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I was puzzled by this use of "１日," which I had not encountered yet (from tangorin.com):

私たちはたいてい１日の主な食事を晩にとります。
We usually have our main meal of the day in the evening.
わたしたちはたいていいちにちのおもなしょくじをばんにとります。

Questions:

  1. Is this reading by tangorin.com correct?
  2. Why do example sentences in WWJDIC, Tangorin, or Jisho.org not come with readings by default? What is the point of having example sentences with computer-generated readings that one cannot trust? Your insights would be appreciated. Perhaps it would reduce my frustration somewhat.
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    What alternative reading do you think is appropriate any why?
    – BJCUAI
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 18:37
  • j-talk.com/convert provides the following: わたくし-たち は たいてい ついたち の おもな しょくじ を ばん に とります。
    – Ned Reif
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 18:53
  • tangorin.com provides the following, of course: 一日【いちにち・いちじつ・ひとひobs.・ひとえobs.】
    – Ned Reif
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 18:55
  • dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/en/%E4%B8%80%E6%97%A5/#je-3507 provides no readings for the sentences, ever
    – Ned Reif
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 18:58
  • 4
    ついたち and いちにち aren’t different pronunciations of the same word, they’re different words that can be written the same way. If you want to figure out which word is written there, you’ll need to learn what each word means and then think about which would be appropriate in context.
    – user1478
    Commented Jan 30, 2019 at 19:59

1 Answer 1

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Okay. So we have: ついたち, いちじつ, and いちにち. [ひとひ and ひとえ are both indicated as being obsolete]

ついたち is pretty well shown to be used for the 'first day of the month', so this usage is unambiguous.

This leaves us with いちじつ and いちにち. Which one is correct? いちにち is the more common form. The vast amount of the time this will be the reading. いちじつ is often used in compound kanji sets (四文字熟語, etc.）and would necessitate the kanji element 「一」 rather than the Arabic numeral '1'. The usage of いちじつ is more literary/poetic.

While you said that dictionary.goo.ne.jp didn't provide readings, the link that you posted in the comments was actually informative as to their usages.

To answer your second question, as to why these sites do not choose a 'default' reading, I would say it is because all readings are equally valid and their selection depends on context. Also, a 'default' reading indication can possibly encourage people to select an inappropriate reading and discourage them from selecting the most appropriate reading. Possibly having a 'usage frequency indicator' might be helpful though. You might want to ask them why they don't have something like this.

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  • This answer is awesome in its precision. Thank you for taking the time to spell it out for me. Your selfless labors to educate a stranger reaffirms my faith in the internet at a time when many reports paint a gloomy picture. I truly value the effort!
    – Ned Reif
    Commented Feb 1, 2019 at 13:57
  • @NedReif I'm glad I could do a little to reaffirm your faith in the potential of the internet:)
    – BJCUAI
    Commented Feb 1, 2019 at 14:15

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