How to put kanji in your writing.

[sarasi]

Why is the first kanji in "空気" there? Because the Japanese word for "air" has always been written like that. It may help you if you simply think of the word "空気" as "air" and don't try to dissect it. Learn kanji compounds together as words, not as separate characters, and don't spend too much time worrying about why those particular kanji together have that meaning, otherwise you will get really bogged down.

[jesselt]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

Uh, those actually do reflect the meaning.

You measure population by counting the number of mouths of people there are. In your second example, the kanji mean "to come" and "Japan."

Right, except it only makes sense if you make up an example or try and justify it. No one would ever come to the conclusion that 人口 would mean population if you told them that the first Kanji means person and the second means Mouth. Never.

[Tsuruneru]

私は、ミートボールに襲われた一人の旅行者午前:d

[komitsuki]

Originally Posted by Tsuruneru

私は、ミートボールに襲われた一人の旅行者午前:d

BTW, that sentence doesn't make any sense.

[komitsuki]

Originally Posted by jesselt

No one would ever come to the conclusion that 人口 would mean population if you told them that the first Kanji means person and the second means Mouth. Never.

It makes sense if you associate 口 with its "modern" secondary meaning: an entity that an object would enter.

This is Chinese characters. Most of them have a primary meaning and bunch of secondary meanings.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by jesselt

Right, except it only makes sense if you make up an example or try and justify it. No one would ever come to the conclusion that 人口 would mean population if you told them that the first Kanji means person and the second means Mouth. Never.

But that's not the issue. Someone said 人口 does not reflect the meaning, not that "the meaning is not obvious." I was arguing that it does reflect the meaning. I never once made an argument that it would be obvious to anyone what it meant. You're putting arguments in my mouth that I never made.

[Tsuruneru]

Originally Posted by komitsuki

BTW, that sentence doesn't make any sense.

Thats kind of the point >_>

[sarasi]

Originally Posted by Tsuruneru

Thats kind of the point >_>

Sorry, I don't get it either.

As for whether the kanji in 人口 reflect the meaning of "population" or not, that was the point I was trying to make with my above post. Don't worry about whether or not it is logical that that particular combination of kanji should have that particular meaning. Just accept that it does, and move on to the next word you have to learn.

[Tsuruneru]

(I am a traveler who was seized with meatballs) Thats what it says, it was a joke from a random show, but in anther language it wouldn't be as funny. Confusing even.

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by Tsuruneru

(I am a traveler who was seized with meatballs) Thats what it says, it was a joke from a random show, but in anther language it wouldn't be as funny. Confusing even.

No, it's not that your sentence is silly. It's that it's grammatically incorrect. There's no main verb. And for some reason you've included "a.m." in it.