How to read: the "~" (tilde) in "3~4 行"

Question

How should I read the "~" mark that stands for range, as described in the title?

I saw this in the following sentence:

3~4行ごとに1行あけると読みやすい。

Answer 1

There is no strict rule about this. It's best not to use this "～" symbol denoting a range, when it's meant to be read out loud by someone.

But if you really have to, you can read the "～" symbol as "から" in many cases.

• 3～4行ごと　さんからよんぎょうごと
• 2月3～5日　にがつみっかからいつか
• 15～17階　じゅうごかいからじゅうななかい or じゅうごからじゅうななかい
• 500～600円　ごひゃくえんからろっぴゃくえん or ごひゃくからろっぴゃくえん

Note that this sounds like you strictly specify the range of numbers. If you say like this, it means "three or four lines; not five nor two".

Alternatively, in this case, you can use the common idiom "さんよん", which more vaguely refers to the range around it.

• 3～4行ごと　さんよんぎょうごと
• 2～3日間　にさんにちかん
• 4～5回　しごかい
• 500～600円　ごろっぴゃくえん

These are closer to English "a few", "several", "a couple of", etc.

Answer 2

In other words, you disagree with the wikipedia entry below mentioning the second part of まで, which your answer suggests is unnecessary or wrong?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation#Interpunct

To indicate ranges (5時〜6時, from 5 o'clock to 6 o'clock; 東京〜大阪 Tokyo to Osaka). In such cases it may be read as ...kara...made (...から...まで)