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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6147 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 1 of 5 24 January 2011 at 5:11am | IP Logged | |||||
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As I was sitting here reviewing old lessons from my Japanese book, I happened across a topic which was rather frightening the first time I read it, but that I had forgotten to ask about. This topic is how to express the name of a specific year in Japanese.
According to my book, years are divided into eras that correspond with the reign of an emperor, and then the years are referenced as whatever number year within that era. For example, if the current Heisei (平成) Era began in 1989, then 1994 would be expressed as "Heisei six." So according to my book, to say "I was born in 1994," you'd have to say "平成６年生まれました。" (Do I need a "に" after the year?) My question is as follows: Do Japanese people actually use this system, whereby the names and starting and ending dates of each era must be memorized? My book says that the Western system is used as well, but that this native Japanese method is much more common. I have enough problems with numbers as it is in any language, and I'd really like not to have to memorize tons of dates and do calculations in my head every time I hear a date (Hm... Meiji started in 1868, so the 16th year of Meiji would be 1883) if it's not absolutely necessary. ありがとうございます！ Edited by ellasevia on 24 January 2011 at 5:12am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| TixhiiDon Tetraglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5469 days ago 772 posts - 1474 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese, German, Russian Studies: Georgian | Message 2 of 5 24 January 2011 at 6:29am | IP Logged | |||||
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Yes, this system is used a lot - I would say it's probably around 50/50 with 西暦 (the
Western system), but since everyone understands 西暦 you'll never have a problem as long as you remember your own date of birth and have a vague idea of the succession of eras. I always use a few pointers and rules to help me remember. I remember that 2000 was 平 成１２年 so I can work around that if need be. I also know that if you add 25 to the 昭和 year you get the 西暦 year, so I can say that I was born in 昭和４７ (47+25 = 72, i.e. 1972). I don't know exactly when 昭和 started and ended, but I do know that it lasted about 64 years and ended some time in the late '80s. I also know that before 昭 和 was 大正, which only lasted around 20 years and covers the early 20th Century, and before 大正 was 明治, and before 明治 was 江戸, which covers about 200 years and is split up into smaller eras. Before that, I don't really have a clue - 室町, 奈良, and the stone age is 縄文... Before Meiji, no-one uses the Japanese system for specific years during everyday conversation. However, people are much more likely to talk about eras (時代) rather than centuries. Japanese people often joke about not being able to remember what year it is according to the Japanese calendar, so don't worry if you don't remember it either! And yes, you need に after the year! Edited by TixhiiDon on 24 January 2011 at 6:32am 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| ellasevia Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2011 Senior Member Germany Joined 6147 days ago 2150 posts - 3229 votes Speaks: English*, German, Croatian, Greek, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, Portuguese, Turkish, Italian Studies: Catalan, Persian, Mandarin, Japanese, Romanian, Ukrainian | Message 3 of 5 24 January 2011 at 6:53am | IP Logged | |||||
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Thank you, TixhiiDon! As usual your reply was extremely helpful (I wish I could vote for it more than once!). So my birthday is July 27th, 1994; in Japanese would that be ７月27日平成6年? Or in 西暦, ７月27日1994年?
So to make sure I've got this down, I'll do some example sentences... 私は７月27日平成6年に生まれましたから， 16歳です。 弟の誕生日は5月14日平成9です。 母は8月27日昭和41年に生まれました。 父も昭和時代に生まれましたが，54歳です。 祖父母は古いですね！ 祖父も祖母も昭和 9年に生まれました。 (Edit: Had to change formatting and insert spaces so that some characters don't show up as question marks.) I guess I'll have to set aside some time to memorize those dates and practice them some more. Those tips are very helpful though. ありがとうございます。 Edited by ellasevia on 24 January 2011 at 6:57am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ericspinelli Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5788 days ago 249 posts - 493 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Italian | Message 4 of 5 24 January 2011 at 8:32am | IP Logged | |||||
The Japanese use the pattern YYYY/MM/DD whether using the Western calendar or their own, so you'd say 私は平成6年7月27日に生まれました. Official documents, like contracts or government related paperwork, will often use the Japanese calendar but, as TixhiiDon said, it's quite common to see 西暦 as well. When you are prompted for an older date, say your birthday (生年月日（せいねんがっぴ）, note the kanji order) on an application, the following four characters will be provided for you to circle one: 明・大・昭・平. For anything else, the Western calendar year is fine. As a corollary, while the calendar year denoted by 年 runs from 1月1日～12月31日, the fiscal year denoted by 年度 runs from 4月1日～3月31日. For example, today is 平成23年（2011年）1月24日 but it is also 平成22年度（2010年度）1月24日. This can be disorienting at times, occasionally causing problems for those not used to the system, though hopefully on your next trip to Japan you won't be paying taxes and this will be nothing more than a curiosity for you!
As a quick aside, it's not good practice to use 古い to talk about the age of people. Of course, there are a number of ways to discuss age, all with varying nuances and levels of politeness which you will master as you continue your studies, but here are a few: 年配（方）、高年齢（者）、高年（者）、年 上、年をとる. Also, おじいさん/おじいちゃん and おばあさん/おばあちゃん are probably the most common way to refer to somebody's (including your own) grandparents in all but the most formal settings. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| fielle Diglot Groupie Japan maliora.com Joined 5275 days ago 53 posts - 69 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: German | Message 5 of 5 25 January 2011 at 6:07am | IP Logged | |||||
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The only time I've ever needed to know a specific year according to the Japanese calendar is for my birth year. People may tell you their birthdays using the different eras, but that doesn't really happen very often. Also, by now, most people you talk to will be born either in the Showa or Heisei eras, as Hirohito was around forever.
Just try to get a feel for when the eras started and ended (Heisei is the modern era, Showa spans from a little after WWI to the 80s, Taisho around WWI, Meiji from the late 19th century, and Edo before that). ericspinelli also has a good point about 古い. That word is more for things than for people, and would probably be considered pretty offensive. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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