I recently read a diary written by pea-san on Lang-8 that was quite interesting. After correcting many entries written in Japanese, she noticed some mistakes that Japanese learners often make. According to her, what is explained here is difficult, even for some Japanese people.
The following is a translation of what she originally wrote in Japanese. I’ve changed a couple of parts to emphasize some of her points. I hope my translation didn’t butcher the explanations too much ^^;
Link to the original article: http://lang-8.com/281195/journals/1010908/
1. About Kanjis
It’s really great to know lots of kanjis. However, when you use too many of them, sentences actually become harder to understand.
Example)
今晩は。昨日は吃驚させて御免なさい。
今日は凄く嬉しかったです。有難う。
終電結構混雑してたんじゃ無いですか？
明日は八時三十分に会いましょう。
宜しく御願い致します。Translation)
Good evening, I’m sorry for surprising you yesterday.
I was very happy today. Thanks.
The last train was quite crowded, wasn’t it?
Let’s meet tomorrow at eight thirty.
Please take care of me.
In the above example, you can notice that kanjis are used a bit too much. (The content of the sentences is random, so don’t pay too much attention to them.)
Corrected Example)
こんばんは。昨日は驚かせてごめんなさい。
今日はすごく嬉しかったです。ありがとう。
終電は、かなり混んでいたんじゃないですか？
明日は８時３０分に会いましょう。
よろしくお願いします。
Of note, numbers are most of the time not written with kanjis. Occasionally, it’s also better to change the structure of a sentence so that it’s not full of kanjis.
2. Using Polite Speech (丁寧語、です・ます調）
For people who use polite language, please pay attention to how you conjugate the verb ending. If you use polite speech, then it’s better if everything is written with polite speech.
Example)
それは、私にとって初めての海外旅行でした。
とても楽しかった。
また行きたいです。Translation)
This was my first overseas trip.
It was lots of fun.
I want to go on a trip again.Corrected Example 1)
それは、私にとって初めての海外旅行でした。
とても楽しかったです。
また行きたいです。Corrected Example 2）
それは、私にとって初めての海外旅行だった。
とても楽しかった。
また行きたい。
Either of the corrected examples are acceptable. The first set of corrected sentences uses only polite form while the second one uses only plain form.
So the big idea is to not go crazy on kanjis and to remain consistent with verb conjugation. If the text is written in polite form, then everything should be conjugated to polite form. If it’s written in plain form, then everything should be in plain form. Mixing both is a no-no.
I know that I have problems with both issues raised in this article. I use a bit too many kanjis and I’m inconsistent in verb conjugations.
I wonder what’s the secret ratio of kanjis to kana? In my case, it’s sometimes hard to gauge whether a word should be written with kanjis or not.
Leave a Reply