Learn Japanese » Colloquialism

I was going to make a better title but eh, whatever

Tae Kim — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 06:55:00 +0000

I think I learned 「別に」 probably around the same time I learned how to say “yes” and “no” in Japanese. That’s how awesome and useful this expression is. Unfortunately, it’s not the type of thing that’s taught in a classroom so I’m putting this one in the “Colloquialism” category, which is just my way of [...]

How come they never teach 「何で」?

Tae Kim — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 06:45:54 +0000

Ｉ don’t know how far Japanese language education has progressed in recent years, but back when I was a student, we were taught to use 「どうして」 for “why”. This was great until I went out into the real world and found out that people used another word that I was never taught: 「なんで」. Huh? What [...]

It’s that guy, fellow, chap thing

Tae Kim — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 03:35:52 +0000

No offense, but where’s some of the more practical/useful stuff? For a while there, you had me checking this blog everyday – and learning something new every time you posted something. These days…not so much. – jljzen Ouch. Ok, I admit, I’ve been incredibly lazy with this blog lately. Sometimes I go on a writing spree [...]

So many ways to say, “say”!

Tae Kim — Fri, 05 May 2006 03:57:13 +0000

Just when you thought I was making empty promises, here is the third and final post devoted to the word 「言う」 and the wait was worth it because the third post is a podcast!

Various Slang for 「言う」 (length: 14:19)

This podcast features Akina as our guest as we discuss various slang for 「言う」 such as pronouncing it as 「ゆう」 or replacing 「という」 with 「つ」. We also get an explanation of 「というか」 in Japanese as well as looking at variations such as 「ていうか」、「つうか」、and 「てか」.

Kansai people hate it when you say 「じゃん」

Tae Kim — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:59:23 +0000

But who cares about them, right? That’s right, Tokyo all the way man. Whoo hoo! Sure people are cold and rude here but at least they don’t get into your business. And plus, Osaka is like a tiny, tiny version of Tokyo. (Let the flames begin!) Ahem. Anyway, now that I got my usual pointless introduction [...]

というか、I have to go

Tae Kim — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 05:10:01 +0000

A friend of mine from college spoke in the most interesting fashion because she could seamlessly weave Japanese and English together in the same sentence. She would say things like, 「Meは行かないけど、Youは？」, which amused me to no end. You see, she had attended American School in Japan, a school filled with students completely fluent in both Japanese [...]

When it’s not quite good enough to be 「まあまあ」

Tae Kim — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 05:27:02 +0000

In this short post, I’ll be talking about 「微妙」（びみょう）, a na-adjective that is used quite often in Japanese. The word 「微妙」 itself describes a state of delicate balance and indicates that things can easily go one way or the other. You can find many examples from the WWWJDIC of this usage such as the following sentence. その言葉には微妙なニュアンスがある。 -The [...]

It’s, like, like 【なんか】

Tae Kim — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 07:03:22 +0000

Like, if there’s any equivalent to like, the word “like” in Japanese, it has to be like 「なんか」. 「なんか」 is a contraction of 「なにか」（何か）, which means “something”. However, 「なんか」 can be used to mean something very similar to the English “like”. Take a look at the example below: ゲームなんか興味ないよ。- Not interested in something game. First, you’ll notice [...]

Oh crap, it’s 【やばい】

Tae Kim — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 03:13:12 +0000

I was thinking of writing a theme-based post with all sorts of useful expressions and examples but I’m too lazy so I decided to do another one like the last one and just talk about one word. This time, I’m going to introduce yet another slang that you’re going to hear all the time, [...]

Using 「マジ」 for real

Tae Kim — Tue, 31 May 2005 03:23:24 +0000

I’m back! Most of you probably don’t know this (or care) but I actually have a real full-time job. And this being Japan, full-time means more like 9 to 8 rather than 9 to 5. So those of you who think I sit at home in my boxers working on my computer, I’m actually [...]