見方 - way of seeing (level 4)

Hello!

I’ve got a little question about 見方
WK says it’s ‘way of seeing, point of view, perspective’, viewpoint’

Is it only about actual physical seeing? Can it mean ‘a way of thinking’ and ‘point of view’ as an opinion? I’m sure it can, but better to be on the safe side.

At times like this, it’s a good idea to consult a J-J dictionary, even if your language skills aren’t great.

みかた
【見方】
1.
見る方法。 「顕微鏡の―」
2.
(見て)考える方法。考え方。見解。 「物の―」

You might be able to tell from the use of 考える in the second definition, that your interpretation is correct.

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(Sorry I accidentally deleted my reply)

Thank you! What dictionary would you recommend?

This dictionary article seems quite simple, but maybe only because you’ve pointed out what to focus on. A couple of monolingual dictionaries that I perused once made me panic - I didn’t know what to stop my eyes on.

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In this case, it was simply the result of putting 見方 意味 into google, the same way you could search “viewpoint definition” and get a result. Google tends to be a pretty simple dictionary. Generally I use a paper dictionary I have on my desk, just because I like it.

I tried to google it… But it’s too difficult for me to distinguish what to look for. Can you post a link for this exact page where you copied it from?

When I searched for 見方 and 見方 way of seeing/thinking I got other links.

I’m in Japan, so my google results might be tailored for Japanese language searches, I dunno. This is what I see when I do that search. Here’s the link

Sadly I don’t think this works outside of Japan :frowning: It doesn’t for me, at least, although it does work if I input English words. Even if I go to google.co.jp I still don’t get the definition.

Sadly enough doesn’t work for me.
Well, thank you anyway!

FYI, I’m in the U.S. and I get this from google.co.jp:

Curious what everyone else is getting!

Thank you for the idea! Seems not to work like that here.

You could use the dictionary used by NHK News EASY: 三省堂 例解小学国語辞典 [Illustrated Elementary School Japanese Dictionary] by Sanseido.

Jisho is a great dictionary!
It gives you various definitions and often even example sentences. I absolutely love it, the website I turn to when I need a translation. They have an app too, but here’s a link for now:

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I tried Google JP. I think the thing is google.co.jp can be served in both English and Japanese. When I tried it with the language set to English, it didn’t give the definition, but when I changed the language to Japanese, it gave the definition.

There was a link on the front page to change it. Other than that I’m not sure how to change the language.

Edit: Ah, here it is.

Google - Google JP in English
Google - Google JP in Japanese

Edit 2: I changed the language to Japanese on google.co.uk and searched for 見方 意味. Got the definition there, too. Seems it depends more on your language setting than on which site you use. (Though Google JP gave me the definition without adding 意味 - I needed to specify that on Google UK.)

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Jisho is excellent for Japanese-English and vice versa. But it is not a dictionary for Japanese speakers, which is what you need to see the slightly more obscure uses of words such as the example given here. Looking up 見方 in Jisho tells me what it means in English, but it doesn’t tell me that it can also be used as a “way of thinking”

Edit: It totally does. Hah. Forget what I said. Point being, if your Japanese is up to it, J-J dictionaries give you a more in-depth look at the words.

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Yeah, in this case, it’s possible to get this particular shade of meaning from a J-E dictionary, but it’s better to start looking at J-J dictionaries sooner rather than later, since it’s where the definitive answers are.

From the 研究社 J-E dictionary:

見方 みかた【見方】 ローマ(mikata)
1 〔鑑賞法〕 a way of appreciating; 〔理解・判断する方法〕 a way of understanding.
▲オペラの見方 (an) appreciation of the opera
・骨董の見方 how to know antiques
・時刻表の見方 how to read the timetable
・株価の見方 how to find a stock quotation
・新築マンションの見方 what to know about newly erected condominiums.
▲「東京駅が見つからないよ」「それは地図の見方が悪いんだ」 “I can’t find Tokyo Station!”―“That’s because you’re reading the map the wrong way.”
2 〔立場ごとの考え方〕 a particular viewpoint.
▲経営者[物理学者]の見方 the viewpoint of ⌐an employer [a physicist].
▲君とはものの見方が違う. You and I see things differently.
・あの日を境に彼に対する見方が変わった. After that day she saw him differently.
▲見方によっては in one view; in a (certain) ⌐way [sense]; viewed from another angle
・それは見方による. That is a matter of opinion. | It depends on how you look at the matter.
・そのような見方には同調できない. I cannot take your view. | I cannot see things ⌐your way [through your spectacles].
▲見方の違い a difference of viewpoint.
▲偏った見方をする have a biased view 《of the events》
・誤った見方をする take a wrong view 《of a matter》; *《口》 have the wrong slant
・新しい見方をする look at 《a matter》 in a new light; look at 《a matter》 from a new ⌐angle [perspective]; *《口》 take another slant
・見方を変えてみる look at things differently
・彼女に対する見方を改めた. He changed his opinion of her.
▲私の見方は違います. I do not view the matter in that light. | I look at it differently.
・そういう見方は間違っていると思う. I think that view is mistaken.
・それが彼一流のものの見方だ. That’s the way he ⌐sees [looks at] things.
・そういう見方もあったのか. I never thought of looking at it that way.

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In my usage with other people your idea about 見方 is right,
you can associated with way of thinking, or viewpoint.

If you wanna actually talk abut the physical seeing, like looking in a certain direction then you could use 方向「ほうこう」for direction

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As noted in the google definition, the example of 顕微鏡の見方 (the way of looking at something through a microscope) is an acceptable way to use 見方 to mean actually looking at something. As long as it means the method of physically looking.

Thank you! That will save me a lot of pain!

Even better if using Chrome (and possibly in other browsers). Right click in the omnibar and edit search engines. Add a “Google Japan Dictionary” entry with a shortcut of “gj” or something then use

https://www.google.co.jp/search?hl=ja&q=意味+%s

as the URL. This will add your search term at the end along with 意味 which is in there already. Now simply typing “gj” followed by the term you want will do the search for you.

More pain saved.