Re: [Lingo] 間vs間:Thanks...

[steve <sjs@example.com>]

On 05/29/2012 01:31 PM, steve wrote:

shonennhaHi all.

How does one know when 間 is pronounced あいだ and when it's ま?

I have two sentences.
This is from a short story by Haruki Murakami and according to its 
furagana it is ま.
少年は少し間を置く。
And this is from an example on the yahoo.jp dictionary for あいだ:
彼を長い間待たせておいた。

Thank you
Steve Smith

Thanks. 

I asked my friend Hiroko about this a couple of weeks ago.  She's 87 and has been in the US since the 50's.  I was surprised that she didn't know that 間 was also pronounced ま. 
At this point in my learning curve I guess it isn't too important but it's nice to have some idea.  I just encountered 間が抜ける in (まが抜ける) in the yahoo dict.  I think I'm just going to wing it and hope I don't look too 間が抜ける too often.

Steve.