And this is supposed to prove… what exactly?
Why? Because you say so? Why are you more authoritative than anyone else? This is getting as ridiculous as when you argued over the meaning of 花見. Also, the Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary lists ‘halt’ as the primary meaning of 停. Why should I believe you over the writers of that?
A foreigner has determined this causes a literal translation to not make sense. Either the definition of 停 should be changed, or the language should be changed to use a different kanji whenever a translation of halt would be awkward…
Yeah, I should be going with his opinion rather than a renowned linguist with multiple, published works to his name including kanji dictionaries and a kanji learning course. What was I thinking?!!
BTW Sutho81 in case you don’t believe me here’s a screenshot straight from the Kodansha Kanji Learner’s Dictionary:
Also, if you disagree with this I suggest you email Jack Halpern and Kodansha and let them know they are publishing dictionaries with incorrect information. Here’s Jack’s direct contact information:
I do look forward to seeing what his reply is to your corrections.
You can keep arguing all you want over this, but I don’t see how WK was wrong in the primary meaning they select. It seems multiple independent sources have chosen the same.
Better yet, compile a full list of changes to the Japanese language required for all literal translations to make perfect sense in English, and submit it to the Japanese government for immediate enforcement. I’m sure they will see their language and culture should change to be more easily digestible to foreigners.
What kills me is that of all jukugo words, bus stop is more straightforward than most. Bus + Halt. It’s one of the worse examples you could use.
Now, for an example of a kanji I think should have a secondary meaning, 機 WaniKani / Kanji / 機
Jisho lists the first few meanings as machine or in the same vein as machine. However, in the middle of the list of meanings we see “potency” listed as a meaning. Substituting “potent” for “machine” as the kanji meaning and suddenly a lot of jukugo words seem a lot more straightforward.
危機 (crisis) is no longer “dangerous + machine” but “dangerous + potent” (potent danger!)
待機 (alert) is no longer “wait + machine” but “wait + potent” (potent waiting!)
機会 (opportunity) is no longer “machine + meet” but “potent + meet” (potent meeting!)
Jinsho says this means: focus, government ministry, conserve. Look at the kanji, it has “a few” at the top and “eye” below it. It obviously means to pay attention, to focus, to conserve. The reason it is used for a government ministry is because that is what a government ministry is. Even in english, do you know what the world ministry means? To minister is to “attend to the needs of (someone).” Which is why there are government ministries and prime-ministers.
Yeah seriously. Saying ‘the vehicle came to a halt’ is neither unnatural English nor is it some arcane, uncommon phrase. I’ve heard and read similarly-worded phrases on numerous occasions. So ‘Bus’ [comes to a] ‘halt’ seems to be a perfectly cromulent combination of meanings for ‘bus stop’.
Yeah, that one could use a few secondary meanings for sure. Those mnemonics are definitely hamfisted by trying to fit them all into the “machine” meaning. Adding one or more of the ‘opportunity’, ‘occasion’, ‘crucial point’ meanings as secondary meanings would make those mnemonics less wonky.
From the Kanji Synonyms Guide, those words listed under this category of meaning help them make much more sense for constructing mnemonics:
Why are you studying here if you already know the “correct” meanings?
There’s so many mistakes in OP’s reasoning that it’s not only pedantic, it’s disingenuous.
Kanji more accurately represent concepts, not meanings, unless it can be used as a single word, in which case there is kanji as the concept and kanji as the word, still separated.
Meanings change over time and words can have divergent meanings at once. This goes for individual words, and the concepts behind kanji.
2.5. In Linguistics, there is a concept known as the Etymological Fallacy. It is there to remind you that what a word once meant in it’s history is not necessarily what it means now.
In the end, learning a kanji is not enough to know the meaning of every word containing that kanji. The fact is, kanji is only an orthographic system; a way of spelling, and much like English with it’s many spelling frustrations, they often represent a historical account rather than a contemporary one. Every word is, in the end, completely isolated with it’s own meaning. It can have connotations, nuances, appropriate uses, it can even be closely related to other words, but the meaning will always follow the way speakers use it, not the way it was invented. Also, nothing stops a word from being idiomatic either, or as is often the case in Japanese, an ateji spelling.
三つの事
1.) If you are that upset about WaniKani, why are you still using this application?
2.)
I would argue that your learning methods are too hell-bent on using direct English approximations against native Japanese words in the context of an Anglo-American speaking society.
3.) Go to Japan, and bus-halt/ bus-stop/ bus-pause/ bus-standstill/ bus-idle won’t matter because the sign is in Japanese. Even if you disagree with WaniKani’s assigned English parallels, you’ll at the very least have gained the knowledge and understanding that the designated sign is a place to stand to get on a goddamned bus.
Yep. This was exactly the fight that happened previously over 花見. I don’t know why I stepped back into this again. I guess I’ll just unfollow the thread before I get sucked back in further.
Setting kanji meanings from English translation of compounds?
Hmm…
I guess 素 should be “wonder” and 敵 should be “ful”, because 素敵 means “wonderful” and not “element enemy”. And, of course, 痴 should be “sex” and 漢 should be “offender”, because 痴漢 means “sex offender” and not what I could have guessed from the incorrect kanji meanings taught by WaniKani. So much to change…
ALRight everybody! Let’s not start this fighting again 
enjoy this cute gif 
@Sutho81, the OP, has been banned for 1000 years. Now we can all secretly laugh at the fighting OP caused.
Based on an email? Man, must have been a doozy. Or does that mean a forum post that was made through email?
The guy was seriously banned for these posts? He was only modestly more obnoxious than some of the replies
I’m not sure we can tell exactly what he was banned for. But even if it was something similar, it could just be a “more than the sum of the parts” thing. He was constantly abrasive.
I wonder if he ever sent that letter to the Japanese government. Probably signed his name in kanji too, I bet.
You guys have it all wrong
This guy is hilarious. He actually invented Japanese
i’ll edit to add that it was 30 minutes of reading post history i’ll never get back
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