78799
I've just started my "Kanji learning" and I'm a bit confused. I understand
that almost all Kanji can be read differently depending if its followed by
another Kanji or Hiragana. But how do I spot the correct reading in the
following cases? it seems like even if the Kanjis are followed by different
Kanjis the reading changes:

  1. 本田 = HON + DA
  2. 田中 = TA + NAKA (suddenly da changes to ta)
  3. 中国 = CHU + GOKU (and now naka has become chu)

Is it really just a memorization of the words themselves or is there a trick
to it? Sorry if this has already been posted my search didn't return any
results.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-26T20:07:16.970
78797
2020-07-27T14:21:43.253
39805
question
kanji multiple-readings
Identifying the correct reading for multiple Kanji
As you mention, there is no rule which predicts kanji readings with 100%
accuracy. But there are some general guidelines which people follow. This rule
of thumb is something like:

  * Kanji compounds (two or more kanji together without kana between them) often use ON-YOMI. For example, 学校, 大学, 日本, etc.
  * Words which have a single kanji combined with kana often use KUN-YOMI. For example, 食べる, 読みます, 折り紙, etc.
  * Names of (Japanese) people and places (in Japan) often use KUN-YOMI. 田中, 北山, 山川, etc.

I must stress that these are just guidelines, not rules. That's just how it is
with Japanese. In your examples, we see that 本田 uses the ON-YOMI of 本 combined
with the KUN-YOMI of 田. Already this doesn't conform to the guidelines I
listed and must be learned as an exception. As for pronouncing 田 as 'da'
instead of 'ta', this is an example of 'rendaku' (see
[here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendaku)), a common occurrence in
Japanese.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-26T21:35:37.113
78799
2020-07-27T14:21:43.253
2020-07-27T14:21:43.253
25875
25875
78797
answer
I’m also very new to japanese but from what I gathered each Kanji has two
different types of readings: KUN reading and ON reading; both of which have
their own fair share of history and context behind them. what matters is that
ON reading is _most_ of the times used when the kanji comes together with
another one and KUN reading is _mostly_ used when it comes alone or with
hiragana. Even though this is more like a probability rather than a rule you
could say it’s true about 80% percent of the time.

However this doesn’t mean each kanji only has two readings; it’s possible that
one kanji has multiple on and kun readings. In cases with kun readings it’s
not too hard to tell the readings apart based on context and the hiragana that
comes with them but with ON readings it might get a bit tricky since there
aren’t many hints as to which possible ON reading could be used. At the other
hand it’s not completely hopeless either since most kanji with multiple ON
reading have one that is used more commonly so it’s safe to always place your
bet on the more common one and check later to make sure. It might sound a bit
complicated at first but once you get a more familiar with how the system
works you’ll definitely start to get along with it.

Also the kanji reading system for names is completely different, I don’t know
much about it but it’s not nearly as systematic as the other two readings.
Apparently kanjis have a third type of reading named nanori which is
specifically used with names(?‍♂️). That also means there are multiple
different ways to write the name of the same person in kanji(?). Anyway If you
ask me I’d say name spelling system shouldn’t technically be too important for
a beginner who’s only starting to get familiar with kanji.

So for your examples; about the first one: sometimes even the established
reading seems to change based on the ON reading of the kanji that comes with
it (convenience?).in this case the original KUN reading for 田 which seems to
be た has changed to だ which might be because of the “n” sound that comes
before. Why is the kun reading used even though the word is written completely
by kanji? I don’t know either but as I mentioned the rules with ON and KUN
aren’t that strict. A good example of established reading changing because of
their accompanying kanji is the word 立派、(りっぱ) -meaning elegant- which is made
up of 立 that has りつ as one of its most used ON reading and 派 which only has a
single ON reading and that’s は. In this case you could say that since it’s not
easy to put stress on the sound of は they changed it to ぱ Instead.

Your second example: I think 田中 is a name(?) so you probably shouldn’t pay too
much attention to it; but you can see here that the original ON reading for 田
and the KUN reading for 中 (なか) are used here. Again why a KUN reading and an
ON reading? I don’t know but since this is name we should probably be happy
it’s not pronounced something more unrelated and crazier.

In the third example the established ON reading for both kanjis are used
except that the こくfor 国 has changed to ごく which is another rare case (I swear
they don’t happen to often) of ON reading changing slightly probably because
of their accompanying kanji.

Sorry if this was too long of an explanation and also sorry I wasn’t good at
explaining and also good luck with everything specially with kanjis and their
reading
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-26T22:01:19.733
78801
2020-07-26T22:13:20.517
2020-07-26T22:13:20.517
39807
39807
78797
answer