Saturday, December 4, 2010

Days of the week, Months of the year

I'll find out when these are due... procrastination is a very real thing. Fortunately I get over it sometimes and get my work done on time!
Days of the week
In English we have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The naming system is based off of the planets in our solar system, our "moon" and the sun itself:
Monday(Moon), Tuesday(Mars), Wednesday(Mercury), Thursday(Jupiter), Friday(Venus), Saturday(Saturn) and Sunday(Sun).
In the Japanese language, the days of the week are not based off of the--excluding Saturn--planets, though it does have moon and sun. Really, it is not all that different than ours, only in another language, in Japanese. The elements play a large role in the naming of the Japanese days of the week.
The word we use in English as "day" is similar to how they use "yobi".
Moon yobi
Fire yobi
Water yobi
Wood yobi
Gold yobi
Saturn yobi
Sun yobi 
In Japanese these words are:
Getsuyobi=Monday
Kayobi=Tuesday
Suiyobi=Wednesday
Mokuyobi=Thursday
Kinyobi=Friday
Doyobi=Saturday
Nichiyobi=Sunday
Months of the year
In Japanese, the months are defined by their number. January is the first month and is therefore the "first month" or "month one". Some of these numbers may be familiar to you if you have read the numbers entries. Some of the numbers are abbreviated for the months so keep that in mind if you become confused. "Ku is not a number!" No, but kyuu is.
Gatsu=month
Ichigatsu=January
Nigatsu=February
Sangatsu=March
Shigatsu=April
Gogatsu=May
Rokugatsu=June
Shichigatsu=July
Hachigatsu=August
Kugatsu=September
Juugatsu=October
Juuichigatsu=November
Juunigatsu=December
So, for example, November is "The eleventh month", as March is "The third month"
Relative months
Sengetsu=last month
Kongetsu=this month
Raigetsu=next month
Relative days
Ototoi=the day before yesterday
Kinou=yesterday
Kyou=today
Asu=tomorrow
Asatte=the day after tomorrow
Relative weeks
Shu=week
Senshu=last week
Konshu=this week
Raishu=next month
Reletive years
Kyonen=last year
Kotoshi=this year
Rainen=next year

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