#8

How to Write Numbers in Japanese

Modern day Japanese prefer to write numbers in roman numeral format (e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc.). The traditional way of writing numbers in Japanese, in Japanese symbols (Kanji) is only for formal writing.

[Did you know? Japanese number characters originate from Chinese number characters.]

* Note: Katakana is not commonly used to represent Japanese numbers because the purpose of Katakana is to represent non-Japanese-words / foreign-words / borrowed-words.

Roman numeral : 1
Romaji : ichi
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : いち

Roman numeral : 2
Romaji : ni
<-- Kanji 
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : に

Roman numeral : 3
Romaji : san
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : さん

Roman numeral : 4
Romaji : yon
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : よん

Roman numeral : 5
Romaji : go
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : ご

Roman numeral : 6
Romaji : roku
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : ろく

Roman numeral : 7
Romaji : nana
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : なな

Roman numeral : 8
Romaji : hachi
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : はち

Roman numeral : 9
Romaji : kyuu
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : きゅう

Roman numeral : 10
Romaji : juu
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : じゅう

Roman numeral : 0

Romaji : zero
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : -

To see how to write larger numbers in Japanese, here's a link to Wikipedia where there's even a section that shows you the Japanese symbol for numbers like 100, 10,000, 10³⁶ and more.

[Note: These images are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]

[ As an added resource, if you need an unusually effective way to memorize the pronunciation of Japanese numbers, here's an amusing page on WikiHow, that teaches you how to count in Japanese through DANCE! http://www.wikihow.com/Count-in-Japanese-Through-Dance# ]

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