Kanji is the main form of writing they use, that they stole from China.
Its basically them combining multiple words or concepts (with their own unique meaning) together to create an entirely new and unique meaning. One example is that the Kanji for adolescence is the Kanji for Blue and for Spring put together because Blue can also mean youth and that age is considered the "springtime of your life."
Imagine basically every single word requires that level of knowledge of the vocabulary. Its almost as if the English language had an alphabet of 2000+ letters, because even native Japanese people have to just memorize Kanji for the most part.
Hiragana and Katakana are basic alphabets that function just like any other, but its considered either "for babies" or "for women" to use, so for the most part its not used in anything that isn't a kid's game or to make a point about how someone is talking being odd. They deliberately use the most difficult form of communication.
Speaking Japanese isn't that bad, relatively. So immersion will help you with that, but if you want to learn Japanese to get around localizers you will be memorizing Kanji out the ass no matter what you do.
Conversely, once you have a good grasp of kanji you are in good shape. If I come across a word I'm not familiar with there is a good chance I can figure it out without looking it up by seeing what characters compose it.
I've dabbled in Chinese and Korean as well and it's insane the boost that knowing Chinese characters gives, whereas with Korean its like I'm left alone in a desert. Many words come from the same Chinese words but they no longer use the characters so deciphering things is difficult for me.
Completely unrelated beyond your example fo Kanji but this coincidentally helps me understand the meaning of the OP for JJK Season 2 part 1 better. The talk of "this is our blue" and how the themes of part 1 heavily lean on "blue" and there are many Blue pallettes explain a lot since it's based on the adolescence of the characters being featured.
Sorry for the tangent, but you gave me an epiphany in a moment lol
That's Japanese for you, you just gotta learn these random infinite facts and trivia to understand wtf they are talking about.
Ironically, I only know that one because that one example was explained in detail in Fruits Basket (I think) during the brief time I tried reading that one.
Kanji is the main form of writing they use, that they stole from China.
Its basically them combining multiple words or concepts (with their own unique meaning) together to create an entirely new and unique meaning. One example is that the Kanji for adolescence is the Kanji for Blue and for Spring put together because Blue can also mean youth and that age is considered the "springtime of your life."
Imagine basically every single word requires that level of knowledge of the vocabulary. Its almost as if the English language had an alphabet of 2000+ letters, because even native Japanese people have to just memorize Kanji for the most part.
Hiragana and Katakana are basic alphabets that function just like any other, but its considered either "for babies" or "for women" to use, so for the most part its not used in anything that isn't a kid's game or to make a point about how someone is talking being odd. They deliberately use the most difficult form of communication.
Speaking Japanese isn't that bad, relatively. So immersion will help you with that, but if you want to learn Japanese to get around localizers you will be memorizing Kanji out the ass no matter what you do.
You forgot the worst part. No spaces. If you don't know the kanji, good fucking luck figuring out where words end or begin.
Conversely, once you have a good grasp of kanji you are in good shape. If I come across a word I'm not familiar with there is a good chance I can figure it out without looking it up by seeing what characters compose it.
I've dabbled in Chinese and Korean as well and it's insane the boost that knowing Chinese characters gives, whereas with Korean its like I'm left alone in a desert. Many words come from the same Chinese words but they no longer use the characters so deciphering things is difficult for me.
Completely unrelated beyond your example fo Kanji but this coincidentally helps me understand the meaning of the OP for JJK Season 2 part 1 better. The talk of "this is our blue" and how the themes of part 1 heavily lean on "blue" and there are many Blue pallettes explain a lot since it's based on the adolescence of the characters being featured.
Sorry for the tangent, but you gave me an epiphany in a moment lol
That's Japanese for you, you just gotta learn these random infinite facts and trivia to understand wtf they are talking about.
Ironically, I only know that one because that one example was explained in detail in Fruits Basket (I think) during the brief time I tried reading that one.
I liked when fansubs would explain a couple of the wordplays and references. Watching anime used to almost be educational.
Shit it was educational. I was able to use multiple things I learned from fansubs in my actual college Japanese classes.
It was the most basic of basic shit, but it was still a handful of steps forward over a fresh slate.