4/22/2016

How to write days of the week in Japanese

When I went to the nursery school to pick my 5-year-old daughter up, she showed a paper to me.

"Look at this mom, I practiced writing!"

She said.


I told her:

"Wow! You wrote numbers. Fantastic! Some numbers are written in mirrored though."

"These are not bad!"

She doesn't like her mistakes pointed out.

I couldn't help smiling at her writing of days of the week.

She wrote:

"げつ かぁ すい もく きん どぅ にち ( Mon. Tue. Wed. Thr. Fri. Sat. Sun.)"

The correct way is:

"げつ  すい もく きん  にち ( Mon. Tue. Wed. Thr. Fri. Sat. Sun.)""

But when we pronounce these, the sound is as my daughter's wrote.

Tuesday (か) sounds like "かぁ", and Saturday(ど) sounds like "どぅ".

But it is pronounced like her examples only in the situation of saying "げつ か すい もく きん ど にち".

If you say "かようび (Tuesday)"  or "どようび(Saturday)", we never say it like "かぁようび" or "どぅようび".

I explained this difference to her, but it was a little difficult for her to understand.



I realize how the Japanese language is difficult.

I think those who are learning Japanese are amazing.

Maybe it is difficult for those who are non-native Japanese to remember Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji.

Even Japanese children need more than 10 years to remember various kinds of Japanese language.

It is still difficult for me to write, read, speak and listen to English.

If you find a mistake which you couldn't help smiling at, please feel free to post your comment and teach me!


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3 comments:

  1. Hello Kumi-san,

    It constantly amazes me that Japanese children are able to cram so much information in their heads in such a short space of time. I think this largely has to do with the large amount of effort they, their teachers and parents put in to make it all work. The Japanese education system gets a lot of criticism for its learn by wrote methods but it never seems to stop them being much higher up in the achievement charts than a lot of other countries including England. The Japanese language is very difficult to learn for people who are not Japanese, mainly in terms of grammar rules and Kanji. Hiragana and Katakana are not hard as they work similar to an English alphabet and at least follow a mostly consistent set of rules. For what it is worth I still find it hard to remember Japanese days of the week when it's the traditionally named ones. Still it's all part of the fun of learning. At least your children will have no problems learning English if they want to if their mother anything to go by :)

    Here is a list of issues found in the rest of the post:

    This line:
    How to write day of the week in Japanese

    Should be:
    How to write days of the week in Japanese

    Or:
    How to write the day of the week in Japanese

    This line:
    "Wow! You wrote numbers. Fantastic! Some numbers are written in opposite though."

    Should be:
    "Wow! You wrote numbers. Fantastic! Some numbers are written in (reverse/mirrored) though."

    This line:
    She doesn't like to be pointed her mistakes.

    Should be:
    She doesn't like to have mistakes pointed out to her.

    Or:
    She doesn't like her mistakes pointed out.

    This line:
    I couldn't help smiling at her writing of day of the week.

    Should be:
    I couldn't help smiling at her writing of the days of the week.

    This line:
    The correct one is:

    Should be:
    The correct way is:

    This line:
    But when we pronounce these, the sound is like my daughter's.

    Should be:
    But when we pronounce these, the sound is as my daughter's wrote.

    This line:
    Tuesday (か) sounds like "かぁ", and Saturday(ど) sounds like "どぅ".

    Question: Just out of curiosity is using a small Hiragana character a common way of extending the sound of a word:

    So for example it should be どぅ and not どう?

    This line:
    But it is pronouced like her examples only in the situation of saying "げつ か すい もく きん ど にち".

    Should be:
    But it is pronounced like her examples only in the situation of saying "げつ か すい もく きん ど にち".

    This line:
    If you say "かようび (Tuesday)" or "どようび(Saturday)", we never say like "かぁようび" or "どぅよう び".

    Should be:
    If you say "かようび (Tuesday)" or "どようび (Saturday)", we never say it like "かぁようび" or "どぅようび".

    Note: There were a few corrections in the about line but I want to draw you attention to one correction in particular "どぅよう び" was changed to "どぅようび" if this was not a mistake then please ignore.

    This line:
    I realized that how Japanese language is difficult.

    Should be:
    I realize how the Japanese language is difficult.

    Or:
    I realize that the Japanese language is difficult.

    This line:
    It is still difficult for me to write, read, speak, listen to English.

    Should be:
    It is still difficult for me to write, read, speak, and listen to English.

    Reason: I am not sure why but after a long list of comma separated items the last one usually has "and" added. The sentence is still clear without it, it's just one of those strange English language quirks.

    This line:
    If you find a mistake which you couldn't help smiling, please feel free to post your comment and teach me!

    Should be:
    If you find a mistake which you couldn't help smiling at, please feel free to post your comment and teach me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Terry.
      Actually, in my daughter's case, I have never taught how to write Hiragana and Katakana to her.
      She is interested in writing and she practised it by looking at the book by herself.
      Sometimes my son tries to teach her. but she seems that she doesn't like be taught.
      It is lucky for me because I don't have to spare for teaching her.
      Many of Japanese nursery school don't teach children how to write Hiragana.
      Kinder garden teach children how to wete Hiragana.
      When children enter elementary schools, some children are already able to write Hiragana, but some are not.
      But I think it is not so a big problem.
      I believe children have abilities to remember something soon if they have an interest.



      This line:
      Tuesday (か) sounds like "かぁ", and Saturday(ど) sounds like "どぅ".

      Question: Just out of curiosity is using a small Hiragana character a common way of extending the sound of a word:So for example it should be どぅ and not どう?

      どぅ and どう are completely different from the pronounciation.
      どぅ sounds like "Do" in English, but どお sounds do-o.



      Delete
    2. Hello Kumi-san,

      Thank-you for your explanation of the difference between どぅ and どう.

      I did not know that the Do sound existed in Hiragana I had only ever seen it written in Katakana as ドゥ.

      Delete