in this video series you will learn how to read and conceptualize all of the kanji in the jlptn5 level we will go over the kunyami and onyomi readings as well as some common non-standard readings as well the goal of this series is to help give you a stronger conceptual feeling for how a kanji is actually used rather than just thinking it means one particular word as that is more than often not the case we'll be looking at the kanji readings from the 10 000 most useful words according to kansudo.com a very useful and extensive kanji resource online in just this video you will learn how to read the kanji which appear in almost 900 of the 10 000 most useful words with just this video alone as these kanji are incredibly common and useful so no matter what your skill level hopefully you find it helpful for both your study and review in each example you will also see a small number underneath the reading this is shown to indicate exactly how many words this reading appears in the kanju doll's 10 000 most useful word list so you can make your own judgment call as to how useful a particular reading is to memorize this series is brought to you by all of our amazing supporters on patreon and the discord community so please if you like this sort of video please feel free to check out the game gengo patreon and come join us so without further ado let's get started the first reading for this kanji is seen here in its kunyami reading as hito and hito is actually the word for person in japanese now this reading can actually be used all by itself to mean person so where hito would mean a person ayashi hito here would mean a suspicious person and as you can see the man in the black suit is certainly quite suspicious looking or ayashi now this hito reading can also sometimes be read as bito when used as a compound with other kanji like in koipito [Music] here we can see following the kanji for love to mean lover or following village to mean villagers the word for an alien or perhaps as a being from outer space we can see here the first onyomi reading for this kanji is jin and it's used to express a person or being so uchu here represents space and jin represents a being or a person so it's like a space being or an alien next we have the final reading for this kanji is nin seen here in the word for human or human kind ningen like seen here in mega man 4 with this shady looking character talking about the humans or human kind and it refers to them here with the term ningen nin is a reading here to express a person or a being and gen is kind of to express a space or being among something so ning gen you could see as kind of people and among so kind of like human or human kind you can see that it's a term used to collectively talk about people so this kanji has one kunyami reading hito that can often change to bitto if used in a kanji compound following another kanji with two onyomi readings jin and nin to express a person or being as well as several non-standard readings to keep your eye out for otona and so conceptually i think this kanji is quite easy to understand what do all of these words have in common here they're all referring to a person or a being whether a being or person from space or another country or a person who does a crime like a criminal or a person who is your lover the first kunyami reading for this kanji is seen here in the word hitori for one person so like seen here in mario kart where you choose to play by yourself you can choose hitori hito can also be used as a word counter for one thing like seen here in the next example so this next use of hito here is shown with and this means one thing so guts is asking griffith if he can't feel anything at all not one thing [Music] so here death is saying to the main character in castlevania to think it over once more and the final onyami reading we have for this kanji is itsu here's seen in ipiki and this kanji is actually slightly different where we see it connected to another word that actually turns into a gap between the two kanji so it's read as ipiki not itsupi and this is very common in kanji where sometimes the kanji that gets connected to another one will actually turn into a gap in between so here for the word one animal like seen here in devil may cry 5 where he yells to not let a single small creature or animal pass so if we have a look at the kanji it has one kunyami reading hito with two onyomi readings ichi and itsu the latter often read without the tsu and with a gap instead one thing to note is that using this kanji by itself in the onyami reading actually just is the word for number one ichi now this kanji has several non-standard readings as well to keep your eye out for such as tsuitachi and ototoy these non-standard readings cannot be taken apart and used in any other way it's just read this way with this particular word so this is another very simple kanji to understand conceptually if we have a look at all of the examples hitori hitotsu ichido and ipiki we can see that all of these hold the same meaning and concept of one whether one person one thing one time or one small animal [Music] foreign [Music] the first reading for this kanji is seen here in judge eyes where the main character says that from that day on his career as a lawyer died here with anohi that day this reading for he can also be read as b when following another kanji in a compound similar to what we've already seen with other kanji like seen here in animal crossing with days of the week here with mokuyobi this being the word for thursday [Music] and this is used for the day of month or as a counter for days so like mikka three days itsuka five days and toka 10 days there are also two onyomi readings for this kanji [Music] the first onyami reading is nichi seen here in naruto as ichinichi meaning one day as he wants to arrive to the river country in one day so he says now this kanji can also be read just as me with a gap in the middle like we've already previously seen like hearing the word nikki [Music] when used in a compound with another word sometimes like here for the word for diary nikki and seen here in yakuza 7 here used in the word honjitsu to refer to this day or a more formal way of saying today and we can actually see almost all of these readings being used at the same time here in animal crossing [Music] all showing the very use of this kanji as this is a very common kanji that is used in hundreds of different words you will need to learn with context and vocabulary when each reading is used however we can see that in all of these cases the kanji is used to express a kind of day whether it be that day thursday the tenth day in one day or this day now this kanji also has some really useful non-standard readings to be aware of such as cure for today ashta or asu or tomorrow and even all as potential readings for this kanji now while it may sound complicated you will actually learn quite quickly how these words are used with different vocabulary in different situations so try not to stress too much and just have a quick check each time you come across this kanji to build your contextual understanding and just check that you have the right reading here in the word for big or large so here they're referring to a big or large tv so the word is used to describe the size of the object next we have two onyami readings for this kanji first up dai as seen here in the title for banjo-kazooie dai borge ball can means adventure and dai maybe you can already kind of guess is kind of this big adventure so dai borken is kind of a grand adventure or a big adventure not necessarily referring to the size of the adventure but perhaps just the scope of the adventure dai borgen [Music] daijoubu which means all right or problem free and if we took it apart we can actually see that jobu is the word for robust or durable so putting dai here before this word makes it feel like it's very durable or very fine so it's all right or it's problem-free the next on yummy reading is time here with sephiroth from final fantasy vii remake talking about a precious memory tsuna thai sensor here is the word for something being very precious or important to you so thai setsuna amoi there is a precious memory this kanji also has two non-standard readings one quite useful and one a little bit more classical the first is otona for an adult and this is very very very common and the last one is yamato and this is actually the name for ancient japan so this is when you're talking about japan in an ancient sense yamato is often used so we can see that this kanji has three main readings or die and time and while the meanings of each word might not be completely clear at first with the connection if you take a look at each word all key for big day balkan for a grand adventure daijoubu for being all right and taisetsu something being very important you can see that this kanji often holds this concept of something being large grand or very much something like for example if you like something you could say ski in japanese that means like but if you love something you could say daisuki he is showing that you like something in a large or grand scale you love it this next kanji's readings are very simple to remember as there are only two readings you need to remember the kunyami for this kanji is toshi and this is the adverb for year or the noun for age so like seen here in dark hunter this character is saying how they are older than everyone here using the word toshi ue for older literally toshi here representing age and ue representing above so age above oda the second and final reading is the onyami reading which is used as the counter for years seen in this first example for a first year student ichi nen this is short for ichinensei or even like seen here in suicide in [Music] five two years ago and it can also be used in other words like seen here in nino kuni nanto anoga kind of referring to being small and then nan for years smalling years a young boy so we can see that this kanji has two readings the kunyami toshi for year or age and the onyomi nen for a year counter or used in other words so if we have a look at all of these words and try and find a common link i think it's quite clear older first year two years young boy all of these uses of this kanji is referring to the concept of age for years next we have the following word daru to express coming out or appearing the first kunyami reading for this kanji is the death in and this is often used when something is coming out or appearing and it's used with intransitive verbs and so here the monsters are appearing so this is an intransitive situation [Music] [Music] is often used to express taking something out or something starting so this is now a kind of transitive version of the previous example however there are many different uses for this word and in this example it is a part of another word or more to think and when put together with or more we have omoi dasu and this means to recall or remember something so to begin to think about it [Music] [Music] this kanji also has one common onyami reading shutsu like seen here in metal gear solid kyoshutsu here is the word to rescue someone and it can also appear without the tsu creating a gap between the other words like we've seen uh in other words so far in this video and just like seeing here in our next example next we can see the shutsu reading here being read as shu like we've seen previously with a gap in between the words now this is a very common form uh for this kanji you can see that it appears in 20 of the 10 000 most common words whereas just by itself with shutsu is 33 so it's still a very common reading and here we can see it being used in departure so the kanji has three common readings so if we have a look at all of the examples we've found to come out to take out and to rescue out and even depart we can kind of see a link between how this kanji is often used or seen it often has this feeling of coming out or going out or even beginning this reading for the kanji isn't necessarily all that common however it appears as the old kanji for numerous expressions that now use either a different kanji or none at all like seen here with moto moto from final fantasy vii now this piece of language is usually written in hiragana only however this kanji is actually what was originally used for this expression originally [Music] next we have the onyami reading of hon now this is the most common reading by far that you'll see for this kanji and it can be used in so many different situations simply by itself is the word for a book it can also be used in the adverb for truly or really in japanese hontoni and it can even be used as a counter for long cylindrical objects like seen here in 13 sentinels referring to the leg of this large mechanical robot monster or even just simply appearing in the word for japan nihon or nippon [Music] nominee we can see that this kanji has two readings the kunyami of moto and the onyomi of hon and this can be used in a wide wide variety of different words and meanings finding a common meaning for this kanji is incredibly difficult and is a great example of how one kanji doesn't always mean just one meaning and rather it holds concepts of different things [Music] this next kanji's reading is seen in the word naka and naka by itself means inside or within like seen here in persona 4 terebi no naka inside the television and you can see that the main characters have literally walked inside the television and that's what naka here is referring to so like terebi no naka or even like seen here in boku no national here referring to the honey that is inside the flower [Music] and so here we can see that the kanji's kunyami reading naka is quite often used by itself as a noun kyoko next we have the onyami reading seen here in the word chu gaku for meaning middle school or junior high school in japan gaku is used to express learning or education so already you can see the word middle school you can see this kanji being used to express being in the middle of something like the middle of education or the middle level for example or to express something being in progress here showing in the middle of doing this scanning now this kanji can also be read as jew another onyami reading like seen here in this next example and so finally we have jew like seen here in middlegaru which means throughout midgar so it gives this feeling of being all over midgar throughout midgar midogaru so it's not one point but kind of more throughout so we can see that this kanji has one kunyami reading for naka which means to be inside something whether inside a tv or the honey inside a flower and then we have two onyomi readings of chu which can mean to either express the concept of middle medium or even being in the middle of doing a certain process and then finally we have jew which can express being throughout so conceptually if we take a look at all of these meanings we can see inside middle during being in the middle of something throughout a place so while the meanings don't all connect perfectly together you can see how the kanji do have this kind of common thread with middle whether being inside something the middle level being in the middle of doing something or even for example being spread throughout the middle [Music] [Music] is a very simple one as it's ko for child and it's often used to express something being either a child or young so like seen here in the last blade with the word kodomo this is the word for child or children [Music] this kanji also has two onyomi readings the first scene here in boko haram in the word saishi which means wife and child however it doesn't have to be used to express a child like seen here in this next example with the word choshi now it's more referring to the way or manner or condition of something here referring to the character's manner of acting this shi reading is also sometimes read as g when a part of a kanji compound like seen here with this very common word for prince orji and finally the last onyomi reading for this kanji that you may often see is like seen here with the word your for the appearance or state of something here it's being used to talk about the way the character has been appearing lately so perhaps their appearance has been kind of strange so we can see this kanji has quite a few readings and even sue the most common of which is by far she with it appearing in 40 different words in the top 10 000 useful word list conceptually you may often see it taught as the kanji for child but we can see that it is used in a wide variety of different contexts so keep in mind that this kanji has lots of uses but the reading for court by itself does indeed mean child like in kodama but it can also be seen in other situations as well that doesn't mean children and the final kanji for this video is seen here with its kunyami reading for me to see look or try to do something generally it's seen in the verb form like seen here in boko no not yasimi but it can also appear in a kanji compound like seen here in this word from tales of vesperia [Music] now this kanji has one other reading it's on yomi reading which is ken and this also has a similar concept as it expresses often an outlook or a view of something the first example we see here is from super mario galaxy and this is the word hakken discover so when you've discovered a new planet here the word hakken is being used now it also appears in the word for an interview second here with the two concepts of kind of adjoining together and seeing views together to express an interview however just be careful with this particular word for interview generally the most common word for interview is men setsu in japanese and this sec ken is more often used for a interview of a suspect for a crime like seen here in judges so as we can see this kanji's concept is quite simple to grasp we have the readings me and ken and it's often used in words like miru to see or to look and haken to discover or even sec can to interview a suspect and that's it for the first 10 kanji of the jlp tn5 so congratulations everyone you are now able to read these kanji which appear in 890 of the 10 000 most useful japanese words according to khanshudo.com now this website is a highly detailed and extensive kanji website that i highly recommend you guys use if you're interested in a kind of english resource for kanji i personally use it as it has a fantastic wealth of information about not only kanji but also vocabulary's usefulness and even practice programs and training and all kinds of things so it's a really really really great website that i highly recommend checking out now this first video has quite a large number of readings that appear in the 10 000 most useful words as a lot of these kanji actually appear very frequently in almost any conversation in a wide variety of different topics and situations and so these kanji are all very useful to be familiar with and to know how to read and in what situations they might appear in so i hope this video has helped you become a little bit more familiar with some of the n5 kanji in an entertaining way with the help of video games i would like to give an enormous shout out to the game gengo's supporters on patreon for keeping this channel alive and going thank you so much everyone for all of your support and kindness in not only the support for the channel but also for all of your contributions in our discord server where we talk about all of our favorite games and study techniques and help each other learn japanese and even play japanese games together in our kind of private discord stream and just thank you everyone for being such genuine lovely people it's such a great thing having such a positive and nice community to share our love for learning japanese together with so thank you everyone you guys really are an incredible community and i'm proud to have you all be a part of it and making it how it is today it would not be this way without all of you wonderful people so thank you so much and thank you very much for enjoying the video as always see you again next time