Why is 白鯨 pronounced hakugei but 白 is shiro?


I was told that it changes because two kanji were put together (this sometimes
happens)

is this related to On'yomi?




Kanji can have a number of readings. These are generally classified under the
category of _on'yomi_ and _kun'yomi_ , where the former has its origins in the
original Chinese pronunciation of the character at the time it was borrowed
and the latter is the native Japanese reading given to the character.

There is no easy way to delineate when which reading is to be used. Some kanji
have multiple readings, for example:

> 行

  * This character has quite a few _on'yomi_ : ぎょう(呉)、こう(漢)、あん(唐)。
  * It also has a number of _kun'yomi_ readings: いく、おこなう

The kanji in parentheses are indicative of the time that particular
pronunciation of the the kanji were borrowed.

Just because two kanji are put together doesn't necessarily mean that they'll
be read using the _on'yomi_ , for example 仕事{しごと}. And, just because a
character stands in isolation doesn't mean it'll be read using _kun'yomi_ ,
for example 例{れい} (should I say _pun_ intended?). There are even a few where
_kun_ and _on'yomi_ are mixed 場所 {ばしょ}. And then there are the _ateji_ reading
of compound characters that have nothing to do with either _kun'yomi_ or
_on'yomi_ such as 亜米利加{あめりか} and 仏蘭西{ふらんす} but also words like 沢山{たくさん} and
多分{たぶん} whose kanji might be using the _on'yomi_ but the meaning of the
compound has nothing to do with the individual meaning of the characters.

Essentially, how a kanji is read depends greatly on context and intuition.
Perhaps instead of intuition I should say _experience_. As you learn to read
more and more Japanese you'll get a better feel for when which reading should
be used. This can be both frustrating and a fun adventure; I choose to view it
as an adventure--it's part of what can make Japanese, as a written language,
quite a treasure.

