PtolemysXX wrote: ↑Fri Jun 02, 2023 4:42 pm
McGonnagle wrote: ↑Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:46 pm
鍋にお酢を入れ、同量の砂糖を入れて、無くなるまで煮溶かします。: (Put vinegar in a pan, add the same amount of sugar, and boil until dissolved.)
鍋にお酢を入れ、同僚の佐藤を入れて、亡くなるまで煮溶かします。: (Put vinegar in a pot, put Sato, the colleague, in and boil until he dies. )
What would happen if you heard this sentence without seeing it written down? You cannot hear the Kanji... Would you know immediately which version is correct (let's say by applying "common sense") or would you need to do something like a "second pass" on the contents to get the correct words? Is the tonality of both sentences the same?
In the previous sentence, only ``さとう'' has a different intonation, but all other words are the same. When native speakers speak or listen, they judge by context, intonation, and common sense, so they can almost only imagine one content. Although rare, there are times when a conversation requires a second pass.
Example:
うちのこはしりつのがっこうにかよっています。:
うちの子は私立の学校に通っています。My child goes to a private school.
うちの子は市立の学校に通っています。My child goes to public school.
The tonality of both sentences are exactly the same.
"しりつ (shi-ri-tsu)" has two completely opposite meanings: one is「私立(private)」, the other is「市立(public)」.
These followings are not correct way of reading, but in order to indicate which meaning, sometimes say ``わたくしりつ(私立: private)'' or ``いちりつ(市立: public/municipal)'' to indicate which Kanji is written by sound. In this case, the On-yomi (し shi) is switched to the Kun-yomi (one is Watakushi , the other is Ichi). It is a quicker way of explaining whether the school is a funded by the local government or not.