奇数・偶数

Well that's odd, or even? - How to Japanese - July 2025

This is How to Japanese, a monthly newsletter with something about Japan/Japanese and a dash of いろいろ.

日本・日本語： 奇数・偶数

I’ve been having a lot of success lately with one of the “impossible pairs” I wrote about in September 2024: I have finally (after 24 years of study) ironed out the difference between よっか (the 4^th of the month) and ようか (the 8^th of the month) thanks to the mnemonic I created. I still reach for the mnemonic (“long vowel, later date”) every now and then, but I feel like when I do hear the dates themselves, I’m able to differentiate them without as much trouble. So I thought this would be a good month to expand on the impossible pairs concept.

Impossible pairs are words that are so similar and difficult to differentiate that they require extra effort, something I called “brute forcing.” I provided a road map for how to brute force phrases in the original post, and I looked at another set of pairs in January 2025. Those methods are worth reviewing, so definitely give them a read if you haven’t.

The commonality that the previous pairs all share is that they are semi-homophones. They don’t have the same exact pronunciation, but the similarity in both their pronunciation and close relationship in meaning make them extremely difficult to grasp immediately.

But impossible pairs aren’t limited to homophones and semi-homophones. I think they also encompass words that are a natural pair, such as antonyms, that are reasonably abstract. This last part is key. Because they are abstract, there’s less to hold on to, just as with 状況 (jōkyō) and 状態 (jōtai). This month I have a pair that qualifies in this respect.

I’m embarrassed to say I had to look up the difference between these two to write about them. They’re on the list of impossible pairs that I haven’t yet mastered, but they might be the easiest of the set given that the translation of at least one is nakedly transparent: 奇数 (kisū, odd number) and 偶数 (gūsū, even number).

奇数 (kisū) literally means odd (奇) number (数). So it might be as easy as forcing yourself to remember that 奇 is shared with the word 奇妙 (kimyō, strange/odd).

The Wikipedia entry for 偶数 (gūsū) explains that 偶 means “even” in the way that 偶 means “pair” as used in 配偶者 (haigūsha, partner). I recommend the post. There’s a lot of really interesting mathematic terminology. You can probably guess what 整数 (seisū) means before clicking over, but you’ll definitely learn it in the first sentence over there.

Now your job is to start associating these sounds

ぐう

き

with even and odd.

This reminds me, yet again, that it’s so difficult (impossible?) to know things without learning them. Knowledge is not some invisible spirit that overtakes you. Knowledge is experience. Humans are, to a certain extent, “large language models” that become capable of inventing their own novel combinations given enough exposure, but for words like this, ones where you’re learning a completely new symbol for a concept that you may already be familiar with, there’s no replacement for bumping up against it in your every day. It makes me want to find an introductory algebra or calculus textbook in Japanese and see what I can make of it. Anyone have recommendations?

いろいろ

• Check out the podcast over at the blog. And on my personal site, I have a piece I’ve been meaning to write for a while: a little ode to 商店街 (shōtengai, shopping arcades). I finally got my act in gear after reading Craig Mod’s newsletter on overtourism and this article in The Guardian about dying shopping arcades, which attributes their decline to supermarkets. I’m not sure it’s that simple.

• You know I’m a huge fan of Dr. Wes on TikTok, and this video is one of his best. I love this attitude toward the language. There’s so much rage/frustration/anger bait on the internet. Don’t fall for it. Put in your time with the language, stay positive, and the rules will reveal themselves.

  

  @scriptingjapanJapanese isn't wacky #nihongo #日本語 #japanese #learnjapanese

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• If you don’t already, read Tobias over at Observing Japan for the latest on Japanese politics.

• And this is the Klook link that I mentioned on the podcast for advice about the Osaka Expo. I still haven’t been yet but offered some advice on the pod.