掲示板 Forums - How do radicals work

1)

Not really.

Some groups of kanji are consistent, e.g. If it's a type of fish the radical is going to be 魚. If it's a deer like animal the radical is going to be 鹿.

Others are kind of all over the place. So, you'd need to memorize them.

2)

Keep in mind that the radicals were primarily for making dictionary look up easier. So, if there was a kanji which had a component that had an alternate form of a radical (e.g. an older version), or something that look similar to that radical, it may get filed under that radical, because it is close enough.

3)

Some radicals connect to the kanji's meaning. Advocates for studying radical tend to suggest that most radicals connect to the meaning. However, some view that claim with skepticism.

One question, that might be useful to entertain is: Why am I learning radicals ? If I know the radical of a kanji, how does that help me?

Hello,

Most of the time yes, the radical is quite evident. There are however a few exceptions, where the radical is not the most graphically prominent, but one traditionaly chosen semantically (like in your example of 勝). I would say don't worry too much about those exceptions, it isn't uncommon to think it is にくへん (the moon looking flesh radical on the left), most dictionaries will have it indexed there too for example (and note also that in Chinese it has been simplified to 胜, no 力 at all).

The name of the radical (or, rather, the name of the radical variant) tells you where it is placed: へん、かんむり、etc. That allows to describe a kanji by speaking, for example if someone asks how to write the kanji of いそがしい I could say こころへんとなくなるのぼう (the left placed heart radical and the "bou" of todecease) giving 忙; compare with わすれる that is なくなるのぼうとこころ (the bou of to decease and the heart radical: 忘).

As for the variations like 斉->齊 (or, more correctly, 齊->斉) those are visual simplifications. In some cases the simplification is always done even on "old form characters" (particularly in "stretched" positions). In some cases the simplification only appears in "new form characters", and sadly Japanese is very inconsistent in the application of those, particularly in computer fonts (if you write by hand you always have the possibility to be consistent).

Most of the cases (80-90%), the radical indeed is semantic, that is because 80% of chi ese characters are built that way: a semantic and a phonetic component. But not always, there are cases where the kanji visually evolved, blurring the original etymology, some cases where it is a full pictogram with no divisible elements, som strokes were chosen as radical for convenience. But as said previously, don't be too concerned on those exceptions, you will learn them by contact, and if you don't have enough contact with a kanji to remember its unusual radical, then it is not worth remembering it. The important thing would be those 80-90% cases that, without "studying" them and even seeing them for the first time you will be able to tell the radical. For example 苑 , you see it maybe for the first time, but I'm sure you have recognized its radical as くさかんむり(艹)