[nine_k]

Kanji are fun to learn, because they are constructive to some degree, and actually pictorial to some degree.

If you can imagine a language where 2k+ emoji are used as parts of words, with all the combination rules which emoji have, that would give you some idea.

But it does tax your memory (nothing compared to Chinese, though!), and takes time when writing by hand. Typing is significantly easier because a reasonable IME gives you variants to choose from when you type the pronunciation.

[srvmshr]

A good chunk of the roughly ~2100 Kanji have two versions of expression. Some of them have upto 8-10 ways of usage (although very few). As a Japanese resident,

(1) It isn't fun. Not everyone of us knows the whole set and have to keep a digital dictionary in smartphone

(2) We don't assume the names of people based on their Kanji, because (surpise!) people do get offended by minor changes in pronunciation e.g Yamasaki vs. Yamazaki, with similar Kanjis.

That's why I always prefer to inscribe my Japanese notes with Kana in a superscript wherever needed. It is very tight in grammar but the language is not easy by any means. In fact, same goes for Chinese & Koreans.

[Aeolun]

> We don't assume the names of people based on their Kanji

Note that even (or maybe especially) Japanese people don’t do this either.

The first thing anyone introducing themselves does is say how to write/say their name.

[innocentoldguy]

One thing that fascinated me when I first lived in Japan was how people would finger-draw the Kanji for their names on their palms.

[Judgmentality]

> Kanji are fun to learn, because they are constructive to some degree, and actually pictorial to some degree

> actually pictorial to some degree

Only in the same sense that star constellations are pictorial.

https://youtu.be/unKrseRCOKo

I really feel like this is appropriate.

[Izkata]

There are some that are kinda funny when you first see them, for example:

Tree: 木

Forest: 森

[viceroyalbean]

Some make direct sense like the tree/forest, others you have to deep dive into their history for them to make sense (if at all).

For example, the character for people (民) comes from the image of a person being pierced through the eye, which was done to mark slaves in ancient China. Eventually the character and meaning evolved to the way it's used now.

[thematrixturtle]

Person: 人

Rest: 休 (person leaning against a tree)

[hypertele-Xii]

So you can't say "rest" without mentioning a tree? Finnish is funny in similar ways due to its ubiquitous forests. To "hunt" is "metsästää", "metsä" being "forest" the place you went to look for food.

[CRConrad]

You can say you metsästää for mushrooms (and other edibles) in the forest too, though, can't you? So maybe it's actually more of a direct correspondence to "forage". And, is that perhaps derived from / related to "forest"? (Or fodder?)

[thematrixturtle]

Not really, metsästää implies hunting for living things. There's a dedicated verb for mushroom foraging, sienestää, or you can say sienimetsässä, "in the mushroom forest".

[hypertele-Xii]

> can say you metsästää for mushrooms

Someone with a quirky personality might say that :)

[minikomi]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uD0NOhrPyEM

I thought you were going to link this guy but both work :)

[yomkippur]

> Kanji are fun to learn,

huge nuance here. it is not fun memorizing hyroglyphics