Day 11 - Happy Birthday to me, Japanese simplicity, and Ateji

Technically my birthday was yesterday in Japan but it's still January 31 in California for another hour or so and I like to stretch out my birthday as long as possible.  Happy 28th to me.

I recently finished up my word list for day 11.  I struggled badly yesterday and today due to a birthday hangover but I'm happy to report that I'm still on track.  The challenge must go on!

Here are some new observations I made today.

Sometimes really "difficult words" are easier in Japanese.  Today I learned a word that I did not know in English.

English: Otolaryngology
Japanese: 耳鼻科
Kanji Meaning:  ear + nose + department
Meaning: Also known as ENT (ear, nose, throat), ENT is a branch of medicine that focuses on none other than ears, noses, and throats.

The Japanese word is so logical that if you came across it in context it wouldn't be terribly difficult to discern the meaning by analyzing the Kanji etymology.  I had no idea what the English word meant and I'm still not sure I could produce or pronounce it easily.  The Japanese pronunciation is quite simple: ジビカ or "gee-bee-ka".  Pretty nice!  Recently I learned several medical related words and they were very easy to understand.  I imagine that Japanese physicians would have a pretty difficult time learning the English equivalents.

False Cognate or Ateji?
Today I learned the word for can.  It's 缶 and it's pronounced カン or "con".  According to Jim Breen's WWJDIC dictionary this is what's called an 当て字 or Ateji character.  Ateji is basically when a character is used to represent a foreign word because it has a similar sound.  The meaning of the character itself is usually different.  I'm wondering if this is actually a false cognate.  I used an online translation site to check the Chinese equivalent.  I used English and Japanese as the source language.  There is indeed a Chinese character (simplified and traditional) that is very similar and used for the word can.  I wonder if this character is the Chinese equivalent of Ateji?  I'll have to ask the next time I speak to a Chinese friend.