Reading kanji?

WaniKani Tips & Tricks
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Hi, I have a problem. I don’t undertand what is the difference between kanji reading and vocabulary reading? Is this the on’yomi and kun’yomi readings? How to differentaite?

Thanks

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So, to answer your question briefly, it is related. The kanji readings are what readings that particular Kanji can take, depending on the context. Every kanji has an Onyomi (Chinese) and a Kunyomi (Japanese) reading, with a few exceptions. The vocabulary reading is how that particular word is read.

For the “vocabulary” reading, as a rule of thumb, usually when it is composite word, that is two or more Kanjis are together, they use the Onyomi readings. Eg. 上手 (じょうず - good at smth). However, when the kanji is alone, or used with suffixes, they use, most of the time, the Kunyomi reading eg. 上げる（あげる）、上る（のぼる）

But again, there are exceptions. 本（ほん）, 天 (てん）、字（じ）. They are alone, yet they take the onyomi reading. Or together (but this is very rare I think), but they have kunyomi readings: 南口（みなみぐち）.

There is a great Tofogu article on the subject that I highly recommend:

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the kanji reading isn’t necessary a word, it’s just one way of how you could read it if it appears in a word. for example in english you could assume “ea” as a “kanji” without a meaning. it can be read in different ways. you might learn that “ea” is read as in “read” but later find out it can also be read differently like in “pear”. if it appears only as “ea” it might refer to the video game company EA and is read a completely different way. “EA”, “read” and “pear” would be the vocab. im not sure if every kanji can be a vocab when read alone.

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A recent question, though actually a common question for new learners.

I would say, various possibilities of how to read a character (Kanji) that may happen.

  • If the possibility comes from Chinese, that would be On’yomi. They are Chinese characters after all. e.g. 上(じょう)達, 財(さい)布, 財(ざい)産
  • If the possibility comes from other places (e.g. Japanese), that would be Kun’yomi. 上(うえ), 上(あ)げる, 上(のぼ)る, 風上(かみ), 財(ざい)

Be aware that there multiple ways to combine, multiple On’yomi, multiple Kun’yomi, exceptional readings or readings not for a single Kanji; that makes such guessing of the possibility faulty. It is also context dependent, like 上(うえ) for position, but 上(じょう) for first volume of the two or three.

First and foremost for most common words would still be just knowing the reading of the whole word, not simply via its parts.

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