{"id":65,"date":"2025-05-06T10:41:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T14:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/?p=65"},"modified":"2025-05-06T10:41:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T14:41:40","slug":"k-c-and-the-sunshine-band-and-learning-to-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/2025\/05\/06\/k-c-and-the-sunshine-band-and-learning-to-count\/","title":{"rendered":"K.C. and the Sunshine Band and Learning to Count"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week, I played That’s the Way I Like It<\/em> by the aforementioned K.C., and from the needle drop I was transported to the skating rink in junior high school. As I shuffled my way around the floor each weekend, in my head I would count into the hundreds in French. As I got better, I would translate ZIP codes and phone numbers. BTW, the phone number of the rink below is deux-cent quinze, huit-cent vingt-deux, quatre-vingt-deux, quarante-deux. Merci, K.C. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

L\u00e0-haut le patinoire o\u00f9 je pratiquais compter en fran\u00e7ais\/Above, the rink where I practiced counting in French. Photo Credit: International Roller Skating Rink History Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When I arrived in France for my junior year abroad, my skating practice saved me as I made purchases, asked for phone numbers, and navigated the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearing that song again reminded me that I really need to learn how to count in Japanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to my brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I started learning to count. The structure and logic of bigger numbers isn’t entirely dissimilar to French. I made progress pretty quickly. Daily dog walks have replaced trips to the roller rink for flow state silent practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then I learned the numbers only get you so far. Counting people and objects is rather different in Japanese. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In French, deux<\/em> is two. And you can say, “Deux euros,” or “deux ficelles,” or “deux personnes.” Not so in Japanese. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u4e8c (ni<\/em>) is the number two. But if you want to tell the restaurant host there are two people in your party, you say, \u4e8c\u4eba (futari<\/em>). But if referring to two 3-dimensional objects you say, \u3075\u305f\u3064 (futatsu<\/em>). And I’m finding there are other counting nuances to be mindful of. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, if you need me I’ll be back at the roller rink.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I played That’s the Way I Like It by the aforementioned K.C., and from the needle drop I was transported to the skating…<\/p>\n

Continue readingK.C. and the Sunshine Band and Learning to Count<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":24645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language","category-preparation","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/kyotobound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}