The kanji lesson says that “三日月” means both “crescent moon” and “new moon”, despite those being very different phases of the moon. Did some research and found conflicting sources, but many listed “新月” for new moon. This seems like a pretty major discrepancy for terms referring to a lunar calendar. Anybody have an explanation?
EDIT: Okay, so point appears to be cleared up. What I didn’t get is that some English speakers do use ‘new moon’ to mean ‘very thin crescent moon,’ which I suppose does make a lot of sense in a literal way. Just not a term I’d heard used that way personally. Appreciate the answers from everyone who helped!
People won’t use for talking about the actual moons “new moon” phase where you cant see it. At least not that I’ve ever seen
EDIT: Also, pro tip: If you want to know what something is when it seems to have multiple definitions, usually googling it and seeing what appears most is very reliable.
Right, the important thing is to know what 三日月 means, not what it translates to in English. If you personally would call that thin crescent a “new moon” (I would, I think), then it’s fine to answer with that. If you wouldn’t, then use the “crescent moon” answer
TIL 朏. Doesn’t seem like its ever actually used, but its a very elegant way of describing a crescent moon. At least the one that comes right after a new moon.
Edit: Due to Sensei’s photo being quite grainy from a low resolution, I did a quick google and found some sites that could help with the other moon phases pronunciations (two are Yomichan friendly), and some added alternative, less scientific or dated terminologies but are still interesting if you’re keen on learning more.
Deep L’s translation:
The new moon is essentially the first moon visible after the first day of the lunar month. Since the moon is barely visible until the second day of the lunar month, the moon around the third day of the lunar month (Mikazuki) is the new moon.
Just me as a non-astronomer native speaker. Hard to say what the general population would say, but I don’t think I’m being particularly unusual here – the dictionary lists both uses.
It’s blinkered additions to WK like this and their vision going forward for the service like this why I could never recommend this to anyone else.
I don’t understand their goal. Do they want to teach people kanji (the reason I signed up?), or do they want to teach people Japanese*?
*insert what that means at you leisure
I’m of the strongest opinion that half a dozen dedicated tools are better than a catch-all tool but WK clearly want to sell themselves as a catch-all tool. Who am I to tell the shareholders how to run their business? It’s the wrong business move. What WK did and did very well was taught us gaijins kanji. Sure, there’s redundant vocab and a questionable order, but as a whole product, it did its job and it did it better than anything else out there.
They’re now trying to extend and it’s ruining the product. The simple solution if they’re so adamant of expansion is make these ‘tracks’ opt in and let new subs have it all. Giving me, a level 32 user, a vocab that the community can’t agree on doesn’t fill me with confidence. It makes me concerned that anything I’ve learned so far could be incorrect. They’ve diluted their product and decimated the UI. I’m seriously concerned where this site is gonna be in a year. Will it even exist? I’m not sure this place even generates a profit
I’d have no issues if there was some kind of context for the vocab they add, but there isn’t (how many WK vocab words aren’t even used in natural Japanese, loads). the team are just adamant on making the product worse.
The fact there’s a discussion what 三日月 even means just shows it’s a bad addition
The “addition” in question is the fact that “new moon” is listed right? I can’t imagine you mean 三日月 shouldn’t be chosen because some people don’t know moon phase terminology well.
I appreciate flippancy, it makes you truly consider your argument.
So 三日月 is a level 5 vocab, you’ve just bought into this system and you see it means ‘new moon’ ‘crescent moon’. You come onto the forum and see people with high numbers on their profile discuss what it actually means.
Have you learned these kanji? no. what you’ve learned is that there’s some obscure pronunciations of these kanji and their meaning isn’t concrete.
Is your experience of the WK system better or worse since the addition?
