Speaking and pronunciation
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
Speaking and pronunciation · Page 54
How to Say I Love You in Japanese: Suki, Daisuki, Aishiteru
There is no single Japanese sentence that maps onto I love you. The honest answer is that suki desu does most of the work English gives to those three words, and aishiteru is almost never said out loud.
13 min readMen's and Women's Japanese: The Real Differences
Textbooks often hand learners a tidy list of masculine and feminine Japanese. Real speech is messier, and most of what makes you sound natural has nothing to do with gender at all.
16 min readYakuwarigo: Why Characters in Fiction Speak Strangely
Japanese fiction gives characters a costume made of grammar. Once you can name the costume, you stop accidentally wearing it yourself.
12 min readJapanese Dialects Beyond Kansai: A Learner's Map
Standard Japanese will be understood everywhere in Japan, but it is not the only Japanese you will hear. This is a map of what else is out there and what to do about it.
13 min readJapanese Condolences and Funeral Etiquette
When someone dies, Japanese gives you a small set of quiet, fixed sentences to say instead of improvised sympathy. Learning them means you can speak kindly at a moment when the wrong long sentence would be worse than a short one.
15 min readJapanese Wedding Phrases and Giving a Short Speech
Being asked to say a few words at a Japanese wedding is an honour and a small panic. The speech has a fixed shape, and once you know the five parts and their opening and closing lines, only one section is actually yours to write.
14 min readReiwa, Heisei, Showa: Reading Japanese Era Dates
Somewhere in your first month in Japan a clerk will hand you a form with a birth-date field and no Western year in sight. Once you can convert an era year in your head, that form takes ten seconds instead of ten minutes.
13 min readJapanese for Driving and Getting a Licence
Driving in Japan is mostly straightforward until someone speaks to you: a clerk at the licence centre, an attendant at the pump, an officer at the window. This is the language for those moments, plus the words painted on the signs themselves.
15 min readOtsukaresama Desu: Japan's Most-Used Work Phrase
Otsukaresama desu is the phrase you will hear more than any other in a Japanese office, and it is not really thanks, not really hello, and not quite well done. This guide shows what it actually does and when to say it.
11 min readSumimasen or Gomen Nasai: Which Apology to Use
Japanese has several apologies and they are not interchangeable. Once you can hear what each one is really doing, choosing takes no thought at all.
13 min readYes and No in Japanese: Why Hai and Iie Are Not Enough
Hai and iie are the first two words most learners memorise, and they are the two that cause the most confusion in real conversation. This guide shows what Japanese speakers actually say when they agree, decline, or simply keep listening.
14 min readJapanese for Cherry Blossom Season
Cherry blossom season gives you a few short weeks when almost every conversation in Japan starts with the same subject. Learn the words for the stages and the lines for organising a picnic, and you can join in instead of nodding along.
13 min readPractical guides
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