"このみちは北東に行きます。"
Translation:This path goes northeast.
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If they're combined with other kanji, 9/10 times it's pronounced ほく / とう, and if they're used 'solo', きた / ひがし.
They look a bit similar, but no: "hana" (flower) = 花. It consists of the character for 'change' 化 underneath a grass radical. North = 北.
When multiple kanjis make up a word, more often than not we'll use their Onyomi pronunciation:
北東 (ほくとう)
北西 (ほくせい)
南東 (なんとう)
南西 (なんせい)
東西南北 (とうざいなんぼく)
Onyomi refers to kanji readings of Chinese origin.
Japanese kanji have different pronunciations depending on the words that they are used in. The correct way to say the kanji is called a "reading". Most kanji have at least two readings and some have many. A particular kanji character might appear in many different words. Some words share the same readings, but often times the kanji character will be read one way in some words and a different way in other words. Most kanji will have at least one onyomi reading (chinese origin) and at least one kunyomi (native Japanese origin) reading. Which one is more common varies depending on the kanji. Early Japanese borrowed many Chinese words due to cultural exchange with China. These loanwords became incorporated into the language, along side words from native Japanese. When adapting Chinese characters to spoken Japanese, loan words and new words that incorporated Chinese loanwords would sometimes be written with the same kanji characters as related native Japanese words since the Japanese words did not have their own characters. Kanji characters have meanings associated with them, so a suitable character could be chosen to write the Japanese word based on a similar meaning, even if the word was pronounced differently from the Chinese character. This is why one kanji character can have many readings.
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I thought in Japanese east and west go in front of north and south. So it should be 東北 instead eg 東北新幹線、東北地方. Can someone check if this needs to be changed please?
North/south comes before east/west in Japanese too. 東北 (とうほく) is an exception that refers not to a compas/wind-direction, but a part of the country. The "eastern north" is made up of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate, Aomori, Yamagata, and Akita prefecture.
Yes; the compass direction southeast is 南東（なんとう）, while that part of Asia is 東南（とうなん）アジア
Actually, that manga/anime name is written with the kanji 北斗の拳 (literally "Fist of the Big Dipper).
The particles に and へ can be used interchangeably when it comes to directions. There are a few exceptions outside of that but they are not covered in Duolingo as far as I've seen.
Practically any case in which に isn't used to indicate a direction, it cannot be used interchangeably with へ. E.g. when it indicates a (stationary) location, an indirect object, a time, a purpose, etc.
To be more specific, に emphasizes the location whereas へ emphasizes the direction in a vague sense. But in this example, that's what the "location" is (ie 北東).
Sorry if this sounds ignorant, but can "北東" also mean "Beijing"? I know many names have shared Kanji is the only reason i ask
it is actually 北京市, literally "northern capital city", or shortened to 北京.
I see, I always get 東 and 京 mixed up, that makes more sense. Thank you for clarifying that. ありがとうございました！
I don't know if you have noticed: the kanji of Tokyo is 東京, literally "eastern capital city"
I have, it's more of the difference between the 木 and 小 radicals, in writing I make sure to differenciate but on a computer, my dyslexia gets pretty bad （笑）
How do you tell the difference between the path going a direction and me taking the path in that direction?
Because Japanese uses different tenses for the simple and continuous present, and this is the former.
Because English is just not normally spoken that way. Sounds like the road is actually moving.
I admit I'm not a native English speaker, but "leads to the northeast" sounds more right to me.
Okay, this is gonna sound weird, but if 北東 (ほくとう、 hokutou) is northeast... Then how come "Fist of the North Star" is "hokutou no ken"?
Not weird at all. And the answer might help other people when they run into similar issues.
The title of the manga is 北斗の拳 (ほくとのけん) . Notice the kanji.
北東 means "north east" and 北斗 is the Japanese name for a constelation of stars in the northern part of the sky, called the big Dipper or the Plow.
Also, it is worth pointing out that these words sound very similar, but not identical.
北斗 「ほくと」 vs 北東 「ほくとう」
There is a long お sound in 北東 (northeast).
To my ears ほくとう sounds like hokktou, i.e. I hear a break instead of the u of く. Do you always pronounce く that way before a t?
u vowel is often silent between some sounds like k, t and s and some more, the i also has the same property
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Why "ni" is used here? I don't get it! We are talking about the direction that a path goes, right? Why isn't Duo using the "he" (I know it is pronounce "e") particle here?