Video Date and time notation in Asia
Philippines
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Post-Soviet states
Date
In the Post-Soviet states DD.MM.YYYY format is used with dot as a separator.
Time
24-hour time notation is used officially and for purposes that require precision like announcements in the media. In colloquial speech 12-hour clock is used.
Greater China
Date
The date format follows the Chinese hierarchical system, which has traditionally been big-endian. Consequently, it agrees with ISO 8601 -- year first, month next, and day last. Example: 2006-01-29. A leading zero is optional in practice (mostly not added). Chinese characters that mean year, month, and day are often used as separators too. Example: 2006?1?29?.
Since the characters clearly label the date, the year may be abbreviated to two digits when this format is used. The exception to this guideline is in Taiwan, where a separate calendar system is used, with years numbered to the founding of the Republic of China in 1912. Thus, the year 2006 corresponds to the "95th year of the Republic" or in Chinese Minguo 95 (??95?). In official contexts, this system is always used, while in informal contexts, the Gregorian calendar is sometimes used. To avoid confusion, the Gregorian year is always written out in full in Taiwan. Example: 95.01.29 refers to 2006-01-29, not 1995-01-29 (which would be rendered as 84.01.29). Another means to distinguish between the two systems is to place the terms Gongyuan (??, common era) and Minguo (??, Republic) before the year. Example: 2006 is rendered as either ??2006? or ??95?.
The day of the week is often appended to the date and commonly enclosed in parentheses. Example: 2006?1?29? (???). Calendars mostly show Sunday (or Monday) as the first day of the week.
In speech, the date is spoken in the same format as it is written. Using the previous example: 2006 (pinyin: èrlínglíngliù) ? (pinyin: nián) 1 (pinyin: y?) ? (pinyin: yuè) 29 (pinyin: èrshíji?) ? (pinyin: rì) ??? (pinyin: x?ngq?ti?n).
Hào (Chinese: ?) is a colloquial term used to express the day of the month instead of pinyin: rì (Chinese: ?). It is rarely used in formal writing. Using the previous example: 2006 (pinyin: èrlínglíngliù) ? (pinyin: nián) 1 (pinyin: y?) ? (pinyin: yuè) 29 (pinyin: èrshíji?) ? (pinyin: hào) ??? (pinyin: x?ngq?ti?n). pinyin: Hào is more often used when the month is understood from the context, i.e.: 29? for the 29th.
Dates written in Hong Kong and Macau are often formatted in the DD.MM.YYYY style due to European influences. Nonetheless, the Chinese form of the dates is still read in the same way as described above. Visas for the People's Republic of China also conform to this format.
Time
Both the 12-hour and 24-hour notations are used in spoken and written Chinese. However, to avoid confusion, time on schedules and public notices are typically formatted in the 24-hour system. Example: 19:45. Chinese characters that mean hour (Chinese: ?; pinyin: shí) and minute (Chinese: ?; pinyin: f?n) are sometimes used instead of the standard colon. Example: 19?45?. Chinese: ? (pinyin: zhèng) is used to mean exactly on the hour. Example: 19??.
It is not uncommon to see Chinese numerals instead of Arabic numbers, but tourist attractions will usually use Arabic numerals for the convenience of foreigners.
Spoken Chinese predominantly uses the 12-hour system and follows the same concept as A.M. (Chinese: ??) and P.M. (Chinese: ??; pinyin: xiàw?). However, shàngw? and xiàw? precede the time. Example: ??7:45 or ??7?45? (pinyin: xiàw? q? di?n sìshíw? f?n). pinyin: Di?n (simplified Chinese: ?; traditional Chinese: ?) is a variation of pinyin: shí and typically used in speech and often in writing. pinyin: Zh?ng (simplified Chinese: ?; traditional Chinese: ?), which literally means clock, can be added to a time phrase, usually when it contains either only hours or only minutes. Example: 7?? or 12??. If the number of minutes is less than ten, the preceding zero is included in speech. Example: ??8:05 (pinyin: shàngw? b?di?n língw?f?n). Time written in the 24-hour system can be read as is. Example: 19:45 (pinyin: shíji?di?n sìshíw?f?n).
A sample of other phrases that are often used to better describe the time-frame of day are listed below:
Examples:
- 03:00 = ??3? (pinyin: língchén s?n di?n) or ??3?? (pinyin: língchén s?n di?nzh?ng)
- 19:00 = ??7? (pinyin: bàngw?n q? di?n) or ??7?? (pinyin: bàngw?n q? di?nzh?ng)
- Note: These phrases that describe the time-frame of day are used only with the 12-hour system.
Time can alternatively be expressed as a fraction of the hour in speech. A traditional Chinese unit of time, the Chinese: ? (pinyin: kè), was 1/96 of the 24-hour day cycle or 15 minutes, equivalent to "quarter of an hour" in English. A quarter-after is Chinese: ?? (pinyin: y? kè) or Chinese: ??? (pinyin: guò y? kè), which literally mean "one kè" or "one kè past", respectively. A quarter-to is Chinese: ??? (pinyin: chà y? kè), which literally means "one kè less". Chinese: ? (pinyin: bàn), which means half, is used in conjunction with the relative hour to mean "at the half-hour". Examples:
- 6:45 = Chinese: 7???? (pinyin: q? di?n chà y? kè) or Chinese: ???7? (pinyin: chà y? kè q? di?n)
- 8:15 = Chinese: 8??? (pinyin: b?di?n du? y?kè)
- 9:30 = Chinese: 9?? (pinyin: ji?di?n bàn)
Attention must be drawn to the time 02:00. It is written as 2? (pinyin: èr shí) but almost always read as ?? (pinyin: li?ng di?n). The number two, ? (pinyin: èr), takes the form of ? (pinyin: li?ng) when followed by a measure word, in this case, ? (pinyin: di?n). Note that this does not apply to 12:00. Noon is 12?? (pinyin: shí èr di?nzh?ng) or ?? (pinyin: zhèngw?) or ?? (pinyin: w?shí). Midnight, on the other hand, is ??12?? (pinyin: língchén shí èr di?nzh?ng) or ?? (pinyin: língshí), which literally means zero hour.
Cantonese has an additional method of expressing time as a fraction of the hour. This system divides the hour into 12 units, each five minutes long. Each unit, therefore, corresponds to one of the numbers written on an analogue clock. The character for this unit is uncertain since it is only used in speech, however the Cantonese pronunciation is ji6 and homonymous to the character ? (zì, Cantonese: ji6). This method can be used in two ways - with the relative hour and without. When the relative hour is included, the unit must be preceded with the measure word ? (ge, Cantonese: go3). Example: 3:05 is 3?1?? (s?ndi?n y?gezì, Cantonese: saam1 dim2 yat1 go3 ji6), usually simply 3?1. When the relative hour is not included, the unit is omitted as well; the position of the minute hand is described instead, using the verb ? (tà, Cantonese: daap6), which literally means "step on", meaning "resting on top of" in this context. Examples:
- five-after = ?1 (tà y?, Cantonese: daap6 yat1)
- ten-after = ?2 (tà èr, Cantonese: daap6 yi6)
- fifteen-to = ?9 (tà ji?, Cantonese: daap6 gau2)
- ten-to = ?10 (tà shí, Cantonese: daap6 sap6)
The half-hour mark is never described using this unit of five minutes, however. 3:30 is still 3?? (s?ndi?n bàn, Cantonese: saam1 dim2 bun3), as previously described. Half-past the hour is ?? (tàbàn, Cantonese: daap6 bun3).
See also
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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