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Culture and etiquette

Japanese Gestures and Body Language Explained

Half of a Japanese conversation happens below the neck. Learn what the hands are saying and the sentence that usually rides on top of each gesture, and everyday exchanges suddenly make sense.

Culture and etiquette

Japanese Seasonal Greetings and Yearly Events

The Japanese year is a calendar of set phrases. Learn which line belongs to which month and you can open almost any conversation with the words a native speaker was already expecting.

Culture and etiquette

Visiting a Japanese Home: Etiquette and Phrases

A home visit is the one situation where every step has a set phrase and the host is quietly hoping you know it. This guide walks through the visit in order, with the lines you say and the lines you will hear back.

Culture and etiquette

How to Give and Receive Compliments in Japanese

A compliment in Japanese is a small negotiation. The giver keeps it light and specific, the receiver plays it down, and both walk away pleased. Here is how each side sounds, and where the traps are.

Vocabulary

Japanese Colours: Words, Grammar, and Everyday Uses

Japanese colours are easy to memorise and surprisingly easy to get wrong, because red and green do not follow the same grammar. This guide sorts the colours by how they behave and puts each one into a sentence you will actually say.

Vocabulary

Japanese Animal Words and the Sounds They Make

Animal words are some of the first Japanese you learn and some of the last you use correctly, because each one arrives with a counter, a verb, and a sound of its own.

Vocabulary

Japanese Body Parts Vocabulary for Daily Life

Body words turn up far beyond the clinic: you need them to describe a friend, book a haircut, tell a masseur where it hurts, and understand why a colleague says their hands are not free.

Vocabulary

Japanese Weather Words for Small Talk and Forecasts

Weather is the first thing Japanese people say to each other and the last thing learners prepare for, even though the whole exchange runs on about forty words.

Vocabulary

Japanese Food and Drink Vocabulary Beyond the Menu

Menu Japanese gets you fed. The words in this guide let you say what the food was like, ask what is in it, choose a drink the way you want it, and talk about what you cook at home.

Vocabulary

Japanese Words for Emotions and Feelings

Feeling words are among the first Japanese adjectives you learn and the last you use correctly, because the grammar around them decides whose feeling you are describing.

Vocabulary

Japanese Jobs and Occupations Vocabulary

Your job is one of the first three things anyone asks about in Japanese, and the answer needs more than a noun. Here are the words, the endings hidden inside them, and the grammar that makes the answer sound natural.

Vocabulary

Talking About Hobbies in Japanese

Shumi wa nan desu ka is the question every Japanese learner is asked in the first five minutes, and a one-word answer wastes it. This post gives you the pattern, the verbs, and the follow-ups that turn it into a real conversation.

Practical Japanese guide

Practical guides

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