If I learn Japanese kanji symbols, does that mean I can read Chinese too?

Question

I understand from learning Japanese, the kanji comes from the Chinese, so I am not sure, is all.

Answer 1

You can read some Chinese, but doesn't mean you'll comprehend entirely.  

Take for instance,募,   In Japanese it means, "nightfall" and in chinese it means, "raised."  It's kunyomi is ku while onyomi is bo.  But in Chinese, it's "mu."

Onyomi doesn't mean actual Chinese sounds.  On 音 means sound, or music, and Chinese is tonal and sounds like music to the Japanese.  At least that's what Kimiko told me.

Answer 2

not perfectly.

Im a japanese, and im currently learning chinese, and i manage to read and write some, but only very simple ones.

Answer 3

No. And surprisingly, not all Japanese kanji is used in Chinese now. You have to remember there are more than 3000 years difference between the Japanese and Chinese, and languages evolve constantly. Not to mention that Chinese and Japanese dont share same grammer rules either, and Chinese doesnt use Hiragana and Katakana. Some characters are the same and have similar meanings, but they are 2 entirely different languages entirely.  If English is your native language, that doesnt mean you can automatically understand German, Latin, or Greek.

Answer 4

No, not at all. Chinese and Japanese are nothing alike and mainland China doesn't even use traditional characters anymore, they use simplified ones. There are many differences between the two character sets and the spoken languages are so different, not to mention grammar, sentence structure, and all of that. You might have a head start by being familiar WITH kanji, but that's all. You're still going to have to study just as hard.

Answer 5

You may know a few Chinese characters.But you can't read Chinese!

Answer 6

no, these are two different languages and they are very far from each other nowadays thus you should choose either Chinese or Japanese... even though Chinese characters were borrowed there is not much left from the original idea