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Interesting, 生 have only one pronunciation in Chinese (native speaker, ref: https://zh.wiktionary.org/zh/%E7%94%9F https://zh.wiktionary.org/zh/%E7%94%9F ). Did

Interesting, 生 have only one pronunciation in Chinese (native speaker, ref: https://zh.wiktionary.org/zh/%E7%94%9F https://zh.wiktionary.org/zh/%E7%94%9F ). Didn't know it's so different in Japanese.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago
There is a long list of exceptions for Chinese: https://blog.tutorabcchinese.com/mandarin-chinese-learning-tips/chinese-characters-with-various-pronunciations https://blog.tutorabcchinese.com/mandarin-chinese-learning-t... Kanji will have at least two pronunciations (one called a Chinese pronunciation that often sounds little like modern mandarin, like 电 being Dian in Chinese and Den in Japanese).
- FranzFerdiNaN 4y ago
  Thats 25 characters. Hardly a long list, especially compared to about every kanji having two or more pronunciations.
  - qwezxcrty 4y ago
    Ah, actually I just meant that specific character. There are indeed many 多音字 in Chinese and they are frequently used, but 生 is a simple one.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
ickoonite 4y ago
Some of it comes from importing words from different parts of China or at different times in history. From my (very) limited experience, Japanese pronunciations of kanji are much closer to Cantonese or Hokkien than Mandarin.
- iopq 4y ago
  It's worse than you think. The oldest readings came from KOREA where they used rhyme dictionaries to create a full system of Sino-Korean pronunciations without regards to the actual sounds.
jamesdutc 4y ago
A sibling comment shared a short list of common characters with multiple pronunciations. If we include variants where the difference is only tone, then the list of common-use characters with multiple pronunciations gets pretty long. This list is also changes on a regular basis. The following news article details updates to pronunciation guidance promulgated by the Taiwan Ministry of Education at the end of 2022: https://www.ftvnews.com.tw/news/detail/2022326L08M1 https://www.ftvnews.com.tw/news/detail/2022326L08M1 It is my understanding that these new guidelines result in mandated changes to educational curricula as well as standardised testing; they are not wholly advisory. It is also my understanding that these changes can be mildly controversial, because even when the changes are made for the sake of simplification, they lead to discrepancies between the educational standard and common spoken language.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago

There is a long list of exceptions for Chinese: https://blog.tutorabcchinese.com/mandarin-chinese-learning-tips/chinese-characters-with-various-pronunciations https://blog.tutorabcchinese.com/mandarin-chinese-learning-t... Kanji will have at least two pronunciations (one called a Chinese pronunciation that often sounds little like modern mandarin, like 电 being Dian in Chinese and Den in Japanese).

FranzFerdiNaN 4y ago
Thats 25 characters. Hardly a long list, especially compared to about every kanji having two or more pronunciations.
- qwezxcrty 4y ago
  Ah, actually I just meant that specific character. There are indeed many 多音字 in Chinese and they are frequently used, but 生 is a simple one.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

ickoonite 4y ago

Some of it comes from importing words from different parts of China or at different times in history. From my (very) limited experience, Japanese pronunciations of kanji are much closer to Cantonese or Hokkien than Mandarin.

iopq 4y ago
It's worse than you think. The oldest readings came from KOREA where they used rhyme dictionaries to create a full system of Sino-Korean pronunciations without regards to the actual sounds.

jamesdutc 4y ago

A sibling comment shared a short list of common characters with multiple pronunciations. If we include variants where the difference is only tone, then the list of common-use characters with multiple pronunciations gets pretty long. This list is also changes on a regular basis. The following news article details updates to pronunciation guidance promulgated by the Taiwan Ministry of Education at the end of 2022: https://www.ftvnews.com.tw/news/detail/2022326L08M1 https://www.ftvnews.com.tw/news/detail/2022326L08M1 It is my understanding that these new guidelines result in mandated changes to educational curricula as well as standardised testing; they are not wholly advisory. It is also my understanding that these changes can be mildly controversial, because even when the changes are made for the sake of simplification, they lead to discrepancies between the educational standard and common spoken language.