[EVA] kanji [off-topic]

[Richard Fung]

On Fri, 21 Nov 1997, Patrick Yip wrote:

> 
> ## In fact the extent of simplification of kanji is smaller in Japanese
> ## than in Chinese! Another point worth noting is that the ways the kanji
> ## is simplified are different in Chinese and Japanese. 

I know that, I just don't want to give major tangent anymore (while
enthusiastically typing this letter ^_^), unless people on this list are
interested in kanji or the Chinese language as a whole.



> Both Mainland China and Singapore have simplified characters
> too!!  Only Taiwan and Hong Kong Chinese are regular ones.  
> 
> ## Actually people learning the non-simplified Chinese characters are
> ## the minority.
>

I would say "yes" considering the population of China to that of Taiwan
and Hong Kong.


> Japan, i.e. arigatou (Thank you), usually it's written in hiragana 
> "a-ri-ga-tou", but this word  has a kanji as well (I was suprised), though 
> 
> ## This is actually not uncommon to see "arigatou" written in kanji in 
> ## modern Japan. It consists of kanji of "Ari" (be) and kanji of 
> ## "Muzukashii" (difficult). 
>

Is it that common?  I was rather amused  when I first saw the kanji
for "arigatou".  It has the meaning (in Chinese) "disastrous" or "in a
tight situation" and I don't see any slightest connection w/ "thank you".


 
> ## Another example is "sasuga", which can be written in the kanji of 
> ## "flowing" and "stone". 

Another bookstore is called Sasuga and it's just like a Kinokuniya.



Rich (Shinomori Aoshi)
rfung at eden.rutgers.edu