So, yeah... I've started trying to learn some Japanese

[EastMeetsWest]

35. Japanese has changed a lot

Last edited Tue Jan 18, 2022, 08:59 AM - Edit history (3)

even since WWII, when it was still standard for newspapers to use katakana and old-style Japanese characters. I've had to translate some research papers that were published in the immediate post-war era, and even as late as the 1960s, and it can be exasperating, since some characters are no longer used and don't show up in modern dictionaries. There was a Kanji (Chinese character) overhaul in the early '50s, but researchers who were used to the old system continued to use the old system well into the '70s.

By the way, "pediatric nurse" is now "小児科看護師", (shou-nika kangoshi) as 看護婦 (kangofu), which was specifically for women, seems to have morphed into 看護師 (kangoshi), which is not gender-specific.

I learned Japanese kanji (Chinese characters) with P.G.O'Neil's wonderful kanji guide, Essential Kanji (肝要漢字 ).