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I'm curious as to the difference in usage between 長い間 and 長期間. I'd written
最近長い間の旅行をしています, which someone graciously corrected to 最近長期間の旅行をしています. How
should I be looking to use these two options generally?
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2017-01-21T06:59:51.163
42728
2017-01-21T07:36:59.923
2017-01-21T07:10:00.973
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13569
question
word-choice
Difference between 長い間 and 長期間
That someone knows Japanese, then.

「長{なが}い間{あいだ}」 is usually used **_adverbially_** by native speakers. So, 「長い間
**の** 旅行{りょこう}」 sounds slightly, if not so much, unnatural as 「長い間の」 is used
**_adjectivally_** here, modifying the noun 「旅行」.

「長い間の旅行をする」 may in fact even be grammatical, but it sounds fairly wordy and
awkward by the native speakers' standards. Careful speakers would not say
that.

「長期間{ちょうきかん}の旅行をする」, on the contrary, sounds just completely natural with no
stress whatsoever.

When both phrases are used adverbially, the difference would be that 「長期間」
would often sound more formal than 「長い間」. This can be said about the vast
majority of the on-reading and kun-reading word pairs. On-reading words just
sound more formal, academic, technical, etc. in general.
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2017-01-21T07:18:51.987
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2017-01-21T07:36:59.923
2017-01-21T07:36:59.923
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answer