- Forum >
- Topic: Japanese >
- "中学生ですか？"
"中学生ですか？"
Translation:Are you a middle school student?
74 Comments
Is it typed 'Naka' or 'chu'? And why there are 2 way to type it? Can you explain pls?
Most kanji have at least two readings: one of them is a Japanese native reading (kun'yomi), and the other is borrowed and adapted from Chinese (on'yomi).
In this case, "naka" is the kun'yomi of 中, and "chū" is the on'yomi.
Usually the kun'yomi is used when the kanji is by itself, and the on'yomi, when it's part of another word, like in the sentence from the lesson, where we have 中学生 (chūgakusē), or in China's name in Japanese, 中国 (chūgoku).
But don't think too much about that, the most important is focusing on learning the word within the context, rather than worrying about rules or memorizing all the readings of a kanji (especially because there are some that have much more than two).
Indeed, 生 itself has i-, u-, o-, ha-, ki, nama-, na- and mu- just as kun'yomi readings, plus sei, shou and san as on'yomi and an army of nanori readings which show up in people's names. If you try to memorise the readings, as opposed to the words that they appear in, you will never be able to develop a working knowledge of the language.
This kanji, 中, means "middle". I suppose you're thinking about 小, which means "small" and forms the word 小学生 (elementary school student).
Can someone explain to me how the Japanese's education system works? Because in our country, it goes something like ;
Primary = Nursery + Kindergarten 1 & 2
Elementary = Grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6
High School = Grade 7, 8, 9, & 10
Senior H.S. = Grade 11 & 12
Then College.
Where are you from? In Japan it's Elementry school 1-6 Middle school 7-9 High school 10-12
Our primary school: 4-12 years old High school: 12-16 years old And then you go study
In British schools including former colonies, it would be something like
Nursery + Kindergarten 1 & 2
Primary = 1 - 6 [ 7-12 years old ]
Secondary = 1-5 [13-17 years old] - in Singapore there is an option to do a 4 year secondary education = 'O' levels
2 year junior college Or 3 year pre-university = 'A' levels
then University [ Americans call them College ]
Note this is the typical path. May include any technical school, musical conservatory, arts school, mandatory military service either in lieu or in addition to those stated above
We call them universities, too. University and college can be interchangeable at times.
In the USA, we have:
Pre-k Primary/elementary school (kindergarten to 4th grade) Middle school/junior high (5th grade to 8th) High school (9 to 12) College/University
For me, it's like this
Elementary: 1-5
Middle school: 6-8
High school: 9-12
the part of Canada for me was
Elementary: K-6
Junior high: 7-9
High school: 10-12
and then there's College OR University which is not interchangeable unlike the USA. We've had colleges upgrading to universities around here.
where i am its: _preschool _1-6 is elementary _7 & 8 is middleschool _9-12 is highschool then college standards are i think 2, 4, 5, 6, or 8 years long depending on what youre studying.
We still call secondary years: Years 7-11. And in England we only have 2 years of College/Sixth Form, unless you choose to retake a year.
In Canada, at least Ontario, it is: - JK-8 Elementary school - 9-12 High school - Then post secondary either college or University
This is actually pretty interesting that grades are different in other countries!
In the U.S, preschool is optional and is before kindergarten.
Otherwise the public school system starts with kindgergarten, then is grades 1-6
Middle school is grades 7-8
High school is 9-12 (freshman, sophmore, junior and senior) most people graduate at age 18
then college (aka university for uk peeps)
Things are different across the US as well. In North Carolina and in Texas the places I went to school it was set up as such: Pre-k optional. Elementary school wad kindergarten to 5th grade. Middle school was 6th-8th grade. High school was 9th-12th grade. And then you had the optional college/universities.
287
Here is the French system, matching Japanese one:
Primary school ("Enseignement primaire"):
- First cycle (TPS, PS, MS, GS): no match
- Second cycle (CP, CE1, CE2): 小学校
- Third cycle (CM1, CM2): 小学校
Secondary school ("Enseignement secondaire"):
- First cycle - Adaptation (6e): 小学校
- First cycle - Central (5e, 4e): 中学校
- First cycle - Orientation (3e): 中学校
- Second cycle (2nd, 1ere, Terminale): 高校
In China we have 学前班 (kindergarten) - preschool + kindergarten
小学 (elementary school) - 1-6年级 (grade) 5-11 years old
初中 (middle school) - 初一 to 初三 (7-9年级) 12-14 years old
高中 (high school) - 高一 to 高三 (10-12年级) 15-17 years old
大学 (university) - 大一 to 大四
Here in Brazil, we have:
"Maternal" (nursery): two years, optional
"Children's education", or pre-school/kindergarten: three years (one is optional, the other two are mandatory)
"Fundamental teaching I" (which kinda corresponds to elementary school): 1-5 (previously, 1st grade was called "literacy" and it was part of the "children's education")
"Fundamental teaching II" (which kinda corresponds to middle school/junior high): 6-9
"Middle teaching", which corresponds to high school (yes, that's where our "middle" is, hahaha): 1-3
And college ("faculty" or "higher teaching"... that's where our "high" is xD)
Not really, because "secondary school" could contain the equivalent of both middle and high school
"Secondary school" should be accepted. 小学 is "primary school", 中学 is "secondary school", and 大学 is "university". And "pupil" should be accepted: where I come from (Scotland) "student" is not used of youngsters attending primary or secondary school.
There are many different school systems, even within the English-speaking world, and it may well be that some of them have "secondary school" as the correct term for the equivalent of 中学 -- that is, school year 7-9 (year 10-12 are 高校, "high school", which you missed in your list.) -- but it is not the only term available. In any case, the official translation into English used by the Japanese government is "middle school" (note that 中 literally means "middle") and so that is the one we are taught.
I do agree with you about "pupil", though.
Nice to see some British here.. I've been teaching middle school students for years, but had never even heard of middle school until I came to Asia
- 692
for people going to school before graduating, commonly, the title "student" is used nowadays, however, still officially as indicated by the Oxford dictionary, they are pupils, therefore "pupil" for elementary and middle school is correct, too, and should be accepted.
Source: language teacher and translator.
"are you a middle school pupil?"
is it really correct if nobody talks like that though? There are better word in Japanese that can be used for "pupil" from English like 生徒、弟子、門人 or even 弟・おとうと。
- 169
I think you'd say "a pupil at a middle school" rather than "a middle school pupil".
We're not translating the English word "pupil" into Japanese, here, but giving the English translation for a Japanese sentence.
"Are you a pupil at a middle school?" is how I would translate the Japanese sentence into British English.
- 2183
Any reason why this couldn't mean: "Are they middle school students?"
Or should it be accepted?
Is it me or does middle school student and foreign exchange student sound confusing? ><
Definitely related! 中 means "middle" in Chinese. Fun fact: 中国 (zhōngguó) literally means "middle country." China is the middle/center of the world. :-)
- 335
Thanks! I was wondering if there was a reason they use the same character and i appreciate the etymology
I like to use pressing the characters to hear the individial sounds and break down the pronunciation but on some of these it doesn't work. Is there a problem or should it not work like that?
I think it's because some of the characters that you're pressing are kanji which have multiple readings
In Wales our education system goes: Rising Threes (age 3), Nursery (age 3-4), Reception (age 4-5), Infants (years 1-2) Juniors (years 3-6) or these two can be put together as Primary School (ages 5-11), Comprehensive School (years 7-13, years 12-13 are called Sixth Form, ages 11-18), College (for those not going into Sixth Form, ages 16-18), University (3 year degree, ages 18-21).
is "Are you in middle school" acceptable, because I got it correct in DL. Can someone please explain why?
～生 is a suffix that means student. You are not explicitly including it in that translation.
中学 middle school; 中学生 middle school student
In the Dominican Republic preschool is optional (private) and there are various levels with kindergarten being the last one (4-6 years old)
Middle school 1-8, High school 1-4. We don't call it Middle or High school though.
We have: Preschool Primary School Baccalaureate University (no college)
They usually say Junior High School in Japan even though the kanji means middle. So this could also be read "Are you a Junior High School student?"
- 619
Here in UK/NI in general:
Nursery/Kindergarten - up to 3 or 4 years old
Primary School - 4/5 years old to 11 years old
Secondary School/High School/Grammar School - 11 years old to 18
University/College - 18 years old to 21 years old (3/4/5 years)
(Regional variations exist, of course. Public/Private Schools have their own process)
In Cuba it goes : kindergarden preschool 0 elementary school 1-6 middle school 7-9 highschool 10-12 university
Why does middle school and elementory school have the same translation??
Soo... If I were to say "chuugakusei desuka", could I also be asking if you are a chinese student?
I mean, I presume that they have another term for it, but isn't it a bit odd that "China" and "middle school" are pronounced the same in japanese?
They're not pronounced the same. 中学 is ちゅうがく(chuugaku), 中国 is ちゅうごく(chuugoku).
Why doesnt it accept secondary school and primary school? I have to translate it from my native (primary school and secondary school) to elementary school and middle school every time.
these are pretty risque questions, please dont go around asking people if they are in middle or elementary school
Wow, it's really weird that someone sees a simple question about someone's grade as "risqué".
