Vocabulary and phrases
Practical guides on speaking, grammar, pronunciation, listening, and study planning, written for learners who want to use Japanese in real life.
Vocabulary and phrases · Page 4
VocabularyJapanese for Baseball: Stadium, Broadcast, and Cheering
Baseball gives a learner something rare: a few hundred words that repeat every few minutes, in front of a picture that explains them. It is one of the best listening classrooms in Japan.
15 min read
VocabularyJapanese for Gaming and Playing Online
Switching a game into Japanese puts a few hundred words in front of you every session. This guide covers the interface vocabulary you will meet on almost every screen and the short polite lines that make online play with Japanese speakers go smoothly.
13 min read
VocabularyJapanese for Music, Live Shows, and Concerts
Going to a live show in Japan means reading a ticket page, standing in the right queue, and understanding a few announcements. This guide gives you that vocabulary, plus the everyday language for talking about music with someone.
14 min read
VocabularyKiku: Listen, Ask, Obey, and Take Effect
Kiku is one of the first verbs you learn and one of the last you finish learning. The same sound covers hearing, listening, asking, obeying and a medicine taking effect, and the kanji quietly tell you which one is meant.
16 min read
VocabularyAu: Meet, Match, Fit, and Run Into Trouble
Au is three verbs wearing one pronunciation. Learn which kanji goes with which particle and a whole family of everyday sentences becomes predictable, from tomodachi ni au to jiko ni au.
16 min read
VocabularyKaeru and Kaesu: Return, Change, Swap, and Repay
Six common Japanese verbs share the sound kaeru, and two more share kaesu. The kanji tells you which one is meant, and the verb class decides whether the te-form is kaette or kaete.
15 min read
VocabularyHiku: Pull, Subtract, Look Up, and Catch a Cold
Hiku is one of those Japanese verbs that seems to mean everything. Once you see the picture underneath it, the dictionary entry stops being a list and becomes a family.
16 min read
VocabularyJapanese Ordinal Numbers: Banme, Dai, and Me
Japanese does not add a single ending like -st or -th. It has three ordinal tools, and choosing the right one is what makes second corner, chapter two, and my third year sound natural.
14 min read
VocabularyTalking About Age and Generations in Japanese
Age comes up early in Japanese conversation because it quietly sets the register between two people. Learn the counter, the irregular readings, and the softer ways of asking, and the topic stops being a trap.
14 min read
VocabularyFractions, Percentages, and Decimals in Japanese
You can count to a hundred in Japanese and still freeze in front of a sale sign. Fractions, percentages and discounts use their own patterns, and one of them reverses the order English uses.
13 min read
VocabularyTatsu: Stand, Be Built, Elapse, and Cut Off
Tatsu is one sound covering five verbs, and the one that surprises learners most is time. San-nen ga tachimashita has nothing to do with standing, and the noun in front of the verb is what tells you which tatsu you are hearing.
17 min read
VocabularyHow to Learn Japanese Vocabulary with Games That Work
Rereading a word list feels like study and produces very little. A short game that makes you pull the word out of memory before a timer runs out does far more, provided you choose the right kind of game and finish by saying the words aloud.
13 min readPractical guides
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