まち reading for 街?

[snookifan]

Hi All,

I’m looking at the kanji I’m going to be learning in a few levels (aka I’m bored ) and I noticed that 街 doesn’t have the まち reading as a vocabulary lesson?

I’m thinking this has to be a big oversight because this まち reading is super common in my experience, common enough that I confidently know it without ever explicitly learning/practicing it. If anything I think that the 街 kanji is the more popular option for town compared to 町 …

[ekg]

I wouldn’t be able to say, but a quick look at Jisho paints a more complex picture for how one might express town and city in Japanese.

town - Jisho.org

city - Jisho.org

For example, 街 is listed as an alternative form to 町 (not the other way around)

I’m assuming context comes into play here, when it comes to which you use.

[ToonNick]

Oh that’s weird, I didn’t realize there wasn’t a lesson for it, I just kinda also figured out from other media that it’s a common reading. At the very least, they put it as a kunyomi reading, but I agree it’d be a valuable vocabulary lesson to include

[Akashelia]

Good point, it just showed up in the book the Beginner Book Club is reading, with this reading exactly

[simias]

I agree, I actually encounter 街 significantly more often than 町 in the wild (although they’re both reasonably common). 街 was actually the first completion for まち in my IME right now, with 町 second.

[TofuguKyle]

Thank you to @snookifan for starting this topic and to everyone else for the feedback. The content team will be taking this into consideration for future updates!