Learn Kanji in 45 minutes How to Read and Write Japanese

Trying to learn kanji? Click here to get a free e-book and study along with this lesson. Hi. Welcome to the Japanese Kanji Video Series. My name is Alisha, and I'm joined by... Hi, everyone. I'm Risa. In this series, we will teach you the best method for learning Japanese kanji and teach you some of the most useful kanji characters along the way. That's right. And we're here to help guide you on your journey. In this first episode, you'll learn exactly what kanji is and why you need it, the best method of learning kanji, and about the building blocks that make up a kanji character. OK, Risa. Let's get right into it. First, let's explain what kanji is exactly. It's quite simple, actually. Kanji is the use of Chinese characters in Japanese writing. So, Japanese actually uses Chinese characters in part of its writing. That's because Japanese writing actually originated from China, right? Right. A long time ago, Japan only used Chinese characters. Today, we use three different scripts together to write Japanese. Those three scripts are hiragana, katakana, and kanji. So, for comparison, English only uses one script, the English alphabet, but Japanese uses three different ones. Kanji is the interpretation of Chinese characters into Japanese, and hiragana and katakana are scripts created after by Japanese people. You can kind of think of the latter two as the Japanese alphabet. We refer to them as... Learning kana is easy. It's just like learning the alphabet. You learn a limited number of letters, and using those letters, you can put them together to form words. On their own, though, they don't really hold any meaning. Kanji, however, is different. There are thousands of them, and hidden beneath each one lies a secret message. One kanji character can say more than a hundred of these letters because it represents an idea. A wealth of meaning can be uncovered from this single character. The concept and meaning, however, will only reveal itself if you know where to look. And this is the true power of kanji. Okay, now that we know what kanji is, how do we actually start learning kanji? There are many ways to start learning kanji. The most obvious way, although not the most effective, is to simply memorize them. Like learning the alphabet or learning new words, you can start learning kanji by memorizing a few each day, every day, until you've memorized them all. Unlike learning the alphabet, however, which consists of only a small set of letters, there are thousands and thousands of kanji characters, each with their own unique concept and meaning. You can memorize the alphabet in a few days, but memorizing every kanji there is? Let's just say that you'll be at it for a very, very long time. And let's hope that you don't forget a few along the way. Memorizing each individual kanji one by one just isn't practical. There are simply too many of them. Thankfully, there's a more effective way to learn kanji, and that's by learning the radicals. A kanji character can be broken down into smaller components. These smaller components are called radicals. You can think of radicals simply as the building blocks of kanji. Every kanji character has at least one radical. Sometimes, the radical itself can be a kanji on its own. And several radicals put together could be another kanji. By learning radicals, the building blocks of kanji, you can understand the general meaning of kanji characters you've yet to learn. Instead of learning individual kanji characters one at a time, we essentially learn the building blocks instead. You only have to learn a few radicals to be able to read some of the most common kanji characters out there. In this series, we'll teach you 10 useful radicals that'll get you started learning kanji quickly and easily. We've covered quite a lot of things already, so why don't we wrap up the first lesson and recap on what we've learned. In this lesson, you learned that kanji is the interpretation of Chinese characters into Japanese writing. Kanji are characters that represent an idea, and therefore contain a wealth of meaning. And the quickest and most effective way to learn kanji is by watching this series at JapanesePod101.com, where we teach the building blocks of kanji, radicals. In the next lesson, we'll teach you one of the most common, useful, and basic radicals used in kanji, the person radical. See you in the next lesson. Bye! Bye! Hi everyone. Welcome to the Japanese Kanji Video Series. In this lesson, you'll learn your very first radical, the person radical. Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters. In the previous lesson, we learned that kanji characters are made up of radicals, the building blocks of kanji. These radicals give us tremendous clues to the meaning behind kanji characters. Can you identify the common element in all of these kanji characters? It's this part here. This particular radical is called... It's otherwise known as the person radical, and it's used in some of the most common of all kanji characters. Let's take a look at it in more detail. On its own, the person radical looks like this. We mentioned before that some radicals can be kanji on their own. This radical is one such example. The meaning behind this particular kanji is human or person. When this radical appears as a part of another kanji, like in these examples, the appearance changes slightly. When it's a component like this, it adds the meaning of human or person to the entire kanji character. If you can identify a radical in a kanji character, there's a good chance that you can guess the meaning of the character itself. The first kanji has the person radical paired with this second character. This second character is also a common radical and kanji in itself. It's the character for tree. When paired together, a person leaning on a tree means that they're resting. So this kanji character means to rest. The second kanji has the person radical paired with this character. It's identical to the tree character from before, except with this small horizontal line at the bottom. The meaning of this character is root or trunk. When paired together, the root or trunk of a person refers to their body. So this kanji means body. The last kanji has the person radical paired with the character for word. Human and word paired together means trust or faith. Can you see how we can determine the meaning of each kanji character by identifying the radicals in them? By following this process, we can deduce the meaning of kanji characters we've yet to learn. And the more radicals you learn, the easier it will be to learn even more kanji. The person radical most commonly occurs in the left position, as can be seen in these examples. This will be the position you'll most likely encounter it in. Sometimes, though, you may find it in the top of a kanji character. This position is known as the crown position, as can be seen in some of these examples. However, this is less common. Just remember the left and crown positions, and you'll be able to identify the person radical. Okay, now let's learn how to write this radical. Learning the stroke order of radicals is important, because it's designed to help you flow from one character to the next. Knowing how to write a radical demonstrates understanding of the components that make up a kanji character. While it may not seem important at first, particularly for basic kanji characters, learning the proper stroke order is important down the line, when you learn more difficult kanji. Some kanji characters are written in many strokes, and they can get very complex, so unless you're writing it in the correct order, the end result may be unreadable. Therefore, it's important for you to know how to write each kanji character in the correct order. While there are some rules to kanji stroke order, there are no hard and fast rules to learning them. The more radicals you learn how to write, the easier and more intuitive it will become to write whole kanji characters. Now let's take a look at the stroke order of the person radical. The person radical is very simple. There are only two strokes. When the radical is on its own, it looks like this. The first stroke starts from the upper center and then curves down to the bottom left. The second stroke starts a tiny bit below the first stroke and goes directly to the bottom right. When this radical is a part of another kanji, it usually takes on the left position and the appearance is distorted a little. The first stroke goes from right to left at the top, and the second stroke attaches to the center of the first stroke and goes all the way down. When the radical takes the crown position, it's written in much the same way. It starts from the upper center, going right to left, and then from left to right. And that's it! You're done! Kanji characters can have multiple readings. They're usually broken down into two groups called on- and kun-readings. The on-reading mimics the original sound made in Chinese, while the kun-reading is a revised reading used to integrate with the Japanese alphabet. The only way to determine which reading to use is mainly via the context. On-readings will usually be used when multiple kanji characters are grouped together into a compound word, whereas kun-readings will usually be used when it's a standalone kanji, like in the first example. In the case of the original examples, the on- and kun-readings of each are as follows. For the kanji meaning to rest. For the body kanji. For the trust kanji. Reading kanji may be difficult to start off with, but they'll only get easier as you learn more radicals over time. In this lesson, you learned about the person radical. The idea behind this radical is person or human. You also learned the kanji characters for person, rest, body, and trust, in which this radical appears. It's most commonly found in the left position, making it appear like this. And it's written with two strokes, going from right to left, and then top to bottom. Hi everyone! Welcome to the Japanese Kanji Video Series. In this lesson, you'll learn the human legs radical. Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters. First off, can you spot the radical that's common in all of these kanji characters? It's this part here. It looks like a pair of legs. This particular radical is called... It's the human legs radical, and it's used in some of the most common of all kanji. Let's take a look at it in more detail. In some of the previous lessons, you learned that some radicals are kanji characters on their own. This is the first radical we've encountered that isn't a kanji character in itself. This basically means that you'll only encounter it as a component in other kanji characters. The meaning behind this radical is legs, particularly those of a person. Unlike the previous radicals that we've learned, the meaning of the human legs radical is less literal. It generally alludes more to the sense of structural support that our legs provide us with. From left to right, the first kanji means origin, or foundation. The second means light, or to shine. And the third character means to see. If you think of these kanji characters from the viewpoint of support, the meaning of each character makes much more sense. The first kanji has the human legs radical at the bottom, which is connected to a wide horizontal line with a smaller parallel horizontal line on top. The wide horizontal line represents the body, and the smaller horizontal line represents the head. Notice how the legs are connected and are supporting the body. The legs that are supporting the body and head represent the foundation or basis, which is the meaning of this kanji character. The second kanji has the legs on the bottom once again, with what appears to be a fire burning on top. Fire evokes light, so the meaning of this kanji is light. And the foundation, or origin of the emitting rays, refers to the point source. Light emanating from a source means that it's shining, so this kanji can also mean to shine. The final kanji has human legs on the bottom, supporting the character for eye. An eye that is mobile is one that can see, so this kanji character means to see. The human legs radical will always be at the bottom position where it's supporting something. Just remember where your legs are on your body, and you won't forget it. Where are your legs? On the bottom. Okay, now let's learn how to write this radical. The human legs radical only has two strokes. The first stroke starts near the center and curves from right to the bottom left. The second stroke also starts near the center, but it goes straight down, and then flattens out at the floor, only to flick upwards slightly. The beginning of each stroke usually connects to another radical, so keep that in mind. And that's it! You're done! The human legs radical isn't a kanji on its own, so you'll only see it as a part of another kanji. In the case of the original examples, common readings are... for the origin or foundation kanji... for the kanji meaning to shine, and... for the kanji meaning to see. In this lesson, you learned about the human legs radical. The idea behind the human legs radical is support. This radical isn't a kanji character on its own, so you'll only see it in other kanji characters, such as the foundation, shine, and see kanji characters that you learned in this lesson. You'll always find this radical in the bottom position, and it's written with two vertical strokes, one curved stroke, and one that flattens out and flicks upwards slightly. Hi everyone! Welcome to the Japanese Kanji Video Series. In this lesson, you'll learn the ten radical. Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters. First off, can you spot the radical that's common in all of these kanji characters? It's this part here. It looks like a cross. This particular radical is called... which literally means ten in Japanese. The ten radical is used in some of the most common kanji characters. Let's take a look at it in more detail. The ten radical means exactly that, ten. But it also means completeness, likely because Chinese uses a base ten number system. As you can see, the ten radical is also a kanji character on its own. From left to right, the first kanji means ten, the second means thousand, the third character means noon, and the fourth character means old. The second kanji has the ten radical at the bottom, paired with the person radical, the very first radical you learned. We covered it in Lesson 2. In the olden days, people aspired to live to 100. So if one person lived to 100, then the idea is that ten human lifetimes would equate to a thousand, which is the meaning of this character, thousand. The third kanji means noon. To remember this kanji, identify that the ten radical is at the bottom, and imagine that the top two strokes signify the number two. Ten plus two equals twelve, and twelve means that it's noon. The origin of the fourth and final kanji is a little contested, but it has the ten radical on top. Below it is mouth, another useful radical which we will learn in the next lesson. It's thought that something that has completed its cycle and relating to the mouth means that it's old food, or food that has dried out. When something is dry, it hardens, and so this kanji carries a sense of something that is old, dry, or hard. The ten radical will usually sit in the bottom position and connect with another radical above it. It can also be in the crown position. When it's in this position, the bottom radical is likely to be the mouth radical, in which case it adds the sense of oldness, dryness, or hardness that we talked about before. Be careful when trying to identify this radical, though, as there will often be crosses in many kanji due to the nature in which kanji characters are written. Some characters may look like they use the ten radical, but don't be fooled. Here's a small list of characters which do and do not use the ten radical. The ten radical is very simple. It only has two strokes. The first stroke is a horizontal one that goes from left to right. This horizontal stroke rises ever so slightly as it approaches the right side. The second stroke is a vertical stroke that starts at the top and goes down to the bottom, splitting the first horizontal stroke in half and forming a cross sign. When this radical is part of another kanji, it'll usually connect to another radical at the vertical ends of the second stroke. And that's it! You're done! When the ten radical is on its own, the kanji can be read as And when the ten radical is part of another kanji, like in the original examples, common readings are for the kanji meaning thousand, for the kanji meaning noon, for the kanji meaning old. In this lesson, you learned about the ten radical. The ten radical looks like a cross. It signifies the number ten and the idea of completeness. You also learned the kanji characters for ten, thousand, noon, and old in which this radical appears. It's commonly found in the bottom or crown position. And it's written with one horizontal stroke and one vertical stroke. Hi everyone! Welcome to the Japanese Kanji Video Series. In this lesson, you'll learn the mouth radical. Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters. First off, can you spot the radical that's common in all of these kanji characters? It's this part here. This particular radical is called The mouth radical is used in some of the most common kanji characters. Let's take a look at it in more detail. Keep in mind, though, that it encapsulates the many senses of the word mouth and isn't limited to the mouth of a person or animal. The mouth of a river, for instance, alludes to an opening where water moves through to enter an ocean. The mouth radical embodies this sense of the word, too. From left to right, the first kanji means mouth. The second means older brother. The third character means old. And the fourth character means same. This radical is a kanji by itself, as seen in the first example. The second kanji has the mouth radical on top and the human legs radical, which we learned in lesson 4, on the bottom. The third kanji has the mouth radical on the bottom and the ten radical, which we learned in the previous lesson, on top. Do you remember this kanji character? It's the character for old. The fourth kanji has the mouth radical enclosed in a type of hood representing a group. A group of people who share one voice have the same opinion. So the meaning of this kanji is same or equal. The mouth radical appears in multiple positions. It can appear in the crown position. Like in the kanji for older brother. Or it can appear at the bottom, in the foot position. Like in the kanji for old. And just as often, it can appear in the right position. Like in this kanji character meaning harmony. As you can see, the mouth radical appears in many different positions. So keep your eyes peeled. OK, now let's learn how to write this radical. The mouth radical is very simple. It's written in three strokes and it looks like a box. The first stroke occurs on the left side and is a vertical stroke that goes from top to bottom. The second looks like a right corner and starts from left to right and then bends downwards. It's important to note that this second stroke should be completed in one smooth motion. Finally, close the box by connecting the first stroke to the second stroke at the bottom. And that's it! You're done! When the mouth radical is on its own, the kanji can be read as And when the mouth radical is a part of another kanji, for the older brother kanji, for the kanji meaning old, for the kanji meaning same or equal. In this lesson, you learned about the mouth radical. The mouth radical looks like a square. The idea behind this radical encapsulates all senses of the word mouth, equivalent to English. You also learned the kanji characters for mouth, older brother, old, and same or equal, in which this radical appears. It can be found in multiple positions, the crown, foot, or right position. And it's written with one vertical stroke, one right corner stroke, and one connecting horizontal stroke. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Japanese Kanji Video Series. In this lesson, you'll learn the one radical. Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters. First off, can you spot the radical that's common in all of these kanji characters? It's this part here. It's a single horizontal stroke. This particular radical is called which literally means one. The one radical is used in some of the most common kanji characters. Let's take a look at it in more detail. The one radical means exactly that, the number one. From left to right, the first kanji means one. The second means word or era. The third character means above. And the fourth character means child. As you can see in the first example, the one radical is also a kanji character on its own. The second kanji is actually a reduction of another kanji meaning leaf. The leaves and branches that grow on top of the tree are thought to represent a different age or generation of leaves and branches. The one radical here unifies the leaves and branches from a generation. The meaning of this kanji can be interpreted as word or epoch. The third kanji is an ideogram which shows the concept of up or above by having one horizontal line above another. The fourth kanji is a pictogram. The top portion represents the baby's head while the lower portion represents its body wrapped in a blanket. The one radical here signifies the baby's arms spreading while growing into a child. So the meaning of this kanji is child. The one radical appears in many different positions. It commonly sits in the crown position. Like in the kanji for world or era. Another common position is at the bottom in the foot position. As seen in the kanji for above. Okay, now let's learn how to write this radical. The one radical is incredibly simple to write. It has only one stroke. The concept of one is represented by a single stroke that goes from left to right. It's important to note that this horizontal stroke rises ever so slightly as it approaches the right side. And that's it. You're done. When the one radical is on its own, the kanji can be read as ichi for the on reading and hito for the kun reading. When the one radical is part of another kanji, for the world or epoch kanji, for the kanji meaning above, for the child kanji. In this lesson, you learned about the one radical. The one radical looks like a single horizontal stroke and it signifies the concept of one. You also learned the kanji characters for one, world, or epoch, above, and child in which this radical appears. It's most commonly found in the crown or bottom position and it's written with just one horizontal stroke going from left to right. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Japanese Kanji Video Series. In this lesson, you'll learn the word radical. Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters. First off, can you spot the radical that's common in all of these kanji characters? It's this part here. This particular radical is called The word radical is used in some of the most common kanji characters. Let's take a look at it in more detail. The meaning for the word radical relates to words or speech. As you can see in the first example, the word radical is a kanji character on its own. Did you spot the smaller mouse radical that we learned in lesson 6? It's this part here. The other part above it, it's actually the heart radical. The heart spewing from the mouse is symbolic of words or meaning to say. You can imagine the lines as words except in the mouse. The second kanji has the word radical on the left and this other character on the right. Once again, there's the small mouth radical that we learned sitting at the bottom there. Can you guess what the radical on the right is? I'll give you a clue. It's a physical muscle in your body. The large radical on the right represents the tongue. Here's the mouth on the bottom, and there's the tongue sticking out of it. Do you see it now? The word radical paired with the tongue radical gives you the kanji meaning to talk. The third kanji has the word radical on the left and this other radical on the right. And guess what? There's that mouth radical again. There's this other tiny character above the mouse. It means five. But why five? It's traditionally thought that we experience language through five paths, using our two eyes, two ears, and our mouth, which adds up to five. Together, this character stands for language. The fourth kanji is the word radical paired with the tongue radical, which we learned in Lesson 5. Think for a moment and guess what it might mean. Remember, the radical on the right can mean ten, but it can also mean complete. The meaning of this kanji is to plan. Words thought to completion means that something has been planned out. We've only learned six radicals so far in this series, but are you starting to see how we can already break down and guess the meanings of many kanji characters? Imagine what you could do if you just learned a few more radicals. Okay, let's move on. The word radical will almost always be in the left position. As seen in the original examples for talk, language, and plan. Notice how the word radical is squished horizontally when it's in the left position. Okay, now let's learn how to write this radical. The word radical is written in seven strokes. The first stroke is a diagonal stroke that starts at the top and goes from left to right. The second stroke is a long and flat horizontal stroke which also goes from left to right and sits just under the first stroke. The third and fourth strokes are identical to the previous stroke except shorter. The last section is a box which sits at the bottom. It's written in the same way as the mouse radical that we learned in lesson six. So the fifth stroke is a vertical stroke that goes from top to bottom on the left side. The sixth stroke goes from left to right, bends, and continues downwards. The seventh and final stroke closes the box at the bottom. And that's it! You're done! When the word radical is on its own, the kanji can be read as gen for the on reading and i for the kun reading. When the word radical is part of another kanji, wa, hana, for the talk kanji, for the language kanji, for the plan kanji. In this lesson, you learned about the word radical. It signifies word or speech. You also learned the kanji characters for word, talk, language, and plan in which this radical appears. It's almost always in the left position. And it's written with seven strokes, one diagonal, three horizontal, and another three making a box. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Japanese Kanji Video Series. In this lesson, you'll learn the DE radical. Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters. First off, can you spot the radical that's common in all of these kanji characters? It's this part here. This particular radical is called hi or hihen. The DE radical is used in some of the most common kanji characters. Let's take a look at it in more detail. The DE radical is a kanji character on its own. It's a pictogram of the sun, and it means sun or day. From left to right, the first kanji means sun or day. The second means bright. The third character means time. And the fourth character means projection or reflection. The first kanji is actually one of two kanji characters used to write Japan. As we mentioned before, the first kanji means sun, and the second character means root. Since Japan is to the east of China, and the sun rises from the east, Japan is written as the land where the sun originates, or more commonly, the land of the rising sun. The second kanji has the DE radical on the left, and this other character on the right, which means moon. The sun and moon together are depicting daybreak, where the sky changes rapidly from night into day. And so the meaning of this character is bright. The next kanji has the DE radical on the left, and this other character on the right, which means temple. In historic times, the time of day was announced by chiming a large bell at the temple. So day and temple together means time. The fourth kanji has the DE radical on the left again, and this other character, meaning the center or middle of a person's body. The character on the right is actually a pictograph of a man. A man standing next to the sun alludes to the idea of something being reflected or projected, which is the meaning of this kanji. Okay, let's move on. The DE radical will usually appear in the left position, as seen in the original examples for bright, time, and reflect or project. When the DE radical is part of another kanji character, it shrinks in size. Okay, now let's learn how to write this radical. The DE radical is written in four strokes. The first stroke is a vertical stroke that starts on the left and goes from top to bottom. The second stroke is a tall right-hand corner. It connects with the first stroke and goes left to right, bends, and then goes straight down. The third stroke is a horizontal stroke that occurs at the halfway point and goes left to right. The fourth and final stroke is a horizontal stroke, closing out the box. And that's it. You're done. When the DE radical is a kanji on its own, it can be read as 日 for the on reading and 日 for the kun reading. And when the DE radical is part of another kanji, 明 for the bright kanji, 時 for the time kanji, and 映 for the reflect or project kanji. In this lesson, you learned about the DE radical. The DE radical looks like this, and it represents the sun or day. You also learned the kanji characters for sun or day, bright, time, and reflect or project, in which this radical appears. It usually appears in the left position, and it's written with four strokes, one vertical, a right-hand corner stroke, and two horizontal strokes. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Japanese Kanji Video Series. In this lesson, you'll learn the movement radical. Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters. First off, can you spot the radical that's common in all of these kanji characters? It's this part here. This particular radical is called 信仰. The movement radical is used in some of the most common kanji characters. Let's take a look at it in more detail. The meaning behind this radical is movement or path. This radical doesn't exist on its own, so you'll only find it in other kanji characters. From left to right, the first kanji means near, the second means to return, the third character means weak, and the fourth character means to carry. The first kanji has the movement radical in the bottom surrounding position, and the portion above it is the character for axe. The function of an axe is essentially to chop things and to make them smaller. So together, a small movement can mean that something is nearby. So the meaning of this character is close or nearby. The second kanji has the movement radical in the bottom surrounding position again, and the portion above it is the character for reverse or oppose. Reverse movement means to return, so this kanji means to return. The third kanji has the radical in the same position, but this time with the character for circumference. Movement around a circumference alludes to a cycle. This particular kanji is used to signify the cycle of the week. The final kanji has the movement radical paired with the character for army. A moving army transports weapons, foods, and goods. Therefore, the meaning of this kanji is to transport or to carry. Okay, let's move on. The movement radical will always be in the bottom surrounding position, and because of this, it's easily recognizable. As can be seen in the original examples for near, to return, week, and to carry. Okay, now let's learn how to write this radical. The movement radical is written in three strokes. The first stroke is a short diagonal stroke that starts on the left. It goes from left to the bottom right. The second stroke looks like a zigzag. It starts below the first stroke and goes left to right, bends, going downward slightly, and then repeats. Ensure that you write the second stroke in one smooth motion. The third and final stroke is a slightly curved horizontal stroke which connects to the previous stroke. It starts from the left and goes all the way to the right. And that's it! You're done! The movement radical isn't a kanji character on its own, so it'll only appear as part of another kanji. When it does, it can be read as follows. For the kanji meaning close or nearby, for the kanji meaning return, for the kanji meaning weak, and for the kanji meaning to transport or carry. In this lesson, you learned about the movement radical. The concept behind the character is movement or path. You also learned the kanji characters for close, return, weak, and transport or carry, in which this radical appears. It'll always appear in the bottom surrounding position, and it's written with three strokes. A diagonal stroke, a zigzag-looking stroke, and a long curved horizontal stroke. Hi everyone! Welcome to the Japanese Kanji Video Series. In this lesson, you'll learn the gate radical. Take a look at these kanji characters. Can you guess what they mean? By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to grasp the meaning behind these kanji characters. First off, can you spot the radical that's common in all of these kanji characters? It's this part here. It looks like a gate or window with two sliding doors. This particular radical is called The gate radical is used in some of the most common kanji characters. Let's take a look at it in more detail. The concept behind this radical is gate, division, or department. From left to right, the first kanji means gate, the second means period, the third character means question, and the fourth character means to listen. The first example shows that this radical exists as a kanji character on its own. The second kanji has the gate radical in the enclosing position and this other character in the center. It's the day radical that we learned in lesson 9. The concept of the gate radical together with day gives us the division of day, which we can associate with a period of time. The third kanji has the same radical paired with another character that we've learned. It's the mouth radical that we learned in lesson 6. The department of mouth means to question or to ask. The final kanji has the same radical paired with another character, which is the kanji character for ear. The department of ear means to listen. Okay, let's move on. The gate radical will always appear in the enclosing position, whether it's by itself or if it's used in other kanji characters. And because of this, it's easily recognizable. As seen in the original examples for gate, period, question, and to listen, it will always be in this position. Okay, now let's learn how to write this radical. The gate radical is written in eight strokes. The first stroke is a straight vertical downstroke on the left side. The second stroke looks like a right corner. It connects to the first stroke and goes from left to right, bends, and continues downward slightly. The third and fourth strokes are two horizontal strokes that close out the box. The fifth stroke is a short vertical stroke, which starts near the center and goes downward slightly. The sixth stroke connects to the previous stroke. It goes from left to right, bends, and continues all the way downwards, reaching the floor, where it flicks upward slightly towards the center. The last two strokes are horizontal strokes that close out the box. And that's it! You're done! When the gate radical appears on its own, the kanji character can be read as When the gate radical is part of another kanji, for the kanji meaning period, for the kanji meaning ask or question, and for the kanji meaning listen. In this lesson, you learned about the gate radical. The concept behind the character is gate, division, or department. You also learned the kanji characters for gate, period, ask or question, and listen, in which this radical appears. This radical will always be in the enclosing position, and it's written in eight strokes, demonstrated here. Well done! You just learned your tenth radical in this series. With this set of ten radicals alone, you can deduce the meaning of 30% of all practical everyday kanji in Japanese. Was this video series helpful? Let us know if you'd like to see more of this series by replying in the comments. And if you want to learn more Japanese or see more of Risa and I, go to JapanesePod101.com. We have a host of different videos on various topics for you to choose from. We'll link them at the end of the video. Good luck as you continue learning Japanese. Stay tuned for more kanji lessons in the future. Until next time, bye! Bye!