Abstract: Six Methods of Character Creation & Japanese Learning: There is a scientific basis for recognizing characters by halves (serious face...
This article is my answer to Is there a book similar to "English Etymology" for learning Japanese? - Zhihu.
Question#
Is there a book similar to "English Etymology" for learning Japanese?
Recently, while learning English, I found that books like "English Etymology," which start from the origins of words, are really useful. Is there a similar vocabulary book for learning Japanese? Or is there a book that helps understand words from the most basic concepts themselves (like how "English Etymology" starts by expanding words based on human characteristics)?
Or have you considered learning through Japanese elementary school textbooks? I hope experts can provide some learning ideas.
Answer#
Sorry, I haven't read English Etymology (but I've added it to my reading list), and I have some interest in this question, so I’m sharing some of my immature thoughts, hoping to spark further discussion. If there are any mistakes, I hope experts will go easy on me.
The book recommended by other answers, New Thinking on Japanese Vocabulary (Douban), is indeed worth a look.
Additionally, here are two websites where you can check etymology:
Gogen Yurai Dictionary
Japanese Colloquial Dictionary (mainly focuses on new words)
If you find it troublesome to switch to the browser every time to look up words, you can refer to my answer: What are some useful Japanese dictionary apps?
There’s also a question on Zhihu that might be helpful: What are some useful Japanese dictionary apps?
To clarify in advance, the following content may not be suitable for those who are self-studying out of mere interest.
Personally, I think if you want to master Japanese, you can spend some time understanding the Six Methods of Character Creation, and then analyze the Japanese words you encounter from the perspective of "character origins" (note: this only applies to words) — this is a type of etymology and affix that only Chinese people can quickly grasp.
However, to put it bluntly:
Don’t know how to read the on'yomi of Japanese words?
Use the homophones from Chinese characters!
What, feeling nervous and can’t think of a homophone?
Look at the obvious radicals of the Chinese characters.
Phonetic and Semantic#
Many people notice that the on'yomi of Japanese can be inferred using Chinese pinyin — following the principle of "phonetic and semantic."
But this method can sometimes lead to errors because the on'yomi of Japanese does not borrow the pronunciations of modern Chinese; it is more influenced by ancient dialects from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang coastal regions.
However, some blame should be placed on the Japanese people, as they adopted a strategy of recognizing characters by halves for some Chinese characters. Are students from Sichuan feeling ecstatic? Hiahiahia
The Japanese also know that the pronunciations of Chinese characters are not that simple, so they specifically refer to those mispronounced readings as kan'yōyomi, from which one can clearly understand that "radicals are the affixes of Chinese characters."
Here are a few interesting examples; think about the differences between pinyin and Japanese when you read them.
Note: The readings in parentheses are kan'yōyomi, not the only readings.
憧（どう）憬 - 児童
垂涎（えん）- 延長
浸漬（せき）- 責任
摺（しゅう）動 - 学習
綴（てつ）字 - 輟
減耗・損耗（もう）- 毛髪
輸（ゆ）贏 - 愉快
撒（さん）水 - 散歩
甘蔗（しょ）- 庶民
甦（こう）生 - 更新
簇 (ぞく) 簇 - 家族
秤（ひょう）量 - 好評
残滓（さい）- 太宰治
洗滌（じょう）- 条件
攪（かく）拌・攪乱ー発覚
拮（きっ）抗 - 吉兆
Considering that the above is directly organized dictionary data and may not be very relatable, let’s provide a few more practical examples.
Note: The readings in () are from the video.
Oral cavity（くう）, confused with 真空 and 天空's 空.
Blind spot（もう）; this is a consensus between the people of Japan and China, nothing more to say.
Delusion（もう）; this... this works too?!
No worries, let’s check the dictionary. Oh, 妄 itself has more than one reading, so 妄想 can also be read as ぼう (those who inferred from 逃亡 can breathe a sigh of relief).
Finally, here’s the most interesting one:
Holy spear（そう）... warehouse? This is a huge difference from pinyin!
However, this might be because the Japanese strictly follow the Six Methods of Character Creation:
The reason I placed it at the end is that 枪 in both the "Kangxi Dictionary" and "Shuowen Jiezi" only has the reading 千羊切 (from Han Dian), and the above image clearly shows that there is only one on'yomi in Japanese.
Similar to the previous example, you cannot just look at the radicals to infer the reading of 読書 — the phonetic component of 読 is not just 売, so it’s normal that the standalone 売 and 読 differ significantly.
In summary, if you want to infer from pinyin, you must ensure that the phonetic components of the two characters are the same. Although for most people's level of Chinese, it is difficult to accurately determine a character's phonetic component, and there are very complex rules regarding phonetic components and actual readings, I suggest following the Japanese: recognize characters by halves, just in case you get it right...
Additionally, I noticed the questioner's profile; I wonder if they are from Chongqing — can they distinguish between な行 and ら行？Here’s an extra tip:
The on'yomi words' な（n）ら（r） often correspond to the n and l in Chinese pinyin.
So far, I’ve only found one, 螺子ねじ（neji） and luo. (If there are counterexamples, feel free to add).
Don’t ask me how I know this ╰（‵□′）╯
Ideographic#
Understanding the "Six Methods of Character Creation" makes it easier to understand many Japanese verbs, which can be written with multiple Chinese characters:
止める／ 留める／停める
上げる／揚げる／挙げる
Although many times only kana is written, understanding those Japanese verbs with multiple meanings through this perspective is much easier (these words often have more than one Chinese character).
Additionally, sometimes checking what kanji corresponds to the kana in grammatical sentence patterns can lead to sudden clarity. Teacher An Ning's "New Thinking on Japanese Grammar" follows this approach and is highly recommended.
Conclusion#
From the perspective of character origins, I believe the comprehensive work is “Kanji Source” (the "Shuowen Jiezi" of the Japanese world in my heart), but this resource seems not very helpful for amateur Japanese learners to make connections for memorizing words, and it’s hard to find the physical book in China.
If you are genuinely interested, you can download it for a fee from the Google Play Store and iOS App Store; for those who don’t want to fuss and use it occasionally, try Kanji Pedia.
Easter Egg#
The character 控 in the phrase 襟三江而带五湖，控蛮荆而引瓯越 is generally translated as "control" in China.
However, after learning Japanese, I find this understanding somewhat strange.
Because 控える has a common usage in Japanese: 学校の後ろに山が控えている, which "Daijisen" explains as 迫っている in space or time. Located nearby.
However, I have not found a convincing explanation, so I’m throwing this out there in hopes that experts can provide an answer.
(Of course, it’s also possible that the Japanese were misled by this piece of "Tengwang Pavilion" 233)