子先生は英語がすごくできているので、きっと英語の国に住んだことがあるでしょうね。合ってますか。その風に日本語が自然に話せるように僕も頑張りますぞ。

では、これからよろしくお願いします。

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toshi says:

Hi, Im just curious, what book does sensei hold in the beginning of the video? Looks very interesting…Is it some vocabulary? :roll:

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Hiroko says:

ジョンさん>ありがとうございます。中級や上級もやれるといいですね  :mrgreen:
私はアメリカのアーカンサス(Arkansas)に住んでいましたよ  :wink:
日本語の勉強、頑張りましょうね!!!  :nihon:

toshi san> Ohhhh, that’s a Japanese dictionary :wink:
 

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きんよび says:

I have a cousin named Hiroko, but she speaks no English except what’s taught in grade school. (off-topic)

Looking forward to your next series and Videos 1 and 2, trying to be patient. Is it working?

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mayumi_k1114 says:

きんよび-san,
Thank you for your patience! :dogeza: Those lessons are coming soon! :hachimaki:

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Pablo says:

Wow, YT player stoped at 0:22 for loading and that was really, really scary…

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Hiroko says:

きんよびsan> Haha, Hiroko seems to be a common name among older people. I like my name called without 子 better :hachimaki:

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Rika says:

:sad:
Can you explain why we are learning Kanji?
I don’t understand it. The oun and the kun.
Can you explain it please =)?

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pornphan hamada says:

can you explain why i,m can!t get to learnning any one for your i,m nO!t understand it please why?

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Jessi says:

pornphan hamada-san,
What kind of problem are you having?

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Ash says:

Ano, I have a question Hiroko-sensei….when would you know the appropriate time to use either reading?

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Motoko says:

Ash-san,
We usually know the appropriate reading by the context.
When looking at 森さん, the idea comes to our mind that ーさん is a polite ending for a person’s name, then we guess the reading would be mori.

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