Wally Nes’ Blog

We continue to study the Japanese language and today we covered numbers

Now, within european languages counting has been done in different orders. Whera-as the english will pronounce the 8 in 83 before the 3, the dutch will pronounce the 3 first and then add 80. Having grown up in this system we take it for granted, but our system isn’t actually that easy.

So while I was warned I thought I would probably be able to swing it. At first glance, the Japanese system differs on 2 points. First, it’s a perfect decimal system. That is to say: They have words for 0-9, 10, 100, 1000 etc. and they just combine these to good effect. 2-10 means 20 and 4-10 means 40 . . . fairly simple. However, while we have names for 1-9 . . . .  they have several

• 0 = zero / reko
• 1 = ichi
• 2 = ni
• 3 = san
• 4 = yon / shi
• 5 = go
• 6 = roku
• 7 = nana/shichi
• 8 = hachi
• 9 = queue / ku

And you use the different names for the different numbers at different times which . . . .  don’t seem to be governed by rules. It looks like there were 2 different systems and the first system to discover a use for the number would incorporate it in the system . . . .  or something.

 Aaaaaaand, that’s just the beginning of things. Because after lunch we moved on from simple numbers (under 100) to bigger numbers. Because it would just be too easy to allow us to keep using 3-100. 300, 600 and 800 are exceptions in the X00 scale. 3000 and 6000 are exceptions in the X000 scale. And they don’t work in multitudes of 1000 . . .but 10000. A thousand ten-thousand is 10 million and a thousand 100-million is etc etc etc. Very confusing for those working in the SI system where everyting leaps by 3.

That I can handle though. It’s when applying the numbers where things start to get interresting. Because while the Japanese language has no casus as we understand them . . .  they have them in counting.

• 1 flat thing = ichimai
• 2 flat things = nimai 
• 1 round thing = hitotsu
• 2 round things = futatsu

There are this many catagories in which someone can count things and note the fact that the round counting words don’t have anything to do with the ichi, ni, san, yon list I gave earlier of normal counting words. The amount of exceptions in counting is about 1/3 or 1/4 of the total available number of words. How on earth am I going to learn that.

And than there’s normal japanese.

• They have words
• They have a negative addition
• They have a Formal addition
• They have a formal negative addition
• They have a past-tenst formal negative addition.

The last one is quite a bit longer than most first ones.

Oh goody, I get to learn Japanese.