Author Topic: Are bathrooms and kitchens considered rooms?! (Read 746 times)

Moonlight · « **on:** February 03, 2019, 11:09:04 pm »

It might sound a weird question, but it made my students strongly disagree with each other. Last week, I taught a short passage about an apartment and its furniture. The passage contained the words bedroom, livingroom, bathroom, and kitchen as well .At the end of the text, there were some True/False statements. One of them was this:

There are two rooms in the apartment. True. False

Honestly, I couldn't decide whether to consider the bathroom and the kitchen as rooms or not. So, half of the class was crying two and the other half four!

What would be your answer to this question?

NealC · « **Reply #1 on:** February 03, 2019, 11:30:46 pm »

In advertisements of apartments and houses for sale or to rent they really only mention the number of bedrooms.
The above would advertised 1BR apt, EiK, LR, 1Ba.
But I think in learning languages all 4 would fall under the heading "Rooms of the House".

Moonlight · « **Reply #2 on:** February 03, 2019, 11:43:08 pm »

Quote from: NealC on February 03, 2019, 11:30:46 pm

In advertisements of apartments and house for sale or to rent they really only mention the number of bedrooms.
The above would advertised 1BR apt, EiK, LR, 1Ba.
But I think in learning languages all 4 would fall under the heading "Rooms of the House"..

Thank you very much!

Kseniia · « **Reply #3 on:** February 04, 2019, 09:12:42 am »

I think the answer depends on the country in question. For example, in Russia we usually say the number of bedrooms and living rooms (bathrooms, kitchens and balconies don't count). In China, they only mention the number of bedrooms — though some good-hearted estate agents may try to convince you to rent a one bedroom flat for the price of a two bedroom one if they know you're from a post-USSR country. Still, strictly speaking, bathrooms and kitchens are rooms (seriously, what are they if not rooms?). What a culturally biased question! :)

Moonlight · « **Reply #4 on:** February 04, 2019, 11:15:13 am »

Quote from: Kseniia on February 04, 2019, 09:12:42 am

I think the answer depends on the country in question. For example, in Russia we usually say the number of bedrooms and living rooms (bathrooms, kitchens and balconies don't count). In China, they only mention the number of bedrooms — though some good-hearted estate agents may try to convince you to rent a one bedroom flat for the price of a two bedroom one if they know you're from a post-USSR country. Still, strictly speaking, bathrooms and kitchens are rooms (seriously, what are they if not rooms?). What a culturally biased question!

Just like in China, we really don't think of bathrooms and kitchens as rooms. For example, when renting an apartment, you will often hear people talk about two or three bedroom apartments, without mentioning other parts of the house.

It was funny when one of my students argued that a bathroom was a room, too. Some of the girls in the class couldn't accept her opinion and told her if she would LIVE in a bathroom.

Truman Overby · « **Reply #5 on:** February 04, 2019, 12:30:15 pm »

To follow up on Neal's answer, in the US ads for houses for sale don't normally mention the total number of rooms, as he stated. The total square footage of the house is the golden number in the US. The calculation of which is controversial. Some measure the outside dimensions, some calculate the square footage on the inside dimensions omitting closets while some include closets.

The only time I can think of seeing total number of rooms under roof is in the case of historic houses. The Russian twist on room counting has always made me wonder about the historical roots of the practice of counting only the bedroom and the living room. Do you know, Kseniia?

Chizuko · « **Reply #6 on:** February 04, 2019, 01:01:36 pm »

In Japan, the bathroom and kitchen are not counted as rooms. So advertisements of apartments show like, 'A Kitchen with a dining room, A bathroom, 1 Living room, 2 Bed rooms.'

This is more infor.
There is not a toilet in the bathroom in Japanese houses. Toilet is separated from a bathroom. You might call a toilet room and bathtub with shower room. But in very small apartment have both in one room like western style. But they are smaller than westerns'.

Kitchen and dining room are often combined too. If it says 3LDK of an apartment, it usually means 3 bed rooms, 1 living room and 1 kitchen combined a dining room.

Nikola · « **Reply #7 on:** February 04, 2019, 01:31:28 pm »

In the Czech Republic, you'll see something like 2+1 or 3+kk. The first number represents the number of rooms (bedrooms, living rooms), the second tells you whether there's a separate kitchen (1) or an open-plan kitchen that's attached to one of the rooms (kk). We have two words, pokoj and místnost. Pokoj means room - one you can "live" in. Místnost is any area within the house/flat that is separated from other areas by walls. It's an umbrella term that covers anything from bathroom to walk-in closet as well as bedrooms.

Alharacas · « **Reply #8 on:** February 05, 2019, 01:25:37 am »

Quote from: Nikola on February 04, 2019, 01:31:28 pm

In the Czech Republic, you'll see something like 2+1 or 3+kk. The first number represents the number of rooms (bedrooms, living rooms), the second tells you whether there's a separate kitchen (1) or an open-plan kitchen that's attached to one of the rooms (kk). We have two words, pokoj and místnost. Pokoj means room - one you can "live" in. Místnost is any area within the house/flat that is separated from other areas by walls. It's an umbrella term that covers anything from bathroom to walk-in closet as well as bedrooms.

The same happens in German with Raum, the equivalent of místnost, vs. Zimmer, which corresponds to pokoj.

As a side note, it was always clear whether a person was from the GDR when they said Zweiraumwohnung, as opposed to Zweizimmerwohnung (FRG).

Sunshine · « **Reply #9 on:** February 05, 2019, 07:46:39 pm »

Here we have 1BHK, 2BHK and 3BHK house. BHK stands for Bedroom, Hall and Kitchen. Depending upon number of bedroom, the 1, 2 and 3 are prefixed. So, if you consider a room depending upon amount of time we spend there, then kitchen and bathroom may not be considered as rooms. But sometimes in summer, I like to spend time under the shower for hours more than I spend in my bedroom. So, in that case, it could be considered as a room

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Author Topic: Are bathrooms and kitchens considered rooms?! (Read 746 times)

Moonlight

Are bathrooms and kitchens considered rooms?!

NealC

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Moonlight

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Kseniia

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Moonlight

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Truman Overby

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Chizuko

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Nikola

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Alharacas

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Sunshine

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