Hi there, welcome to our one point lesson. We will be adding a new post every Saturday, so please check them out!
Today we would like to share some Kanji. Are you a beginner? That’s okay, this is not very difficult.
日(にち) nichi Japan
豪(ごう) gou Australia
See? Only one Kanji for each country. In conversation, we use “Nihon” for Japan and “O-sutoraria” for Australia, however we often come across these Kanji in newspapers, subtitles and books. For example:
日豪関係 (にちごうかんけい) nichigou kankei “Japan-Australia relationship”
Of course, you could also say 日本とオーストラリアの関係（Nihon to O-sutoraria no kankei）in conversation. Kanji is very useful when you write and read, as you can see, only 4 Kanji are needed to describe the same thing!
Here are some other examples:
韓(かん) kan South Korea
中(ちゅう) chu China
印(いん) in India
米(べい) bei America
伊(い) i Italy
仏(ぶつ) butsu France
英(えい) ei Britain
独(どく) doku Germany
露(ろ) ro Rossia
加(か) ka Canada
欧(おう) ou Europe
欧米(おうべい) Oubei Europe and America
Put 国(こく) after the country Kanji to describe a country itself. For example, 米国, 英国, 独国. However, Australia is 豪州(Goushu) not 豪国, because Australia is a country but also a continent. Same as is true for Europe 欧州(Oushu).
Have an awesome weekend peeps!