Learn how to write and read the kanji 口
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| ひろこです (Hiroko desu.) |
| Hiroko here. |
| Welcome to japanesepod101.com kanji corner brought to you by japanesepod101.com, start speaking Japanese in minutes. Get your free lifetime account at japanesepod101.com, it’s a grove. |
| Lesson 19. |
| A Mouth Ful of Kanji! |
| This Japanese kanji video lesson shows the right way to draw and pronounce the kanji that means mouth or gate. |
| Okay let’s draw the kanji for this lesson. The meaning of this kanji is mouth or gate. |
| We are going to have a trick for memorizing this kanji in just a minute but let’s first look at the reading. |
| Remember there are two readings in Japanese kanji? The one is 音読み (on'yomi) the On reading, the other one is 訓読み (kun'yomi) the Kun reading. Long story short, the On reading comes from Chinese and the Kun reading comes from Japanese. |
| Now let’s look at the On reading for today’s kanji. The On reading for this kanji is コウ (kō) .The Kun reading for this kanji is くち (kuchi) . |
| Now remember the trick that I was telling about? Let’s look at that now. I need the green pen. |
| I am going to draw some eyes so you can better picture the mouth. Now you see this big mouth. We all know someone with big mouth. |
| Now let’s look at how to draw this kanji. Pay attention to the stroke order, it’s very important. It’s pretty easy. 1, 2, 3. Let’s try one more time 1, 2, 3. |
| Now let’s look at some sample words. |
| Ta-dah. |
| The On reading for this kanji is kou. Here we have じんこう (jinkō). You see the kanji for human and the kanji for mouth. This word means population. |
| The Kun reading for this kanji is kuchi. Here we have ひとくち (hitokuchi). You see the kanji for 1, the kanji for mouth. This word means one bite. |
| Get the lesson notes for this kanji lesson at japanesepod101.com Go to japanesepod101.com and sign up for your free lifetime account and start speaking Japanese in minutes. |
| Thank you for watching ありがとうござました (Arigatō gozaimashita.) |
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25 Comments
HideHey みなさん! Here's another easy kanji for you :hachimaki:
Hi Nadzrin,
Thanks for the question! I assume you are asking about the similarity between Katakana 'ro' (ロ) and Kanji 'kuchi' (口).
Yes, you are correct! They look very similar, especially when handwritten. There are few other letters which look similar in Katakana and Kanji. Below are a couple of examples:
Katakana 'ni' (ニ) and Kanji 'ni' (二)
Katakana 'ta' (タ) and Kanji 'yū' (夕)
It's hard, but you need to figure out if a letter is Katakana or Kanji from the context.
Good luck!
Miki H
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hallo
Das ro und kuchi is quite similar when write it. Was the different?
Hi Russell,
We are glad to hear that you and your son are enjoying our video lessons :heart::smile:
After this series, we recommend you to try the next level: https://www.japanesepod101.com/index.php?cat=54
Let us know if you have questions.
Kind regards,
Laura
Team JapanesePod101.com
My son is enjoying these lessons also. Can you suggest where we can find more Kanji writing lessons?
Maymoona san,
Yes, that’s right.
They look similar.
As you told you should see the context.:smile:
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com
very nice lesson ...
Actually , 口 looks very similar to the katakana ロ ... I can't see the difference in the first look
but of course , I won't confuse them if they were in context.
:thumbsup:
Kira san,
That’s good.
You could lean new things.
Yuki 由紀
Team JapanesePod101.com
Oh So new to me
BreBre-san,
very sorry for the confusion!! And thank you for pointing it out.
It's fixed now:wink:
Thanks!
Natsuko(奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com
i have realized on the lessons list when you like 20 the title says 21 and when you click 21 it says 20 lol