-by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Whenever a new store opens,or a new product is being launched,
or a new service is being offered, the temptation of checking it out is strong that sometimes you find yourself waiting in line with the rest of the curious customers.
Maybe because something new gives us hope that new is better.
Maybe because we try to convince ourselves that something strange is extraordinary.
Maybe because something inconceivable to our own intellectual capacity is ingenious.
Let's study the Kanji character "shin" which means new.
Take a look at the strokes presented below:
| 新【しん】 | ||
|---|---|---|
 | On yomi(Chinese reading) | |
| Kun yomi(Japanese reading) | ||
| Meaning | ||
Try writing this Kanji on a piece of paper. Like I mentioned on my previous post,
try writing it down 3(three) times. If you forget, try doing it again until you gain confidence that you could recognize the character when you see it.
That wasn't so hard huh? Let's move on to the next stage. Please take a look at the images below. Do they have something in common? If you look closely, this is where we could commonly see the Kanji character 新【shin】.
 | 新発売 【しんはつばい】 (n) new product or model |
 | 新登場 【しんとうじょう】 (n) a new product joining a group of other products |
 | 新快速 【しんかいそく】 (n) limited express (train, faster than an express); 快速directly translates to high speed or express so the direct translation would have been "new high speed" or "new express." |
The more you experience the word, the longer it remains in your memory. The next time you eat at a fast food chain try to glance at one of the posters if it contains 新発売, or while waiting for the train to arrive try to look at the time tables and see if you can spot 新快速. Don't worry if you can't recognize some of the Kanji besides "新". We will encounter them again some other time, perhaps in my future articles.
Now wait, it doesn't end here. I have prepared a little gift for you, it is called a memory map of the Kanji characters covered in this article. Stare at the image and when you close your eyes, try to reconstruct the image in your head. You may print it and take peek from time to time.
Whew! That's it! Learning Kanji isn't that hard, we just need a "new" approach that works.
