You can "read foreign language" if you try. If someone as dumb as I can read Chinese-Character numbers, you can too. The first two Characters are the emperor's name (Showa, meaning Hirohito), then "2, 10, 7 Year" That means two 10s (equals 20), plus 7, total = 27.
Yes, Japanese dates aren't as hard as they look, but you need to know more than the numbers and that pre-modern coins read right-to-left instead of left-to-right. To build on the numbers above, to go beyond 10, just add 10 to a number 10 十 11 十一 10 + 1 12 十二 10 + 2 19 十九 10 + 9 Multiples of ten get added before 10 20 二十 or 2 X 10 30 三十 or 3 X 10 60 六十 or 6 X 10 90 九十 or 9 X 10 More complex numbers below 100 follow the pattern above: 34 三十四 3 X 10 + 4 55 五十五 5 X 10 + 5 78 七十八 7 X 10 + 8 99 九十九 9 X 10 + 9 Going above 100 requires 百 111 百十一 100 + 10 + 1 345 三百四十五 (3 X 100) + (4 X 10) + 5 999 九百九十九 (9 X 100) + (9 X 10) + 9 Then you need to know the symbols for the emperors 明治 - Meiji (Mutsihito) 1867 - 1912 大正 - Taisho (Yoshihito) 1912 - 1926 昭和 - Showa (Hirohito) 1926 - 1989 平成 - Heisei (Akihito) 1989 - 2019 ???? - ????? (Naruhito) 2019 - who knows? Akihito will abdicate next month, ending the Heisei period. His son will take over, but the new era name has not yet been revealed. The coins next year should reflect the new name and era. The last symbol means year: 年 Putting it all together: 明治二十六年 - Meiji year 26 大正三年 - Taisho year 3 昭和三十一年 - Showa year 31 平成十五年 - Heisei year 15 You can either look these numbers up or do the math from the beginnings of the reigns to get the Gregorian year.
English is also considered a foreign language.. To those in other countries that don't speak it (Deep thoughts by paddyman98 )
Heck, considering the grammar and spelling in some posts, English is a foreign language to those that DO speak it. And sometimes conversations with those whose native language is English causes one to wonder. I don't know about people in other countries and their speech and writing habits. I'm a typical American. I know American English and that's about it. I'm try to learn Spanish but am finding that the "old dog, new tricks" thinking applies to me.
Trying to "learn" (ie, study) a language other than your own is not the best approach, but a good alternative. You may be different, but the best way for me to learn a language is to LIVE in that speech community where it is used all around you and you HAVE to use it. Nothing wrong with studying, if you're motivated enough...
Thanks for the info, beats dragging out Krause's World Coins when my Asian date memory gets out of practice.
I totally agree. I can read the Chinese numbers (and quite a few other words as well), Thai numbers and letters, Arabic numbers also. I keep a handy cheat sheet on my computer which shows numbers in 23 languages. That list makes it possible, if at times difficult, for me to read dates on coins. I find Numista to be a huge help in identifying coins.
I have my reference for Japanese numbers (don't know if the Chinese numbers are the same). Lately I've had to deal with Arabic(?) numbers when trying to sell stamps on line. With a bit of patience I can work it through.
