Reading of years

Question

Years (Gregorian) can be read out in English:

A – two digits at a time;
B – each digit separately;
C – full reading of the number.

For example:

2012:

• "Twenty twelve";
• "Two zero one two";
• "Two thousand (and) twelve".

1988:

• "Nineteen eighty-eight";
• "One nine eight eight";
• "One thousand nine hundred (and) eighty-eight" (Slightly awkward sounding?).

I have two questions:

1. Can A, B and C work for Japanese too? I.e.

   1988年:

   • "じゅうきゅう はちじゅうはち ねん";
   • "いち きゅう はち はち ねん" (or "ひ ここの や や ねん" ?);
   • "いっせん きゅうひゃく はちじゅう はち ねん".

   If the above are not suitable, then what would be the proper way?

2. What (and how strong) is the preference for the type of reading for years in Japan? In Gregorian years or in the format of Japanese-Era + Year number?

Answer 1

In Japanese, four-digit Gregorian years are read only as single numbers. Therefore, 1988年 is せんきゅうひゃくはちじゅうはちねん. Reading the number 1988 as いっせんきゅうひゃくはちじゅうはち (and therefore reading 1988年 as いっせんきゅうひゃくはちじゅうはちねん) with いっせん instead of せん is acceptable but I think that it is non-standard. Neither “じゅうきゅう はちじゅうはちねん” nor “いち きゅう はち はちねん” is correct. The latter might be understandable, but I would be surprised if a native speaker understands “じゅうきゅう はちじゅうはちねん” as the year 1988.

As in English, years are sometimes abbreviated by omitting the first two digits when they are obvious. If someone says 88年 in the contemporary context, it must mean the year 1988. In this case, 88年 is read as はちじゅうはちねん.

Q2. What(and how strong) is the preference for the type of reading for years in Japan? In Gregorian years or in the format of Japanese-Era + Year number?

It is mostly the matter of style and personal taste. Sometimes Gregorian years are used because they are more convenient for calculation, and sometimes Japanese years are used by tradition (as in many official documents issued by government).

Answer 2

Agree with TsuyoshiIto's answer, but would like to complement the answer to Q2.

• The Japanese years are called 元号 or 年号.
• There is a law that states that, in official contracts, if the date is written both in 元号 and some other system, then the 元号 description overrides the other in case of contradiction or inconsistency. For this reason, in official document, it is somewhat forced to use 元号.
• I personally hate 元号, and think that it does not qualify as a calendar system because, besides inconvenience in calculation, there is no way you can talk about the future. How would you describe the year after 平成23年? Will it be 平成24年? Likely. What about 5 years later? 平成28年? Maybe. What about 10 years later? 平成33年? Can be. What about 50 years later? 平成73年? Less likely. What about 100 years later? 平成123年? Probably not. ... You can only tell by guess, or you would have no idea how it is called.

Answer 3

Q1. 1988年 should be read, "センキュウヒャクハチジュウハチネン”, nothing else.

Q2. Generally Japanese use 平成 at the moment. It is more use than 2012 etc.