Is it Nana or Shichi? A Brief Introduction to Japanese Numbers
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Counting 1-10 should be easy, right?
“Ichi, ni, san, yon... (or is it shi?), go, roku, nana (or shichi), hachi, kyuu (but sometimes ku)...”
Oh, yeah...Japanese has multiple words for the same number! Seven can be either "nana" or "shichi", for example.
So how do you know which word to use?
Sometimes, either is fine – like when you count 1-10, for example. But sometimes, only one word will do.
Let's take a look at some of those special cases.
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Like many people in the UK, I studied French in school. I liked French. I thought it was really fun to speak another language, to talk with people, and to try and listen to what was going on in a new country. (Still do!)
When I was 14 we went on a school exchange to the city of Reims, in northeastern France. I was paired with a boy, which I’m sure some 14-year-olds would find very exciting but which I found unbearably awkward. He was very sweet and we completely ignored each other.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and I didn’t learn or use any more French until, at some point in lockdown, I decided on a whim to take some one-to-one lessons with online teachers. Here are some things I learned about French, about language learning, and about myself.