Japanese figures: features of use

Japan is somewhat reminiscent of a single person who believes that the world is not yet ready to accept it. For a long time the country hid from the rest of the world and only at the beginning of the 20th century began to establish friendly relations with other states. Since that moment, interest in everything Japanese has increased significantly. Cuisine, traditions, holidays, mentality, clothes - all this is of public interest. Many Europeans are trying to understand the basics of the Japanese language. The first thing that causes problems is numerals, namely Japanese figures.

Features of Japanese numerals

Japanese digits are a special combination of numbers, which consists of Chinese and Japanese counting systems. Due to the fact that the Chinese system is duplicated, Japanese digits-hieroglyphs have a double reading: ON (on) and KUN (kunnoy).

Usually in Japan they use Arabic numerals, but you can also find hieroglyphics. Especially often they come across the menu of restaurants with ryokanah (traditional Japanese hotels). In addition, hieroglyphs are resorted to if you want to write the text "vertically". For horizontal writing, use Arabic numerals.

The inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun have two counting systems: their own (account is only up to 10) and borrowed (Chinese). The rules of use are quite simple: a Chinese account is always used with suffixes, Japanese figures can exist independently.

1 to 10

To become more familiar with Japanese numbers, you need to know how they are written and read. The table below shows Japanese numbers from 1 to 10 with different pronunciation options:

As can be seen from the presented material, the numbers in Japan have a double name. Moreover, the pronunciation varies from region to region. For example, the number 8 can pronounce both "khachi", and "hati" or "hasi".

There are also two different names for the Chinese version of the digits 4, 7 and 9:

• 4 - "Yeon".
• 7 - "Nana".
• 9 - "Kyu".

Interesting to know

In Japan, numbers 4 and 9 are considered unlucky. Four is pronounced "shi", which is consonant with the Japanese word "death." Therefore, very often the pronunciation of "shea" is changed to "yon". Nine, in turn, is consonant with the word "suffering", which is simply pronounced "ku." Therefore, it is often possible to hear the modification of the pronunciation of the number 9.

In modern Japanese, all numbers, except for 4 and 7, have Chinese pronunciation (that is, they are read by "on"). But in the names of the months even they are pronounced through "HE".

10 to 20

The Japanese figures, which go after ten, are formed mainly by a combination of numbers. For example, if you want to say 18, then you should take 10 (judo) and speak in conjunction with 8 (hachi). In the end, you get 18 - dzyuhachi. All other digits of this order are formed in the same way. The result is the following combinations:

11. 十一 - Juici.

12. 十二 - Juni.

13. 十三 - Jusan.

14. 十四 - Juyong.

15. 十五 - Judo.

16. 十六 - Dzyuroku.

17. 十七 - Jyunan.

18. 十八 - Dzyuhachi.

19. 十九 - Dzyukuu.

20. 二十-Niju.

Dozens are formed by adding to the word "ten" the desired multiplier, for example "sanju" (30) or "niju" (20).

More than a hundred

The Japanese figures are formed by the way of assigning one numeral to another. Even hundreds are formed in this way. 100 (Japanese 百) is pronounced in Japanese as "haku". In order to form numeral 300, 400, etc., it is necessary before "hayak" to pronounce the name of the corresponding figure from the first table. Here are some examples:

• 300 (三百) - Sanhyaku.
• 400 (四百) - Yonghyaku.
• 500 (五百) - Gohyaku.

With this question, almost no one has any difficulties. The most interesting thing begins when you need to pronounce a three-digit number, which is not in the examples. For example, 125. In theory, it is clear that all the numerals of which the number consists must be put together, but in practice many are lost. 125 in Japanese will sound like "hakunindzyugo." If you write a number with kanji (kanji), then you get 百二 . That is, 125 is the sum of the digits: 100 + 20 + 5.

The numbers 1000 and 10000 are denoted as:

• 千 - Sen (thousand).
• 万 - Man (ten thousand).

Figures are formed in the same way as the previous groups of numbers. For example, 1367 Japanese numbers translated into Russian will sound like "sen (1000) sanyhyaku (300) rookujunan (67)". Similarly, you can safely generate numbers, until you need to say a million.

Perhaps, this is an exception to the rules. If six-digit numbers are formed by combining the number of previous orders ("juni" or "niju"), then a million is formed with the numbers 100 and 10 000. Accordingly, 1,000,000 will be called "Hyakuman".

On the first - the third calculate!

Japanese numerals are very easy to remember. And if you learn the numbers from 1 to 12, then you can not bother with remembering the months of the year. In Japan, they have no names. Just to the digit, which indicates the number of the month, add the word "gatsu". For example, January will sound like "Ichigatsu", which in literal translation means "the first month". Carefully it is necessary to treat the fourth and seventh month. When it comes to months, the "exceptional" - April and July - are pronounced "in Chinese," that is, "on-air" pronunciation. The result is:

• 四月 - Shigatsu (April).
• 七月 - Shichigatsu (July).

Interest in Japan is inevitable. Traditions, language, mentality, culture - all this attracts the eyes of the public. After all, there, in a country where the sun wakes up earlier, everything is different. Even the numbers - and they are not like the others. This is where Japan is interesting. Difficult, but interesting.