Clocks around the world: how other languages tell time

[@mookykitten]

My grandmother is Chinese and she was always taught to read clocks by literally saying what the hands are pointing at. When its 3:35, she would say it’s “3hr on 7”. By that she meant 3 o’clock + with the long hand on the 7. This is a very common way to tell time in Cantonese. Consequently, she doesn’t read digital clocks.

[@ronja2484]

this is so interesting! do you know if kids these days are still taught to read the clock that way?

[@kalyxo_tb]

@@ronja2484 My family is Cantonese Chinese and I think it's something that's just generally known through common usage, and most families would have an analog clock somewhere. In any case, saying 三點七 (literally "three point seven") is much faster and more convenient than saying 三點三十五 (three point thirty five).

[@mookykitten]

@@ronja2484 I know when I went to primary school in Hong Kong we were taught that there are 5 minutes between every number on an analogue clock so we understand the 60min hour structure but in common language you do still say it the way my grandmother did like @kalyxo described:)

[@user-gimmechickenwingz]

Also allow me to add on to this: this method can also use to measure time: for example 20 mintues would be 四個字 (litertally 4 words/letters) as the second hand would travel throught 4 numeral internvals in an analog clock . If the second hand landes on 10 (as it travel past 10 numeral intervals), then it would be 十個字, 50 minutes (also gives me an itch to round it up to an hour for some reason). I think the except would be 30 minute as it would be 半個鐘(頭) (half and clock/hour) and one hour would be, 一個鐘. Feel free to add on to this.

[@kyeolllaynydaau]

For cantonese We often omit the "one" when we tell the time one something For example 3:15 三點三（literally "three point three", as mentioned above) But 1:15 we say 點三（literally "point three") Ofc saying 一點三 is not wrong But this is another way to present the same time

[@ravenlord4]

The Japanese 30 hour clock is really handy, especially for things like late night television programming. It is a good compromise between the "day" starting at midnight, and the day starting at 6 am.

[@untruelie2640]

Why though? At least for me, it doesn't make the slightest difference wether it is 2500 hours or 01:00 am.

[@peterfireflylund]

raven lord we used to use that system in Denmark for a type of bus/train tickets for 30-40 years before we switched to our current electronic ticket system. If you took a late night bus, your ticket would be stamped something like 27:45.

[@ravenlord4]

@ Peter Lund Exactly -- that's a perfect example! @@untruelie2640 Because 2500 is on the same day as the previous 24 hours. 1 am is on the next day. Say trains from 10 am to 10 pm during the week, but run until 2 am on Friday and Saturday night. It's awkward to list it as being open 10am Friday to 2 am Saturday, and then 10am Saturday to 2 am Sunday, and then again 10am Sunday to 10 pm Sunday. If you extended to clock to 30 hours, then you can say it runs from 1000 to 2600 on Friday and Saturday without having to worry about the schedule bleeding over into multiple calendar days.

[@untruelie2640]

@@ravenlord4 I still don't see the advantage. It only seems to be a matter of convenience. Why is it important that it is on the same day?

[@ravenlord4]

@@untruelie2640 If you work at a job where M-F is straight time, but Sa-Su is double time, and your hours are 6pm to 2am, then your timecard will read 1800 - 2600. Those 2 hours on Sa are really part of the the Friday shift. You are working 5 full days, not 4 full days and 2 partial days.

[@fleeb]

In American sign language, the future is in front of you, and the past is behind you, and you draw your signs accordingly to help describe when events will or have occurred. But, in some cultures, such as the Aymara people (Andes region of Bolivia), time flows in the opposite direction. They feel, because you cannot see the future with clarity, it's behind you, and because you can see the past clearly, it is in front of you. I don't know if they use a form of sign language, but their language uses terms to reflect this perspective, where they'd describe the front year as the one we feel has passed us.

[@sohopedeco]

It's funny how English lacks this kind of direction metaphores for time compared to other European languages. In Portuguese, the standard way to say "from now on" is "daqui para frente" ("from here forwards"), for example.

[@fleeb]

@@sohopedeco Well, we do say 'last year' instead of 'front year', and other such terms to suggest direction. And we also have expression like "but that's all behind us now" to suggest that the event we're discussing has happened in the past.

[@simonlow0210]

"the future is in front of you, and the past is behind you" is exactly the same as how Chinese works (Japanese as well).

[@crispyandspicy6813]

in Romanian the word "înainte" can have opposite connotations in space vs time. Refering to time it can mean "before" and to space it can mean "forward".

[@5amisntlate]

@@sohopedeco also one of the most basic English future tenses is the "going to" future tense. That implies the future is something we're walking towards, doesn't it?

[@thoodevious]

This reminds me of the scene in JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit where characters on a quest deciphered a cryptic verse on a map: "...and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole." They frantically search for the key-hole and anguish when the sun sets before they could find it. Once they realize that a "day" doesn't necessarily end with the loss of sunlight, but rather continues into the night, they successfully find the key-hole by moonlight (the "last light" of Durin's Day).

[@PC_Simo]

Well, JRR Tolkien was very interested in and influenced by foreign languages and cultures, like Finnish and ”Kalevala”. 🇫🇮

[@elderscrollsswimmer4833]

@@PC_Simo Finnish daylight vs. nighttime tends to differ quite a lot in a year. Particularly in the northernmost part of the country where you have 2 months without sunlight, 4 months of increasing sunlight, 2 months constant sunlight, 4 months of decreasing sunlight and start over. It's not quite that bad in the Southern parts but still.

[@PC_Simo]

@@elderscrollsswimmer4833 Oh, absolutely! 🎯👌🏻👍🏻 That is 1 major reason, why daylight savings don’t make sense, in Finland; and a great example of, why you mustn’t try to force the same model for all European countries, like the EU is trying to do: They have completely different circumstances. 1 size *_DOESN’T_* fit all!

[@GodfreyNjau]

The way we were taught to read time in Kiswahili is by turning the clock upside down. And in my native Gikuyu language, time is told by what activities were expected to be done at that time of day, eg, 6-8 am would be 'ime rigiitika', that is dew evaporating, 9 to around 10 am would be 'mburi cikiumira', that is goats leaving the homestead for grazing.

[@_Diana_S]

Honestly, i do not understand this. I think people would just adjust hands on their watches to show the time they think it is now. Just like people in different time zones do, they move hands around. Swahilis effectively are using different time zone time, they just have to adjust their watches and clocks, why suffer and do calculations every time?

[@GodfreyNjau]

@@_Diana_S I think the Tanzanians made some changes to how they write time. Unlike Kenyans, they write time as they say it is. For example, if they say saa moja usiku, they just write it as 1.00 usiku. But standard Kenyan Kiswahili just got comfortable reading time in the opposite, 7.00 usiku. But just like the video explains, since day and night are almost equal in this part of the world, it is more comfortable to start counting hours when light is actually seen or disappears. As for the clocks, I think we just have to deal with it as it's an international standard

[@matthewmcree1992]

@@GodfreyNjau when you explained how the point of adjusting the Western time by 6 hours is for starting the day when daylight actually starts, that was what finally made the whole concept make sense in my brain. It's basically a different version of the Japanese "30-hour day"! Absolutely fascinating how the way the West tells time just feels like the way it "should be", but that's only because it's all Westerners like myself have ever known (not because it's right or wrong, better or worse than any other system). Thanks for illuminating Kiswahili culture for us all!

[@fabiennenicolaij7786]

This is so interesting! Could you give a whole day in such sentences in your native Gikuyu? Or maybe guide me to a place where I could read about it, if that even exist...

[@irmaosmatos4026]

​@@matthewmcree1992 interesting it was the standard way for many time, in the Bible for example people talk with days starting after sunlight many times.

[@IanHsieh]

Actually, in Chinese 日 is mainly used as daytime, probably much more than 晝/昼 in everyday language, as in 日夜 (Day and night). Also, 日 and 月 means Sun an Moon, but also Day and Month at the same time.

[@the11382]

Does/did China have a lunar calendar?

[@columbus8myhw]

the11382 Yes

[@IanHsieh]

@@the11382 We usually call it "Lunar Calendar", but it's actually a Lunisolar Calendar.

[@althedude7730]

Same for japanese 日=day and sun, 月=months and moon. Sun and day are read the same hi, but moon and month are read differently tsuki and gatsu. Which is kinda cool bc its clearly something only visible in the writing kept from the past! :D

[@GoldenBeholden]

@@althedude7730 That seems more like a typical kun'yomi vs on'yomi thing than something unique to timekeeping.

[@TheWhiteDragon3]

It probably won't be mentioned that much, but I _really_ appreciate how simply and elegantly you were able to explain why Central American dials run "counter clockwise." Very well done!

[@bigscarysteve]

The Spanish teacher in my junior high school had a clock that ran "backwards" in his classroom. I always thought it was a gag item. Was it an ordinary clock from Central America?

[@turtlellamacow]

But it doesn't explain why other cultures in the same hemisphere have their clocks run "clockwise" (I assume it's because of sundials). Mexico City is between the equator and tropic of Cancer, so although the sun can appeared to the north in summer, it's still usually in the south, so it seems more natural to consider the sun to move clockwise.

[@drewgehringer7813]

@@bigscarysteve more likely a gag item; when central america got mechanical clock-builders they tended to follow the European convention for which direction the dial turns

[@gf4453]

Mexico is in North America, not Central America.

[@DrWhom]

In trig this way around is the positive direction. It is an artefact arising from the other conventions that to the right and upwards are counted as the positive directions.

[@porsche558]

Bird time....that’s different. So in the morning where I live it’s annoying crow o’clock.

[@ynntari2775]

If I was to make this system, all clock names would be curse words

[@LadyAnuB]

Try chicken o'clock in Kauai and in certain areas in the city where I live.

[@ismata3274]

To me night is a one long ambulance sirens o'clock. 😑 And morning is more sirens than before o'clock. 😵 There are disadvantages living near a hospital. But advantages prevail 😋.

[@ENoob]

cooing pigeons o'clock here

[@ismata3274]

@@ENoob ohhhh 🥰🤗

[@ichliebebaeumeweilbaum]

That 30 hour thing is AMAZING! There's truly a difference in staying up all night and going to sleep at 5am or having school and waking up at 5am!

[@kshatrapavan]

The word 'Pahar' in Hindi comes from Sanskrit 'Prahara', which literally means 'watch' or 'vigil'. This is analogous to the Roman division called 'vigilae' which also divided the day in 8 parts.

[@premierepasta1562]

So is that where the word for ‘police’ in Hindi comes from? ‘Police’ in Hindi is ‘Prahari’ (प्रहरी).

[@kshatrapavan]

@@premierepasta1562 Yes.

[@poulomi__hari]

@@premierepasta1562 quiet close. I just realized a guard is called "Paharedaar" in Hindi.

[@DrWhom]

Yes, the video ended a lot earlier then I was expecting. The seven night segments immediately called to mind watch periods. On a boat, you have the ship's bell time which is similarly tied to watches and shifts. Another thing I was hoping he would get to was the Roman Catholic prayer cycle, which carves up the day. The names of months in Navaho, based around events in the natural world. The Revolutionary calendar, based around the weather and agricultural activities.

[@LeSarthois]

I never realized that the word "watch" could mean it that way. In french the word we use is "montre" (show) (apparently, it used to be the name of the "face" on wall clocks, and it came to name watches when they appeared. The fact that it would be a luxury item you would "show" to everybody around probably helped)

[@edgarnmarschalek5113]

The japanese one makes total sense to me. At least in Brazil when it is past midnight we still talk about "tomorrow" as if tomorrow were yet to be

[@Marispider]

Same in America. It feels so awkward to talk about something happening "today" when it's three o'clock and I haven't gone to bed yet. The day starts when the sun rises, at least to me. It's a really smart system, wish we started using it over here

[@UteChewb]

My experience of staying up all night is that tomorrow only comes after you have a sleep even if it is only for half an hour. So the Japanese system makes sense to me as well.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

Heh. Here in my house we actually do the opposite. We speak Spanish. When we stay past 12am, and we say goodbye, we don't say "hasta mañana" (see you tomorrow). We say "Hasta al rato" (see you later), often jokingly.

[@TathagatDarkAssassin]

The "morrow" in the English word "Tomorrow" actually refers to morning. The morning that is to come next is "tomorrow". As with today and tonight.

[@CorbiniteVids]

that's how I talk about time here in america but people always give me a hard time for it and say "no you mean today"

[@golem2008]

the japanese one is strangely intuitive for not being used here

[@rjfaber1991]

Yeah, it's a really simply and nice solution. I think it is used in timetabling in some countries, because a train leaving at 23:30 and arriving at 24:15 is more intuitive than 23:30 to 0:15, and you don't have to change the dates, just the time.

[@andresvalera1430]

It's kind of a cultural shock (?), Like the first time I heard of it it seemed unnecessarily complicated but it makes sense for when the day is more important than the time (i.e watching tv series, realistically you're going to stay up from the day before, not wake up at 2 am to watch something)

[@SimonClarkstone]

I already use that notation occasionally. I didn't realise it was A Thing anywhere else.

[@ynntari2775]

I didn't understand a single thing about the japanese one

[@AndersGehtsdochauch]

@@ynntari2775 Seems more intuitive for party people, hahaha 😄

[@NativLang]

If I spend winter in a high latitude, can I bill for more temporal hours?

[@Gravitraxer_AangCZ]

Yes! 😂😂

[@dew7555]

This brings up a really interesting question: what does the etymology of time look like for extremely northern cultures like the ancient Inuit inhabitants of Ellesmere Island? And are there any patters between, for example, Inuit and Nordic descriptions of "days?"

[@IngieKerr]

If you live on a top floor of a high rise, then you can at least utilise the faster passage of time granted by relativity wrt gravitational time dilation. Tho this is almost immeasurable unless you bill by atomic clock precision :)

[@valkeakirahvi]

@@dew7555 I can give you some answers about the Sámi culture. Their consept of time used to be cyclic, which means that any work was done when it needed doing, not when a timekeeping device told them to. They were following what was happening to the nature, so the winter began when the snows came, and spring when the snows melted, whenever that would be on the given year. They were also following the behaviour and yearly life cycle of their reindeer. In winter when there were no sunlight they kept time by observing the constellations. The North Sámi words for day and sun are the same (beaive) like are the words for moon and month (mánnu). As far as I know the names for shorter periods of time are loans from North Germanic.

[@valkeakirahvi]

The times of the day are just called iđit 'morning', beaive 'day', eahket 'evening' and idja 'night'.

[@proevomen90]

I feel there’s an honourable mention for the Russian word сутки which would usually translate the idea of day but it actually means “consecutive 24 hour period” - so if you need to say that something took 24 hours but those are not 0000 to 2359 per se, you can use this word (which is also used in compounds of words meaning something like “all day” and “24 hour” (of a shop, for instance)

[@amjan]

"Doba" in Polish ;) It's a very important word. E.g. Most people work 8h a day, but people who work night shifts work 8h a doba.

[@polskiszlachcic3648]

сутки in Russian sounds like Polish "sutki" and that means "nipples"😂😂😂 anyway the Polish word is, as already mentioned, doba.

[@nickrobson4068]

The Scandinavian languages and Finnish have this concept too! 🇸🇪 dygn 🇧🇻 døgn 🇩🇰 døgn 🇫🇮 vuorokausi. In all of these languages, the word describes 24 consecutive hours. 😄 Additionally, in Swedish and Norwegian (which are the only ones I know enough about the usage of), the word is also often used to mean a day-night cycle from midnight, but its usage for any time to the same time the next day is still very common

[@martabachynsky8545]

@@polskiszlachcic3648 Ukrainians also use the word "Doba", in Cyrillic though. 😁

[@VArsovski10]

In southern Slavic countries the word "doba" is used for epoch/phase, for example "ice age" or "midlife" is used with "doba".. interesting similarity/difference.. 🤔

[@to_cya_]

In Thailand 01:00 = ตี 1 = Tee 1(Nueng) 02:00 = ตี 2 = Tee 2(Song) 03:00 = ตี 3 = Tee 3(Sam) 04:00 = ตี 4 = Tee 4(See) 05:00 = ตี 5 = Tee 5(Ha) 06:00 = 6 โมงเช้า (Hok Mong Chao) = 6 in the morning 07:00 = 1 โมง/1 โมงเช้า/โมงเช้า = 1 Mong/1 Mong Chao/Mong Chao 08:00 = 2 โมง/2 โมงเช้า = 2 Mong/ 2 Mong Chao 09:00 = 3 โมง/3 โมงเช้า = 3 Mong/ 3 Mong Chao 10:00 = 4 โมง/4 โมงเช้า = 4 Mong/ 4 Mong Chao 11:00 = 5 โมง/5 โมงเช้า = 5 Mong/ 5 Mong Chao 12:00 = เที่ยง/เที่ยงวัน/กลางวัน = Tiang/Tiang Wan/Klang Wan = Middle of the day 13:00 = บ่าย 1/บ่ายโมง = Bai 1/Bai Mong 14:00 = บ่าย 2/บ่าย 2 โมง = Bai 2/Bai 2 Mong 15:00 = บ่าย 3/บ่าย 3 โมง = Bai 3/Bai 3 Mong 16:00 = บ่าย 4/บ่าย 4 โมง = Bai 4/Bai 4 Mong 17:00 = บ่าย 5/บ่าย 5 โมง = Bai 5/Bai 5 Mong 18:00 = 6 โมงเย็น = 6 Mong Yen = 6 in the evening 19:00 = 1 ทุ่ม = 1 Tum 20:00 = 2 ทุ่ม = 2 Tum 21:00 = 3 ทุ่ม = 3 Tum 22:00 = 4 ทุ่ม = 4 Tum 23:00 = 5 ทุ่ม = 5 Tum 24:00 = เที่ยงคืน = Tiang Kuen = Middle of the Night (In some region also said 6 Tum, but in standard Thai or Bangkok dialect it's would sound a little strange)

[@PaGDu333]

เราไป 7 โมง - 11 โมง ไปแล้ว 😅

[@jaishkhan7442]

So it's split by 6 nice

[@danmakufan]

For anyone trying to read time: this is subject to a lot of variation in speech. For starters, 07:00-11:00 commonly comes in 7 โมง(เช้า) - 11 โมง(เช้า) forms, and 16:00-17:00 are also commonly called 4 โมง(เย็น) - 5 โมง(เย็น). If someone said those times in the other way, a lot of people would probably think you are a grandpa.

[@01jiratjiampoonsap80]

I used to get confused by things like 9 and 10 pm

[@Pfsif]

55555555

[@dansattah]

And even when two cultures agree on the units, there are still differences. In English you say "half past", in German you say "half to".

[@FrisnoB]

Sweden copied Germany and imply half to to. As in five over half seven = 6.35

[@dansattah]

@@FrisnoB Thanks for the info. I'll start college to become an English, Geography, and Swedish teacher this fall.

[@belg4mit]

Meh, there are dialectical variations within a language too. Bloody New Englanders say the incredibly ambiguous "quarter of" to mean :45

[@dansattah]

@@belg4mit You'll hate East and South Germany then. There we extend "half to" to the quarters. "0:15" is "quarter one", "0:30" is "half one", and "0:45" is "three quarters one".

[@danielbishop1863]

@@belg4mit : Leading to the joke where a man tells his wife he'll be home at "a quarter of twelve", and stays out until 3:00.

[@nimmira]

There is also the Arabic time, which was calculated presumably around the sunset and the beginning of twilight. This is not a system used now as we use the regular modern system but you'd still see such explanation on some of these desk calendars, as there are formulas dedicated to deduce Arabic time from the Foreign (modern that is) time. Till recently, and still some old people here do consider the day-cycle begins with the evening or sunset and NOT with the sunrise. So you might be already in Sunday, and a speaker would say: it's Monday's night (Lailat Al-Athnayn), meaning the night of Sunday, the day you are in. I reckon such a system of ordering the day seems to be a common theme among people using lunar calendars (I think I've read something about ancient Irish using this system). Worth noting that in classical Arabic there was a name for each hour of day and each hour of night. But this is very classic; Not used in modern literature and sure thing not in dialects with every day use.

[@sean668]

That's really similar to Jewish time too! I'm not sure if you do it in Islam, but in Judaism every holiday starts at sundown, and continues to the next sundown.

[@johnhoelzeman6683]

@@sean668 thats how we celebrate the Lord's Day in Catholicism. From sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday. Something we adopted, I suppose

[@hxyzazolchak]

@@sean668 Yeah its the same thing

[@bcs332]

@@sean668 In Islam there are some special nights and they are just in night time. They end with the first lights of sun. Also the day before a feast is celebrated as the "previous day" of the feast.

[@rjfaber1991]

@@johnhoelzeman6683 A lot of the English world seems to have adopted it, yes, with things like Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. The only example I can think of in my own language, Dutch, is with the celebration of St. Nicholas' Day, which is celebrated on 6 December in Flanders, but on 5 December (which is stricly speaking St. Nicholas' Eve) in the Netherlands. Interestingly, while we do celebrate New Years' Eve as well, we call it 'oudjaarsdag', or literally 'Old Years' Day', which I rather like. Contrasts neatly with the subsequent New Years' Day.

[@hansmustermann4986]

When visiting the US for the first time, I was really baffled to realize that even concepts like "evening" and "night" differ between cultures. In Germany, the evening starts roughly at 5 or 6, shortly before sunset. Then it lasts almost until bedtime. You wouldn't meet your friends "tonight", but in the "evening". You may call it "late evening" when the glasses are empty and your friends ready to "call it a night". Night time is not when it's dark outside, but the time when (most) people tend to sleep.

[@DrWhom]

To add to your confusion: we say "good evening" as a _greeting_ no matter how late it is (it does become "good morning" at some point but in situations where this problem arises everybody is too drunk to care) and we say "good night" by way of _good bye_ - but only after dark. Before dark, but towards the end of the working day, we say "have a pleasant evening" ("have a pleasant night" might be construed as innuendo and is therefore avoided). When fixing appointments after hours, we commonly say "I'll see you tonight at..." even when the time arranged belongs to the late afternoon or the evening. If this is too much: go to Holland, _avond_ and _nacht_ in are used in the same way as their German counterparts.

[@stevenseufert2520]

@@DrWhom To add even more confusion, I use "good morning" as a greeting no matter what time of day it is. I prefer it over the later time-specific phrases of "good afternoon" or "good evening" because those two are more formal, whereas "Good morning!" is inherently more friendly.

[@madnessintomagic]

it’s the same for me and I grew up in colorado….

[@BoogieBoogsForever]

Woah!

[@ForeverSoftware]

When I developed an app for ticketing for a passenger ferry company, I used a 26 hour day. Normally the last river crossing was at 11pm. On special occasions eg. Bonfire Night, the passenger ferry ran later than usual for instance until 2am but with the previous evening's crew still on their evening shift which was extended by 3 hours. The 26 hour 'day' made the mathematics very much easier!

[@dans4323]

I really like the Japanese overlap which is widely used in business opening hours. A simple example would be Mon~Sat 9~26, Sun 10~25 (yes, they use wave lines). Now imagine this with a 24h system and it immediately gets much more complex, e.g. Mon 0-1 & 9-24, Tue-Sat 0-2 & 9-24, Sun 0-2, 10-24. And imagine opening hours displayed by date. You'd have to change it at midnight making it more complex, too.

[@therealax6]

I see signs like that very often (I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina), in places like fast food chains, and they just say 9:00-2:00 and 10:00-1:00. (Preempting a question: we know they don't mean the afternoon because they'd say 13:00 and 14:00.) Everyone understands that it means that they close at 1/2 in the morning the next night.

[@IvyANguyen]

Here in the US most bars close after midnight, so hours like 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. are common. If they leave out the a.m./p.m. it can look weird having the closing time be 'before' the opening time but everyone knows what it means. Google Photos groups photos taken between midnight & 03:59:59 under the previous day, I guess because they figured most people with photos taken shortly after midnight would rather have them grouped that way.

[@LMB222]

The western standard is simply to ignore the day change: Mon-Sat 09-02

[@sriramb5703]

One interesting fact about time in modern Hindi is that we literally use the same word for both hours and bells, "ghanta". Also, we have special words for simple fractions like 0.5, 0.25 and 0.75, so we literally say "Its struck 1.5" if the time is 1:30

[@bigscarysteve]

Time on ships (at least ships in the Western world) is measured in "bells."

[@mwanikimwaniki6801]

We also have those in Swahili. Saa moja kasorobo would mean that it's a quarter short of seven.

[@amjan]

Wow, I love the idea for simple fractions! Although a half and a quarter should exist in most languages. In Polish we have an additional word for 1.5

[@bigscarysteve]

@@amjan In English, we have a prefix for 1.5 (borrowed from Latin), namely "sesqui-." Therefore, sesquipedal means a foot and a half long. Sesquiannual means every year and a half. Sesquicentennial means something that occurs every 150 years.

[@frankhooper7871]

The English word 'clock' also derives from the Latin word for bell.

[@johnreid7712]

The 30 hour day makes perfect sense to me, having watched the video at 5:30am. :)

[@impishDullahan]

*29:30. If you're gonna praise it, you ought to commit.

[@rjfaber1991]

Exactly! For a night owl like me it is perfect. :D

[@unvergebeneid]

ikr!

[@jari2018]

For me it looks like that they are to ridgid and have to this since they cant admit to to a meeting on a another day .I guess there is no way to compromise in Japan so you cheat time instead.

[@atsukorichards1675]

@@jari2018 it is more like for pure convenience. Only at where the system is useful (like the broadcasting companies, the astronomical observation places, the midnight train timetables and some night shifts).

[@livendus]

In Swedish the daytime is 'dag' and a full 24 hour period is a 'dygn'. It's one of those words that English lacks and causes me some annoyances on occasion.

[@SirMethos]

Agreed. In Danish it's 'dag' and 'døgn'.

[@Squeezeboxjukebox]

the closest in English i can think is daytime used for the actual time the light's out and just day, a day for a 24 hour period

[@ynntari2775]

I hate it that google translator translates from language X to English and from English to Language Y, instead of actually translating directly from Language X to Language Y. If you try to translate Dygn to Danish/Norwegian, it gives Dag. And if you try to translate Døgn from Norwegian to Danish/Swedish, it gives Dag og Nat / Dag och natt

[@SirMethos]

​@@ynntari2775 With google translator you can actually improve it, by clicking on the suggested translation, then clicking "suggest better translation" Generally speaking, languages that have more use, and thus more people adding correct translation, give better results when you look for a translation.

[@vitalyvolkov1618]

In Dutch, you have 'dag' (can mean both daytime and 24 hours) and 'etmaal' (24 hours). However, 'etmaal' is not used very often. It would sound very strange if someone told you to return in five 'etmalen' (plural of 'etmaal'). It is rather used when describing cyclical processes, like 'adjust this instrument five times an 'etmaal'. Russian has день (den', the last consonate is pronounced softly, can mean both daytime and 24 hours) and сутки (sutki, 24 hours). Сутки is used more often than Dutch 'etmaal'. Return in five суток (суток is genitive of сутки) is a perfectly normal sentence, albeit a rather formal one. (in case you wonder, I'm bilingual in Dutch and Russian, that's why I compare)

[@Bacopa68]

It is important to remember that the phrase "In the eleventh hour" comes from the Parable of the Harvesters, and thus using sundial time. The eleventh hour is one hour before sunset.

[@davidjoffe-hunter7016]

The fact that Nahuatl has 4 daytime divisions but 7 nighttime divisions is so interesting to me. I never thought of splitting them differently

[@LMB222]

Night shifts are more demanding than day shifts.

[@BoogieBoogsForever]

​@@LMB222Eh! 🎉🌶️🍑🤪

[@Tiaimo]

As Thais, it's normal for six-hour-clock. I still use the six-hour-clock with the old version, not a modern one if I talk to the older generation.

[@stawpnagd7820]

For me, I use 12 hour for the time from midnight to noon (ตี1 ตี2 ... 6 โมงเช้า ... 11 โมง(เช้า) ... เที่ยง (for noon, I never says numbers here, but it is very rarely called 12 โมงเช้า), then a 6 hour for noon to 6 pm บ่ายโมง, บ่าย 2, บ่าย 3, 4 โมงเย็น, 5 โมงเย็น, 6 โมงเย็น, and another 6 hour period from 6 pm to midnight 1 ทุ่ม, 2 ทุ่ม, ...5 ทุ่ม, เที่ยงคืน (midnight, has no number for it, very rarely called 6 ทุ่ม). I once had someone used 6-6-6-6 division on me and I was so confused about the morning hours.

[@asdic888]

@@stawpnagd7820 That's been my experience living in Thailand. 8 AM is usually referred to as 8 โมงเช้า (mohng chao - "o'clock in the morning") or simply โมง (mohng - "o'clock") while 8 PM is nearly always 2 ทุ่ม (toom - evening/night.) This is so much the case that I've long ago internalized the different terminology for early afternoon (บ่าย), late afternoon (เย็น - yen), and evening/night (ทุ่ม), but I can never remember the different AM terms other than เช้า (chao.) Meanwhile, to avoid this confusion, TV broadcasters seem to have switched to a 24-hour clock using นาฬิกา (naleeka) in place of โมง .

[@Tiaimo]

You can understand the night six-hour, right? 7 PM = หนึ่งทุ่ม 8 PM = สองทุ่ม 9 PM = สามทุ่ม 10 PM = สี่ทุ่ม 11 PM = ห้าทุ่ม Why can't you understand the same idea for the morning? :) 7 AM = หนึ่งโมงเช้า (shorten to โมงเช้า // โมง) 8 AM = สองโมงเช้า // สองโมง 9 AM = สามโมงเช้า // สามโมง 10 AM = สี่โมงเช้า // สี่โมง 11 AM = ห้าโมงเช้า // ห้าโมง I don't get why you don't understand it since you do understand the night six-hour. 555+++ For the midnight, it becomes more and more standardize to say เที่ยงคืน, not หกทุ่ม. It's weird to hear someone say หกทุ่ม but it's understandable. The morning six-hour is pretty normal for the cental people who speak central dialect, not BKK. I was raised and grew up with this kind of system. This morning six-hour is considering to be one of our traditions. It's the same as the dialect we speak which is differ from standard Thai in Bangkok. As we are Thais, we're the people who always go with the flow. 555+++ So don't worry. Take your time to familiarize yourself with it like you do with night six-hour. XD Cheers

[@stawpnagd7820]

@@Tiaimo idk, it's weird to say 3 for 9 am (I was born in Ayutthaya, but live in Pathumthani, then Bangkok). The weirdest one is saying 5 โมงเช้า, which makes me think it's ตี 5 because I used to wake up at that time so it feels like morning to me. I only remember hearing the 6-6-6-6 division like once or twice in my life.

[@Tiaimo]

@@stawpnagd7820 555+++ ok. I got it Just pay more attention on the words. :)

[@johncao6516]

I would like to add that the traditional Chinese 12-(double)hour system name the hours by the 12 earthly branches. So midnight (11pm-1am) is called 子时 ("zi" hour), and the next two hours is called 丑时 ("chou" hour) and so on. It's still somewhat common in modern Chinese literature to refer to midnight as 子夜 ("zi" night). The Chinese character for noon (午) is also derived from the zodiac names and is still commonly used. Other names has largely fallen out of daily use, but not the noon character. Fun fact, the 12 earthly branches derived from the orbit of Jupiter, which takes roughly 12 years to circle around the sun. Jupiter is called the year star in ancient China. The earthly branches also correspond to the 12 months in a year, as well as the animals in the Chinese zodiac. Combined with the 10 heavenly stem, it creates a 60-year cycle in traditional Chinese calendar.

[@fireflyexposed]

And the languages that that are half to and not half past.

[@Esth.1]

Dutch does that! It still messes me up to tell the time in english lol

[@fireflyexposed]

@@Esth.1 Afrikaans does that because Dutch did it. It messes me up to tell the time in Afrikaans. I have to think really hard to remember the half to :D

[@Esth.1]

@@fireflyexposed sorry about that! :D EDIT: (and about a lot of other things we did in afrika)

[@gabor6259]

I say "half five" when it's half past four.

[@TheoEvian]

6:30 in Czech is always "půl sedmé", half of the seventh. But you can see things like "patnáct třicet" for 15:30 but you never say "půl šestnácté" for it. The half to system only works with 12 hour time. Aside from that, in Czech almost everything goes it is only just a thing of frequency, you can say things like "deset minut před dvacátou hodinou" (ten minutes before the twentieth hour) for 19:50 and "pět minut po poledni" (five minutes after noon) for 12:05 if you wanna sound a bit fancy.

[@ilyakogan]

In Hebrew the night is traditionally divided into "first shift", "second shift" and "third shift". The word is "ashmoret" from the root sh-m-r, meaning "to guard". Today this division is considered poetic and is sometimes mentioned in songs.

[@VArsovski10]

In the Balkans we use these in a jokeable manner for going outs, for ex. getting to cinema or restaurant means 1st shift, getting into a club or disco means 2nd shift, and getting (usually drunk af :P) in a night club means you've taken the 3rd shift as well :)

[@esthergerlitz2359]

I’ve never heard of אשמורת before

[@davidbrandes2126]

@@esthergerlitz2359 I believe OP is referring to Psalm 90 : "ואשמורה בלילה", like a watch in the night. Talmud Bavli Brachos chap 1 page 3a discusses משמרות extensively, particularly whether the evening is divided into 3 or 4 "watches", indicated by certain phenomena such as donkeys braying, dogs barking, women nursing, wives conversing with their husbands etc.

[@cheyennepetersen3417]

that sounds similar to what someone else commented in regards to the hindi/sanskrit etymology. that makes sense though because i've loosely strung together connections between hebrew and hindi through other languages like urdu/hindustani

[@czarbuscus1475]

I was looking for hebrew

[@RSPikachuAlpha]

In chinese, the word day, 日, can also mean the whole day, just like English! 日 has three meanings: Day Daytime Sun

[@sacrom5398]

Every 60 seconds in Africa a minute passes

[@ManpasTheBreathingHuman]

together we can stop this

[@snorgonofborkkad]

Mind. Blown.

[@CTGReviews]

MY NAME IS JAMAL

[@masarusenpai1952]

@@ManpasTheBreathingHuman Please spread the word.

[@Berilia]

This is terrible! We need to take action. There's also so much disrespect when homicide victims don't talk to the police!

[@ephratha5339]

As an Ethiopian we have the same thing as Swahili time here, except we call it Ethiopian time instead. Also, fun fact, Ethiopia additionally has it's own calendar with 13 months. The year is also 7 or 8 years behind the gregorian calendar depending on the time of the year you're checking. Two weeks ago, it turned 2013 :)

[@PurpleAmharicCoffee]

I found the comment I was looking for! Thanks.

[@JorgeRomero13]

In Spain, while we use the 24 hr clock, we have a weird system of dividing the day in speech, mainly because we have a timezone that doesn't correspond to the solar time, so solar noon happens between 1 and 2 pm usually, and therefore we have lunch and dinner later than other similar cultures. From midnight to 4:59 - or 5:59 sometimes - it is the "madrugada" (early morning, lit. the time you wake up early) After the "madrugada" until 11:59 it's "la mañana" (morning) From 12:00 to 15:59 it's "el mediodía" (midday) from 16:00 to 19:59 it's "la tarde" (afternoon or evening, we don't distinguish between those) And finally, from 20:00 to midnight it is "la noche" (night) You say the times as a number from 1 to 12 (so like in the am/pm system), but being described with one of the previous categories. For example, 14:00 would be "las dos del mediodía" (two in the midday). Saying "las dos de la tarde" is technically correct and everyone will understand, but it sounds somewhat off and less natural. This of course varies slightly if, for example, there's still a bit of sunlight at 20 you might say it's "las ocho de la tarde" instead of "las ocho de la noche".

[@TiagoFrancoMarques]

In Brazil we use "tarde" for times between 13:00 and 18:59 (this may vary). So for 14:00 we say "duas da tarde". I never knew this little difference in Spain.

[@ynntari2775]

it's exactly the same in Portuguese. But in Brazil, the noon is perfectly at 12:00, so it's almost perfectly divided into 6 intuitive parts, madrugada or manhã from midnight to 05:59, manhã from 06:00 to 11:59, meio-dia at 12:00, tarde from 01:00pm to 06:59, noite from 07:00 to 11:59pm and meia-noite at 00:00. The midday and midnight are single hours, punctual values, not categories like the other ones.

[@amjan]

Interesting! In Poland, TV weather reports often give what time of the day there's gonna be the actual solar noon.

[@Rebeyvapara]

Here in South America we do say "2 de la tarde" to 2:00 pm and "8 de la noche" to 8:00 pm. Always threw me off the way Spaniards say this 😅 but yes it makes sense.

[@weijiafang1298]

Similar thing happens in Xinjiang, China, where the clocks still show UTC+8. I once read a post by someone from Xiinjiang; when he mentions his daily schedule, he uses "上午12点" (12 o'clock in the morning) for 12:00.

[@HolyKoolaid]

Last time I was this early to a NativLang video, ancient Greece was still using water clocks!

[@mwanikimwaniki6801]

Holy. You're here

[@aeighe5065]

Yo, why are you here dude😂 Thanks for the educations you gave us.

[@bernardobila4336]

Man, I love your content. Greetings from Mozambique ❤️🇲🇿

[@JordanBeagle]

@@aeighe5065 It's a great video, that's why

[@dreamlandish]

And Iranians were using sun clocks

[@craigcook9715]

In the West, there used to be commonly used the "Canonical Hours" e.g., Matins, Lauds, Vespers, etc., which were times of day for certain prayers.

[@DrWhom]

"short shrift" or "quick work" in Dutch is _korte metten_ - short Matins!

[@RoseGuyCrazy]

That notion of 'natural time' mentioned at the end also can segue nicely into talking about different calendar systems in languages/cultures. Namely for me because it reminds me of an anthropology class I once took where we learned about some cultures that still very much use multiple calendars at the same time. A lot of those structured around agricultural-related events like the best times to plant/harvest certain crops

[@be2Gee]

Fascinating video. I'm Norwegian living in Thailand but I never really thought so much about "time", despite the differences, but they're rather simple to understand. After reading the comments I found out that time in many countries actually have lots of other practical uses besides the actual time, and how time is expressed also varies a lot. Very interesting. It has never even crossed my mind before.

[@sub-harmonik]

the original meaning of the word "moment" was 1/40th of a temporal hour

[@samneibauer4241]

So literally a minute and a half? That seems pretty accurate as to how long moments last for me.

[@sub-harmonik]

@@samneibauer4241 yes, if the temporal hour is 60 minutes. But there are 12 temporal hours between sunrise and sunset no matter the season afaik.

[@samneibauer4241]

@@sub-harmonik oh right, idk how I just glossed over the word "temporal". So unless you know long the current temporal hour is, the amount of time a moment lasts for is kinda ambiguous, right?

[@sub-harmonik]

@@samneibauer4241 yeah the length of a moment is proportional to the length of the temporal hour from my understanding

[@kameradimran2163]

Bruh 1/40th of a temporal hour

[@itzreaps]

Hey Nativlang, I just wanted to say that I absolutely love these videos so so much. I often listen to them while working on homework, and somehow it makes everything just a little bit easier. I'm not exactly the most mentally stable person, you see, and this channel always helps calm me down. I doubt you'd ever read this, but still. Thank you.

[@moroii]

Hours "breathing with the seasons." What a lovely turn of a phrase!

[@helenswan705]

This is brilliant, wonderful. it has fully stopped me from complaining about the 1 hour difference between GMT and summer time, here in UK. Truly educational

[@louiseogden1296]

Love this. Once I had learned Polish immersively it took me a while to get back into the mode of saying 'half PAST one' rather than 'half TO two'.

[@lindatisue733]

Swedish & Norweigan do the same thing. Wonder if that originated when Sweden controlled Pomerania ? Or do other Slavic languages use "half to..."? Does Polish also say "five past half past?"

[@varana]

@@lindatisue733 German does that as well, with some variation, and Russian, and probably others. It seems to be quite common in Slavic and Germanic languages (English is the exception there).

[@crystalwolcott4744]

@@varana I've heard both in American English.

[@ac281201]

@@lindatisue733 As someone who is Polish, we use "past" until 30 minutes, then it becomes "to" until the new hour: 14:10 - dziesięć *po* drugiej (ten *past* two) 14:30 - w pół *do* trzeciej (half *to* three) 14:45 - *za* piętnaście trzecia (fifteen *to* three) This way of telling time is quite popular, but there is also a lot of people (usually the younger generation) that just say hours in 24h system. As for "five past half past", there is no equivalent way to say it in Polish.

[@sbp4215]

It's funny, I only speak English and I frequently switch between the two methods

[@malashebad6181]

as someone who's been learning kiswahili for a few years I think it's very cute that you pronounce swahili words with an Italian accent! I had a very good swahili teacher early on who explained "people will understand you so long as you know the words even if your accent isn't perfect" and it helped me stay committed. I really love a language that's designed to be forgiving with the accent for new learners

[@RanmaruRei]

I'm a Russian and even for me it's quite confusing how to tell time for 12-hour clock in my language. In English used am and pm. Simple. In Russian we divide them to night, morning, daytime and evening. 6 a.m. is 6 часов утра (lit. 6 hours of morning) but 3 a.m. is 3 часа ночи (lit. 3 hours of night). 3 p.m. is 3 часа дня (lit. 3 hours of daytime) and 6 p.m. is 6 часов вечера (lit. 6 hours of evening). Russian language textbooks recommend to divide this way: From 12 a.m to 4 a.m. is night. From 4 a.m. to 12 p.m. is morning. From 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. is daytime. From 4 p.m. to 12 p.m. is evening.

[@xsc1000]

I'm Czech and it's similar here. But a more complicated, because we don't use daytime, we split it before and after noon. So we have nigh (noc), morning (ráno), before noon (dopoledne), afternoon (odpoledne), evening (večer). Division is not exact, depends on lenght of the day and also on speaker. For example, if you want to sent young child to go sleep, so it's 10 (p.m.) at the night. But you join party at 10 (p.m.) in the evening :-)

[@Greywander87]

Well, in English we do more or less the same thing, but it's entirely informal. "Night" is any time it's dark outside, "morning" always ends at noon, but can start any time after midnight, "afternoon" starts at noon but transitions into "evening" at some ambiguous point, and "evening" ends just as ambiguously some time before or up to midnight.

[@VArsovski10]

That's all fine but 2 of those parts are 8 hours long and the other two are 4 hours long, isn't that confusing ? :)

[@Heoltor]

That's like in spanish (I only can speak for Mexico) Madrugada - From midnight to sunrise Mañana (morning) - From sunrise to 12pm. 12 o'clock is El medio dia (the half of the day) hour 12 in the 24 hours. Tarde - From 12pm to sunset Noche (night) - From sunset to midnight The hour of sunrise and sunset is an approximate because the sun doesn't rise and set the same all year. But in the case of madrugada and mañana you are going to call the hour the same, "3 de la mañana" (3am), is clearly Madrugada, and "9 de la mañana" (9am), is clearly after sunrise, Mañana. But you do make the difference between Tarde and Noche, "7 de la tarde" (7pm) and "8 de la noche" (8pm)

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

Here in Australia, we have something sort of like the Yoruba. People who live out in the bush or are going camping often take mention of something which I remember being called the "bush clock". It might not have been called that, my memory is fuzzy. Basically, kookaburras can be heard throughout the day, but most often you'll hear them at dawn and dusk, so people who are camping will try to wake up with the kookaburras at dawn and sleep with the kookaburras at dusk. It's pretty neat.

[@CSLucasEpic]

Question: We now have a sort of universal way of writing down music using musical notes on a music staff. But what was the different standards of writing down music during different times, and different parts of the world?

[@waluigihentailover6926]

Good question!

[@fiveoutoffour]

oo i would like to know this aswell

[@boundless-vintage-music]

Traditional Chinese music employ 工尺譜(Gongche notation), like in Chinese opera. Nowadays 簡譜 (jianpu, “simplified staff notation”) is quite often used (use numbers 1 2 3 to notate do, re, mi)

[@smergthedargon8974]

This sounds like more of an Adam Neely question than a Nativlang question.

[@benditoanibal7507]

In catalan you divide time in quarters (nervier halfs) and a,ways count backwards, for example 10:15 is "un quart d’onze" which means one quarter of eleven. Very original but so dificult now a days that mostly every young reads the digital hour 😂😂. Great video, keep going !

[@mathphysicsnerd]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on undeciphered languages sometime

[@user-kd1eb6vc7y]

Cowabunga dude!

[@Weirdude777]

Rongorongo!

[@garygreen7552]

What an informative video. When you talked about time measurement in Thailand I thought about the standing watches in the Navy. Each watch lasts four hours so there are six in a day. The hour is still the standard measure. The ship's bell is rung every half hour once at the first half hour, two at the second and so on until the end of the watch with eight bells.

[@YehudaZimmerman]

Interesting. In Judaism. temporal time is still used today to determine the proper times for prayer and the beginning and end of each day/holiday. Some groups use clocks that have both sunrise and sunset at the 12:00 position on the clock, but these clocks need to be set manually. In addition, for various calculations (especially those involving the lunar cycle), hours are divided into 1080 parts called 'parts'. It's complex and fascinating. So thanks for a great, informative video!

[@i_teleported_bread7404]

This ought to help me with conlanging.

[@MuffinTastic]

jan misali viewer spotted

[@cueiyo6906]

@@MuffinTastic _laughs in Biblaridion_

[@josefwolanczyk4866]

Way ahead of you…

[@user-kd1eb6vc7y]

@@cueiyo6906 *laughs in David J. Peterson*

[@xmvziron]

@@user-kd1eb6vc7y You into Archi?

[@frikativos]

Really interesting! Maybe you can do another one about weeks. You know, a week doesn't consist of 7 days for everyone.

[@frenchbreadstupidity7054]

And let's not forget Africa Time, where meeting up at 3 means that it's perfectly acceptable to show up at 3:59, anything scheduled to begin at 6 begins at 7:30 and still late entry is permitted, words like 'now-now' and 'a while ago' describe a lengh of time varying with the context, from minutes to decades, and you can drive through a red light up to 5 seconds after it went on.

[@AndrewVasirov]

They are taking their time!

[@FOLIPE]

Sounds like Brazil. You invite everyone to show up at your house at 7pm and everyone will have arrived at 9pm.

[@ginaverso]

It also happens like that in Latin America.

[@daviddamjanoski6104]

In the Balkans as well

[@Sprecherfuchs]

Haha, that now-now reminds me of Tobagonians. "Now" means later, "just now" means soon, "right now" means in a minute and "now for now" means now!

[@haritzheng]

Thank you for including our traditional Thai time system. We really appreciate your hard work.

[@jabrown]

I once designed a clock that divided the day into 64 parts, which shrank and grew in "absolute time" depending on daylight. I called it "relative time". Glad to see ancient wise people before me had the same idea. Later on I also made a special kind of clock, but I forgot what the idea behind it was.

[@tomcrowell6697]

You could go further in depth on calendars and language, like with the Egyptian calendar of three seasons with five inter-calendar days. I'd love to see an part two to this video!

[@DylanMatthewTurner]

It felt like forever this time! So happy a new vid's out

[@ibi6262]

It's been quite a while since Thai has been brought up on this channel eh? Another funny thing about times in Thai is that the names of the periods of times are named after onomatopoeia of timekeeping instruments!

[@liquidlychee]

Amazing! thank you for sharing your knowledge of clocks and the time they keep!

[@bluehuenew]

This is amazing, never really thought about how language influences our perception of time!

[@marisapoulsen]

Damn, that Japanese system seems really useful and intuitive, I wish we used that here too

[@ynntari2775]

then explain it to me, please

[@amjan]

@@ynntari2775 I had too much energy yesterday, and once I started playing video games at 22:00, I finished somewhere around 27:00. Now I feel exhausted today!

[@ynntari2775]

@chobopanda Thanks, it didn't seem so simple as this when I watched the video

[@MrsKoldun]

4:31 A little correction for Mandarin: The word for daytime 昼〔晝 is the traditional character〕in Mandarin is not commonly used outside of a hand full of set expressions like 昼夜。People more often use 白天。 The 日 you used for indicating „the whole day“ if taken literally just refers to the daytime hours because it means „sun“. But it is also used to indicate the date or days of the week. 日 and 夜 are seen as antonyms.

[@ADeeSHUPA]

白天

[@meezookee8491]

In Japanese, we still use 昼 as a single letter word. Of course, it is pronounced in Japanese vernacular way though.

[@simonlow0210]

昼 is still a commonly used word in Southern Chinese language groups like Yue, Hakka, Min etc. For example: 上昼 (morning)，当昼/晏昼 (noon)，下昼 (afternoon)

[@RaymondHng]

@@simonlow0210 I've heard my mother say 上昼 ("up day") and 下昼 ("down day") in her dialect of Cantonese, but never 当昼/晏昼. She just says 十二点 ("12 point").

[@simonlow0210]

@@RaymondHng I see. Maybe she is more used to saying 十二点? But yeah, Noon usually is "晏昼" (an zau) in Cantonese.

[@beaudanner]

Honestly the overlap I find really intuitive. Imma start using it once life starts again. "What time is it?" Me, "28 o'clock bro" 👍🏼😉😂

[@cmyk8964]

The Japanese 25th-hour clock is a formalized version of “it isn’t tomorrow until I sleep”

[@jorgeneri]

And again, couldn't believe something like this is being produced and is available to watch. Thank you so much.

[@Earthenfist]

That end bit. That's like, Vespers or Teatime, Lunchtime, Sundown. All those things that're still used as 'telling time' but which aren't based on specific hours of the day- and yet, people know when they are.

[@DrWhom]

Dämmerung in German can mean either dawn or dusk. Actually twilight also has both meanings although most native speakers would nowadays assume you meant the evening.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

What time is it? NativLang time!

[@Chrischi3TutorialLPs]

A great example for how events are described by human events is german. We subdivide the day into noon and afternoon, like many other western languages, but we call them Vormittag and Nachmittag, which is literally just before and after lunchtime (Though actually eating lunch at 12 o'clock is unusual in our modern times) because in germany, lunch is the warm meal, not dinner.

[@Ashi8No8Yubi]

I found out about the old Japanese temporal time system way back when I was in study and kept finding the old characters for the zodiac animals used for the 12 hours (six sunlight and six dark). I even use the same clock as an app on my phone.

[@na4zagin3]

East Asian had another chronometrical system for night, called 更點, where time between dusk and dawn are divided into 5 turns (初更 to 五更) and each turn is divided into 5 points (初點 to 五點). Therefore, dawn is 1 turn 1 point (初更初點). (PS: Apparently, 更 is translated as a “watch.” I didn't know that..) BTW, in Japanese calendar system 具注暦 used before 11c, a duodecimal unit (十二時辰) and a decimal unit (刻) are weirdly mixed. In the system, a day is divided into 12 時辰 and each 時辰 is divided into 4 and 1/6 刻 so that one 刻 is equal to 1/50 day.

[@simonlow0210]

Yeah, Chinese has this phrase 三更半夜, which proves that 三更 (3 turns) = 半夜 (midnight)

[@maxineward1419]

how beautiful is that last one, naming hours by the birds that sing at that time

[@TurtleMarcus]

In Norwegian, "dag" (cognate to English "day") denotes the daylight hours and also "day" when counting (e.g. "10 days till my next paycheck"). But "døgn" specifically refers to a full day-and-night cycle. "Døgnet rundt" (around the døgn) means around the clock. And the expression "snu døgnet" (to turn the døgn [on its head]) means to work all night and sleep all day, thereby turning the ordinary day-night-cycle on its head. North of the Polar Circle, in the very north, we have "polarnatt" (polar night) where the sun is down (i.e. not visible in the sky) for a full 24-hour day, and "midnattssol" (midnight sun) when the sun is up for a full 24-hour day. North of the 75th parallel north, the year is practically speaking one long day and one long night: in Ny-Ålesund, the winter night is 117 days long and the summer day is 128 days long.

[@SimonClarkstone]

There was (is?) also astronomer time, where the date transition happens at midday, rather than at midnight, so it sits in inactive hours. (they also number days from a start point rather than having a structured calendar) And Unix time, which is just a count of seconds from the beginning of 1970 (UTC). And Excel time, which is a fraction of the day (counting days from two different points depending on version)

[@danielbishop1863]

Excel time also assigns a number to the non-existent date 1900-02-29 for the sake of bug-compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3.

[@SimonClarkstone]

@@danielbishop1863 Or perhaps 1900-01-00? I've heard it both ways.

[@vigneshvijayakumar2286]

I was long waiting for your video

[@Ratzfourtyfour]

Nice to see a video that is not just a re-iteration of a random Wikipedia entry. Hats off to you. This made me understand a line in a famous Japanese song referring to 25 o'clock, man this is gold.

[@JordanBeagle]

This is the kind of stuff I love to think about! The things that usually don't even occur to a person, thanks for sharing!

[@tonytonystache]

My parents come from the southern part of east Africa but I’m razed in Europe. Unfortunately as a kid I didn’t know how to tell the time for some reason. And I felt it was too embarrassing to ask the teacher at school so I asked my parents and they taught me the Swahili way of telling the time😂 My teacher eventually found out I read time differently than the other kids.

[@koengsinghz]

Perhaps you could do a video on calendars in various countries ! I'd surely enjoy it! 👍

[@bigscarysteve]

The names of the months in Slavic languages is interesting. Some of them adopted the Roman names of the months when they converted to Christianity, while others have kept the same names for the months that they had in pre-Christian times.

[@GM6701]

In Cantonese, there's a very special time unit named 'daap' (答), which divides an hour into 12 portions, one 'daap' represents 5 minutes. So 3:05 we cantonnese speaking people will say 三點答一 (literally means three o'clock daap one) and for 4:45, we will say 四點答九 (literally means four o'clock daap nine). I wonder there are other language that does this :)

[@simonlow0210]

In Malaysian spoken Chinese, we also say "字" to represent 5 minutes. For example, 一点五个字(1.25)，十二点九个字 (12.45)。

[@GamelanSinarSurya]

Phenomenal presentation about the concept of time keeping around the world. I really enjoyed the graphics and all of the terminology in the various languages. Well done!

[@benjaminbradley4771]

It's not often that I watch something these days, without at least a little criticism. Probably because I'm a Saddo. But this genuinely had me enthralled and without critique. Thank you. Your video was quite interesting and super worth storing into my mind.

[@ehname1]

I actually love the idea of seasonal hours... It aligns better with our circadian rhythm

[@CosmiaNebula]

In the past, astronomers start and end their days at noon so that they could observe through the night without having to put in a day jump in the records. It's somewhat similar to the Japanese system.

[@tidetide3408]

Thai here, they're ... mong chao (Thai: ...โมงเช้า, [mōːŋ tɕʰáːw]) for the first half of daytime Bai ... mong (บ่าย...โมง, [bàːj mōːŋ]) for the latter half of daytime ... thum (...ทุ่ม, [tʰûm]) for the first half of nighttime Ti ... (ตี..., [tīː]) for the latter half of nighttime They originated from onomatopoeia of traditional timekeeping devices: mong from a Gong, thum from a drum, and ti is Thai verb for to hit or to strike. However, this system had started to overlap itself with the standard 24-hour system for a period of time e.g. for the elderly, they call 8AM สองโมงเช้า song mong chao - two o'clock in the first half of daytime, whereas the younger generation just call it แปดโมงเช้า paet mong chao - eight o' clock in the first half of daytime. So, if you come to Thailand and learn Thai here, you might be confused by our timekeeping system used colloquially. You can spot the confusing ones here. 01:00 - 05:00 ti nueng - ti ha 06:00 ti hok/hok mong chao 07:00 nueng mong chao/chet mong chao 08:00 song mong chao/paet mong chao 09:00 sam mong chao/kao mong chao 10:00 si mong chao/sip mong chao 11:00 ha mong chao/sip-et mong chao 12:00 thiang (wan) 13:00 - 15:00 bai mong-bai sam mong 16:00 si mong yen 17:00 ha mong yen 18:00 hok mong yen 19:00 - 23:00 nueng thum - ha thum 24:00/00:00 thiang khuen Anyways, the overlapped system is more popularized nowadays. You won't met the traditional system unless you meet the elderly.

[@WaterShowsProd]

My friends in the provinces still use the traditional method. They're not that old. :) I don't use สองโมงเช้า myself, but some people I know who've moved to Bangkok still use it, but probably more rural people. ชาวนา เป็นต้นนะครับ

[@RubeeRoja]

That's so fascinating. I knew that many parts of the world go by the 24-hour clock versus the 12-hour clock that I'm used to using, but I had no idea there were so many other methods of telling time around the world! Once again I learned so much from this channel

[@Kekoapono]

This is the first video of yours that left me very confused. I had a very tough time following along with this video, but I blame that on myself rather than how you presented the information. This is (at least to me) a very complicated subject, and I had no idea there were/are so many different interpretations. It’s amazing how we ended up agreeing on anything when it comes to interpreting the passage of time.

[@Hannaoderso1]

Here in Bavaria, some people say per example "Viertel 7", meaning that a quarter hour (=Viertel) is still missing until it's 7 am. So "Viertel 7" is NOT 7.15 am, but it's 6.45 am. 7.15 am, however, is "Viertel NACH 7" (quarter after 7). In other parts of Germany, 6.45 am is referred to as "Viertel vor 7" (quarter before 7). Also, "halb 7" isn't "half an hour after 7" = 7.30 am, but it's actually "half an hour before 7" = 6.30 am. Weirdly enough, the half-hour-system is used everywhere in Germany, but the quarter-hour-system from Germany, that uses the same logic as the half-hour-one, is only used in Bavaria. Really confused me a lot when I moved here.

[@ellianaellrow]

I am from Bavaria, too. It can be confusing at first, but actually it is quite logical, you just add another quarter to the "cake"/analog clock, until it is a new full hour. Normally, "viertel 7" (quarter 7) means 6:15, at least in my area, and 6:45 is "dreiviertel 7" (three quarter 7) and in between, as you mentioned, is "halb 7" (half 7) for 6:30. This system is also used in other parts of southern and eastern Germany (e.g. in Berlin). So far I've never heard that "halb 7" means 7:30 in in other parts of Germany. I am quite sure that 6:30 is most common in Germany. But I agree that "viertel nach 6" (quarter past 6) for 6:15 and "viertel vor 7" (quarter to 7) for 6:45 are probably Standard German.

[@Henoik]

One thing I've always found interesting, is that there is no one English word that means a 24 hr cycle. The closest you have, is "day", but in my Norwegian mind, that's only a 12 hr cycle. In Norwegian, we have the word "Dag" meaning "Day" (traditionally meaning the 12 hr cycle with most daylight -- now it more or less means the period between 06:00 and 18:00) and "Døgn", meaning a full 24 hr cycle.

[@Sovairu]

As as technical term, there exists nychthemeron, a borrowing from Greek, en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nychthemeron but it's definitely not a part of common vocabulary.

[@thekidfromiowa]

I hoped the French revolutionary calendar would be mentioned. It'd take an entire video to explain that mess.

[@twincast2005]

Well, it was alluded to once. That's something.

[@weijiafang1298]

@Christiaan Overgaard Chinese were busy with making a decimal system even in ancient times, because our ancestors believed "God instructs us to do so by giving us ten fingers." But for some reasons I do not know, the ten double-hour system of Qin was replaced with the twelve double-hour of Han; the only remnant of the previous system was a five-watch system for night, continued right up to the introduction of mechanical clocks.

[@Game_Hero]

Tigerstar did one.

[@dlevi67]

It's not particularly messy. If anything, it's significantly simpler than the 24/60/60 system. It simply didn't catch on, unlike the rest of the metric system.

[@thekidfromiowa]

@@dlevi67 I should've clarified the mess was the calendar not their clocks.

[@solareclipse4727]

One of the most interesting videos that I have seen in the last couple of weeks. Thanks!

[@milesmojave8223]

Vancouver's transit system operates after 12am, but the time between 12am and 2am is called "X Time" and is denoted with an X following the time: 1:30 X During X time, bus drivers would accept fares valid for the previous day in addition to current day fares.

[@reveranttangent1771]

One of the most "unbelievable" stories from Herodotus was of sub Saharan sailors who said that the sun traveled from east to north to west.

[@UteChewb]

One of the most amazing parts of his History. How the Egyptians circumnavigated Africa. Very cool and changed how I thought of the Egyptians.

[@reveranttangent1771]

@@UteChewb nice

[@dvx-ze1qz]

Thanks for the explanation! Was wondering what 二十五時の空 (the sky of twenty-five o’clock) meant since there was, to my knowledge, 24 hours.

[@TheoEvian]

As a Japanese studies person I must say that Japanese has had and has still some interesting time words: for example the difference between things like akebono 曙, yoake 夜明け and asa 朝 is not so straightforward. In Japanese you could find the "daylight" and "night" words too in like hiru 昼 being the "light part of day" and yoru 夜 the night. Looking to through the chinese comments under me I think this is used even more than in Chinese. Also, aside from the time system named in the video with the back counting stuff (which I have not exactly understood back when I was learning to read old japanese manuscripts, not very successfully, i have to admit) you also had the system of 12 double-hours which unlike china were called 刻, so there must have been a lot of misunderstandings when talking about time :D Also I have never seen the 25時 thing but that probably just means I havent been partying enough in Japan, it wouldn't surprise me to see something like that.

[@twincast2005]

On that last part, literally the only circumstance I've seen it used in is airtime of all late-night TV shows.

[@nomadicmonkey3186]

I don't want to be that guy but I'm not so sure about if there's any substantial differences in regards to time perception in the (modern) Japanese language that you can glean from words like 曙, 夜明け and 朝 while English has (mostly literary) words such as dawn and daybreak. Do these word indicate they still have subtle differences for different aspects of day and night in modern English speaking countries? I believe 曙 and 夜明け are kinda like these words which people do know but don't use on a daily basis except for joking purposes. On a side note, as I wrote in my comment somewhere below, you'd most likely be familiar with the extended clock thingy if you're keen on following late-night TV programs as it's extensively used in that specific industry but not much anywhere else as far as I know.

[@TheoEvian]

@@nomadicmonkey3186 I would hear 夜明け quite frequently when I got home from drinking at around 5 AM :D And yes, akebono is a bit archaic. I was just thinking about how in Japanese compared to for example my native language, Czech, there are so many verbs for weird things like you have a different verb for twisting something with one hand and both hands. And I really got into dire straits when I had to explain my students I think when exactly is 晩 compared to 夕方 and 夜 etc. It isn't something hard unless you are teaching the language then you feel very frequently that what you find most logical seems illogical to everybody else etc.

[@lizexi7115]

@@TheoEvian 明天 is used in chinese to say tomorrow，明夜 is used sometime to say tomorrow night， 晚上 mean at night, 夜里 mean middle of night and so on

[@TheoEvian]

@@lizexi7115 In japanese the chinese borrowing (which is actualy mostly read as a different native word) for tomorrow is 明日. Like in chinese we can see that the words you use are derived from some common roots (夜 etc shows up multiple times) while in Japanese there are really a lot of words that you can't really point easilly to any commonality between them.

[@sjappiyah4071]

Great video, much respect that it featured more unknown cultures like mesoamerica and Yoruba manners of timekeep rather than simply sticking to a Eurocentric perspective

[@j.d.4697]

Fascinating! Different perspectives on the things we perceive as "normal" makes all the difference.

[@inkamacron]

I was watching Thoth’s Pill when I got the notification for this video...

[@felicvik9456]

I was literally just thinkin': hmm, Native lang hasn't posted in a while, he'll probably post soon. Then I went outside for a couple minutes, went back and looked at my notifications, and BOOM Native lang 20 tides ago (tide = ~30s)

[@199NickYT]

"The night is young!" "Dude, it's 2am" "No it isn't, it's 14pm! We've still got FOUR HOURS until tomorrow morning!!"

[@takpaanboskofsky]

Good morning from Alaska!

[@alexandresiqueirajr136]

Good afternoon, from brazil

[@vigneshvijayakumar2286]

Good night from India

[@thatbluehairgirl0165]

Good evening from Italy

[@appleslover]

Good night from Turkey

[@appleslover]

@@thatbluehairgirl0165 Good Ebening*

[@WhatACoolArrow]

I know it's not a new video but it's the first one I've seen and it's terrific. 10/10 amazing content

[@sheherazahde5611]

Thanks! This was just what I was looking for! I know about different calendars but I didn’t know about different “clocks”.