Human japanese katakana how to#

Zero in Japaneseįor zero in Japanese, the kanji is 零 ( rei). On the other hand, although 7 is considered a lucky number in Japan, its reading – しち ( shichi) – contains the Japanese mora し ( shi) as well, so it’s way more common to say its other reading: なな ( nana). Chances are you won’t see prices like 9.99 or 4.99 anywhere. If you ever travel to Japan, pay close attention to the prices. Thus, Japanese people avoid using these unlucky numbers as much as possible. As we, in the Western world, consider the number 13 to bring bad luck, the Japanese people consider the numbers 4 and 9 to be unlucky because し ( shi – 4 )) and く ( ku – 9) sound the same as the words for “death” (死, shi) and “suffering, agony or torture” (苦, ku). You probably noticed that 4, 7, and 9 have two different readings each. Now, a few remarks about the basic “1 to 10 in Japanese”. What unlucky Japanese numbers you should avoid? That wasn’t that hard, was it? Besides, if you learn to count to 10, counting to 100 will become a piece of cake! It’s easier than you’d expect! Just wait and see.

If need to hear the proper pronunciation for the 1 to 10 numbers in Japanese, you can play this short video:

Human japanese katakana how to#

That being said, you are now ready to learn how to count to 10 in Japanese! Basic Japanese counting: 1 to 10 in Japanese Nr.Īnd this is how you count to 10 in Japanese using both Sino-Japanese and Native Japanese readings. To identify which type of Japanese numbers are used in a written text, remember that the Native Japanese numbers all end in つ (tsu) – except for 10, which is とう (tou). So this reading is considered a universal counter you can use to count everything in Japanese except people, money, and time. Now going back to the Native Japanese reading, we should mention that this reading (that – remember – is generally used only up to 10) requires no counters – (yey!). There can be long objects, animals, small objects, machinery and so on. We’ll talk more about counters in a moment, but what you need to know now is that counters specify what kind of objects you are counting in Japanese. But now comes the tricky part because the Sino-Japanese reading ( ichi, ni, san or “one, two, three” as we say in English) uses counters. Since the Native Japanese reading is used only up to 10, the Sino-Japanese reading is the one you’ll use more often. Second of all, the Japanese number system is based on two sets of pronunciations (or readings): the Sino-Japanese readings (on’yomi or “On reading”) that are based on the Chinese numerals and the Native Japanese readings (kun’yomi or “Kun reading”) that are based on the Japanese yamato kotoba (native words).

There are contexts – like traditional ceremonies – where people still use the Japanese kanji numerals. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn the Japanese number system. Like the rest of the world, they rely a lot on the Arab numerals when writing (lucky for us, Japanese disciples!). First of all, people in Japan don’t always use the Japanese numbers. Japanese numbers & how to count in Japanese – an overviewīefore learning the art of counting in Japanese, there are a few things you need to know. So let’s dive in and learn how to count in Japanese. No, really! As hard as they seem now when you don’t know the logic behind them yet, the Japanese numbers are actually easy to master once you understand the basics. Now, the Japanese numbers are easy peasy Japanesey. Not at all! We already discussed and clarified the Japanese alphabet and the Japanese writing system. But that doesn’t mean it’s next to impossible to learn Japanese. So learning Japanese can certainly be considered one of the greatest achievements in anyone’s life. In fact, Japanese is so complex that a native English speaker would need around 2200 hours of study to achieve Japanese fluency. There’s no denying that Japanese is a very complex and beautiful language.