Japanese kanji combinations with irregular pronunciations

[BWL]

I find the Japanese usage of kanji and  their myriad pronunciations to be mind-bogglingly complex compared with the original Chinese hanzi from which they are descended. While a few Chinese characters can be read in two ways in Mandarin (行 can be pronounced xing or hang depending on context) Japanese takes this to a whole new level.

For example "hito" or "human being" is writtten 人. But "adult" is 大人, pronounced as "otona"! 五月雨 is "samidare" meaning the rain in early summer! And 土産 is "miyage" meaning "souvenir" (normally with the honorific prefix o-, hence "omiyage").

Does anyone have a list of commonly-used kanji with highly irregular kun-yomi pronunciations? For instance, 手 is pronounced "te" but 上手 is "joozu" and 下手 is pronounced "heta"!

[Miya]

The one Kanji I always got wrong when I first started studying Japanese was ”今”. In Chinese, this character means "today/now".

Which is okay if you use it in Japanese as "今" (ima - now) or　"今日" (kyou - today). But then you get the pronunciation "Kyonen" and to me that immediately means "This year" because "kyou" means today. But actually "this year" is pronounced as "Kotoshi" and "Kyonen" actually means last year.  :confused:

I don't get them messed up any more because I missed that like 50884375135 times on my tests, but it did confuse me for a while.

Which is why I disagree that being Chinese makes learning Japanese easier. I think it just confuses us more because even when the characters are the same, they mean different things.

For example:

書く (kaku) - Chinese character means "book", but in Japanese it means "to write".

勉強する　(benkyousuru) - Chinese character means "forced", but Japanese means "to study". (okay, maybe that one makes sense XD_

[mccanono]

This is one of the things that make Kanji even harder than it already is.

You have to memorize A LOT just to be able to have a normal day-to-day conversation using these Kanjis.

But then again, it's fun. Haha

Seems like Japanese are really good in innovating things. Ramen for example. haha

[BWL]

The one Kanji I always got wrong when I first started studying Japanese was ”今”. In Chinese, this character means "today/now".

Which is okay if you use it in Japanese as "今" (ima - now) or　"今日" (kyou - today). But then you get the pronunciation "Kyonen" and to me that immediately means "This year" because "kyou" means today. But actually "this year" is pronounced as "Kotoshi" and "Kyonen" actually means last year.  :confused:

I don't get them messed up any more because I missed that like 50884375135 times on my tests, but it did confuse me for a while.

Which is why I disagree that being Chinese makes learning Japanese easier. I think it just confuses us more because even when the characters are the same, they mean different things.

For example:

書く (kaku) - Chinese character means "book", but in Japanese it means "to write".

勉強する　(benkyousuru) - Chinese character means "forced", but Japanese means "to study". (okay, maybe that one makes sense XD_

Yes, how do you write "kotoshi" in kanji? I often made the same mistakes when I was starting as I am of Chinese origin and am more familiar with the Chinese usage of hanzi or kanji. Japanese is just plain confusing compared to Chinese!

I always laugh at how "ebi" or "shrimp / prawn" is often written in kanji 海老 !

[Czarownica]

Yes, how do you write "kotoshi" in kanji? I often made the same mistakes when I was starting as I am of Chinese origin and am more familiar with the Chinese usage of hanzi or kanji. Japanese is just plain confusing compared to Chinese!

"Kotoshi" is 今年, so it's quite regular (except for the reading). "Kyonen" is written with a different kanji - 去年. A bit confusing when it comes to reading, but in writing it's all pretty normal, I think

[Miya]

I always laugh at how "ebi" or "shrimp / prawn" is often written in kanji 海老 !

Haha, that one is funny too. I always write shrimp as ebi (エビ) though. Don't want to bother with the Kanji and plus it's not common to use 海老 in speaking.