One of the most interesting things about living in Japan is discovering the Japanese language’s many ways of saying the same thing. With Golden Week just around the corner, it’s a great time to learn more about all the different Japanese vocabulary associated with taking a break and going on vacation.
Take, for example, the word “holiday” in English. How many other words can you think of? How about doing the same in Japanese?
Vocabulary
Learners must master the uses of words with similar meanings and subtle differences that distinguish them:
| English | Japanese | Romaji |
| Festival day | 祭日 | saijitsu |
| Anniversary | 記念日 | kinenbi |
| Break | 休み | yasumi |
| Day off | 休日 | kyuujitsu |
| Official holiday | 祝日 | shukujitsu |
| ~leave | 休暇 | kyuuka |
| Holiday | 定休日 | teikyubi |
| Free time | 暇 | hima |
| Break (short time) | 休憩 | kyuukei |
A day to celebrate
Photo: iStock/ Satoshi-KSome of them can be understood from their kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese). So 祭日, for example, is made up of the kanji for “festival” and “day.” It is often used to describe national holidays, such as in the sentence 今度の祭日は日曜日と重なります (the following holidays will be on a Sunday).
A similar word is 祝日 which is made up of the kanji for “celebration” and “day.” Most learners first encounter this word when talking about official holidays. It is often found paired with 国民 (citizenry) to make 国民の祝日 (national holiday).
A similar word to 国民の祝日 is 記念日 which is used to describe a memorial anniversary or event. An everyday use of 記念日 is in the word 創立記念日, which represents a holiday that celebrates the founding of a company or school. The incredibly long string of kanji 大阪大学創立記念日 is the name of Osaka University’s founding day, for example.
Taking a “break”
Photo: iStock/ mapoWhile the kanji can give learners some insight, other differences depend more on formality. One of the kanji that has many variations is the holiday kanji 休. The most common form of this verb is in 休み, which literally means a break in activity (usually a break from work). On the other hand, the similar-looking 休日 is roughly equivalent but usually found in formal or written situations.
Another word that uses the 休-kanji is 休暇. This word is usually found as a suffix and means “~leave.” So, combining it with 育児 (childcare) creates the compound word 育児休暇 (childcare leave). Similarly, combining 休暇 with クリスマス makes クリスマス休暇 (Christmas leave).
While someone is on Christmas leave, you may see another 休-word 定休日 written on their workplace. 定休日 is usually used whenever a business is on holiday. This kanji is often written with the word 本日 (today) to make 本日定休日 (we are on holiday today).
If the break is going to be shorter, 休憩 is usually used instead. While this usually means a break for lunch or for a breather, be careful as in sentences like 休憩中そこに滞在した it becomes a way to say that someone is taking a vacation from work.
Free time
Photo: iStock/ RRice1981Finally, 暇 comes from free time, which can sometimes be an insult. For example, 暇なやつだ would be considered an insult, implying that someone has too much free time. Likewise, when you use いつお暇ですか, you are asking someone if they are free (to grab a coffee with you, for example).
Did you get all of them? Just to review, in this article we have looked at 祭日, 記念日, 休み, 休日, 祝日, 休暇, 定休日, 暇 and 休憩.
While this may seem an unnecessary amount of words for similar things, English isn’t much better. The differences between breaks, vacations and holidays in English are enough to give English students a headache too. So much like English-language students, it is best to keep practicing them until their subtle differences become apparent.
Did we miss any other words? Let us know in the comments!
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