Now, i know theres lots of synonims etc in all languages, but it helps me when learning to understand how tell similar things apart. For example, if im doing Kaniwani and it asks me to give it “Yearly, annually” it doesnt help me to realise if i should give it 年中 or 毎年 for example.
For 半分 and 半 i simply added user synonim, in one case saying “half-something like half-life” and in another saying “half of something, like half of sandwich”. That is enough for me to differentiate them.
But in case of 年中 and 毎年 i could use some help please. How would you meaningfully tell them apart?
I don’t do kaniwani so this may not help, but I think something that might help you understand the difference is understanding the nuance of yearly vs. annual. Annual implies something, like an event, that takes place at the exact same time every year. Yearly implies something that happens but in a less specific time frame.
Ex: “Every year, we have an annual get together on June 19.” vs. “On a yearly basis, I get stung by a bee.”
Sorry if this comes off as kind of man-splainish or confusing as I’m not a linguist. What also could help is learning the difference between what it asks for when it gives you the definiton. For example, if 年中 is just “annual” but 毎年 means “yearly, annual” then it’s just a kind of brute force “remember this is asking for this” kind of thing.
Hope this helps! Once again, sorry if it doesn’t .
Doesn’t 年中 mean “throughout the year” whereas 毎年 means every year, or annually? Something that happens 年中 might just happen all year for a single year? Or am I confusing something?
Edit: Ok, so just using Google translate I get the impression that by themselves they mean what I said, but as part of phrases they can both mean annual.
If we are to be very literal about this, neither of the mentioned means “annual”, but:
年中 - throughout/during the year, kind of like 一日中
年内 - within the year, by the end of the year (year being a closing unit)
年次 - annual
毎年 - every year (to express habitual activity, not necessarily periodicity, like “every year I cut the grass in my garden”)
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