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In English, & is rather frequently used to mean "and".

How should & be read in Japanese? I think these are some likely readings:

  • アンド

Case 1: Assume sentence structure is of the form "A & B", where "A" and "B" are objects. Now the word "and" would just be doing listing:

  • Apples and oranges

This seems easy to achieve with for inexhaustive listing and for exhaustive listing.

Case 2: Now if "A" and "B" are not objects, but events/instructions/etc. The word "and" does not merely list. It can imply sequence:

  • Brush my teeth and go to bed

This seems to be achieved using the て form of the verb. (Can & in Japanese do that?)

(Question) What are the ways that & is used in Japanese and how should it be read in each case?

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Can you give some real Japanese examples? This ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/… does not mention any use in Japanese language. –  fefe Dec 13 '11 at 15:51
I wanted to use a photo I took of instructions printed on a payphone but I inadvertently deleted it. For all it's worth it was something like "カードを使う＆電話をかける". But since I can only recall it from memory I don't know if it's a good enough example. So I opted to phrase the question in a more generic way to catch all cases. –  Flaw Dec 13 '11 at 15:57
I doubt if "&" has become part of the Japanese language. It may be merely a misc symbol. The reading would depend on the specific situation when it is used (if it is indeed used). And the way how it is used may depend on the user (I suspect that most people won't use this symbol in everyday life). –  fefe Dec 13 '11 at 16:15

1 Answer 1

up vote 9 down vote accepted

& is not part of Japanese. It is just cited form a western language (probably English), and is just read "アンド". If you see カードを使う＆電話をかける, it is most likely pronounced "...アンド...".

One important thing is that Japanese does not have the counterpart to the word and. The particles or do not mean and but are rather close to with. みかんとりんご is something like apples with oranges rather than oranges and apples. That is why you cannot connect predicates with or . The て-form is something like participles in English. So the strategy of using the て-form to connect the predicates like 歯を磨いて寝る is something like having brushed my teeth, I sleep rather than I brush my teeth and sleep, although the latter sounds more natural in English.

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"One important thing is that Japanese does not have the counterpart to the word and." Enlightening! –  Louis Dec 14 '11 at 7:12

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