One kanji pair that is also interesting is 聞く and 聴く. They both mean to listen, but the first is just to listen, and the second is like what you do at a concert, when you LISTEN. Like, with intent to deeply experience the aural perfection.
And as for 分かれ道 and 別れ道 is that 分 is to cut. See how 刀 (katana) is cutting a piece of string in that kanji? That's its origin. 別 on the other hand is more like "different" as in いいえ、別に ("no, not really") or 別れる ("to break up [a couple]"). Thus, the first makes sense as a path that splits, while the second makes sense as two paths that are separate.
For a little more kanji explanation, I turned to my 新漢英字典, which is the bible for kanji for non-Japanese. I'd refer to my huge-ass Japanese dictionary, but it's exclusively in Japanese, so I don't think it'd help me as much with explaining the English meaning.
別 means "separate, another". 分 means "part, divide into parts, sever".
To answer your other question, 影 means "shadow" or "silhouette" while 陰 means "shade" as in "the shade". E.g., 緑陰 is the shade of trees. One thing to watch out for: 陰影 uses both characters together, and means "shadow" as well. I'm not sure when you would use 陰影 instead of 影 as the noun, but it's probably the same difference as between "illuminate" compared with "brighten". One sounds more intelligent or academic or literary.
Name:
Anonymous2007-11-30 2:52
fuck there was a reference page with all these little differences spelled out but I lost it
Name:
Anonymous2007-11-30 19:36
>>7
陰影 would certainly sound more literary, since it's probably a Chinese loan as opposed to the native "kage". Daijirin says it can be used to describe color, sound or feeling: 陰影に富んだ描写 (portraying very gloomily, I assume).
Name:
Anonymous2007-11-30 19:38
>>10
Sorry, I forgot it was a noun phrase, so it should be more like "a portrayal filled with gloom".
Name:
Anonymous2007-11-30 23:10
>>10
Wow, a fellow person-who-doesn't-fail-at-Japanese member on /lang/!
Name:
Anonymous2007-11-30 23:47
>>12
Just happened to pop in today. I'm not very good, I just bother to look things up. I'm actually not very knowledgeable about alternative kanji - I've read that authors use them to give particular nuances to words, but I'm sometimes not sure when it becomes inappropriate to use one instead of the other.
>>7
In the case of 聞く versus 聴く, though, it's pretty much the same as the difference between "hear" and "listen" in English. You 聞く(hear) a bit of gossip, a song that was playing on TV, someone's opinion and so forth, but you 聴く (intentionally listen to) a lecture, a confession, and jazz or classical music on your iPod.
Name:
Anonymous2007-12-02 12:13
Gugurecus.
Name:
Anonymous2007-12-02 23:35
whats the difference between both of these kanji? 目 眼 When alone are they both read as め?
Name:
Anonymous2007-12-03 3:47
FLYING IN THE SKY
高くはばたけ 大空をどこまでも
SHINING FINGER
輝く光りが
地の果て照らし 奇跡を呼ぶ SPELL
振り向かず歩くのさ
無限の力がある
何度でも試すのさ
どんなに苦しくてもやり遂げる (Gガンダム)
愛はいつも この胸に
永遠に消えることはない
この手が 叫んでいる
明日へと走れ
BRIGHT YOU NOW
君が描いた 未来へのシナリオは
SHINING FINGER
夢をつかもう
全ては思うままに I GET A CHANCE
Name:
Anonymous2007-12-03 5:17
>>15
眼 means eyeball. Used more for medical things.
>>18
Yeah, but that's not quite the same. You're talking about the difference between "blew" and "blue" and such; that is to say, words that sound the same but mean vastly different things.
We, on the other hand, were talking about words that sound the same, are written differently, but mean almost the same thing.
Name:
Anonymous2007-12-06 22:16
>>7
>I turned to my 新漢英字典,
Holy shit, that one that feels like five pounds? I have one, I love it.