Maa Maa Meaning: So-So, Not Bad, and Now, Now in Japanese

What māmā means

Māmā is a doubled form of mā, a softening word that means well or kind of. Doubled, it describes something that is passable, decent or fairly good. It can stand alone as an answer, take desu, describe a noun with no, or work as an adverb.

It also has a second, quite different job: calming people down. These four lines show its range.

How positive is māmā?

Think of a rough scale. Māmā sits above average but below good: decent, acceptable, fairly. It is warmer than futsū, ordinary, and much warmer than bimyō, iffy. The exact feeling depends on context and tone, but this table is a reliable guide.

Māmā also softens amounts and distances. Māmā takai, fairly expensive, or māmā tōi, quite far, gives an honest but gentle estimate, which is handy when you give directions or recommend a shop.

The modest māmā

Japanese speakers often play down their own skills, family and work, and māmā is a perfect tool for that. When a fluent friend says their English is māmā, or a colleague says the project went māmā, they may well mean it went well. Listen for the context and the smile.

This makes māmā a safe answer for you too. When someone compliments your Japanese, māmā desu yo or mada māmā desu sounds modest without the awkward heavy denial of zenzen dame desu.

In polite conversation, māmā often comes after okagesama de, thanks to you, which adds gratitude to the modesty. A manager asked how business is going may answer māmā desu ne with a smile, which can mean anything from fine to very good; the follow-up questions usually tell you more.

Careful: māmā about someone else's effort

The same modesty works against you when you talk about other people's things. If a friend cooked for you, gave you a present or played in a concert and asks what you thought, māmā sounds like faint praise: it was all right, I suppose. Some close friends joke this way, but in most situations it will disappoint.

Say something specific and warm instead. If you honestly did not love it, praise one part you did like.

Now, now: the calming māmā and plain mā

Said slowly and softly, often with hands raised, māmā calms people down. You hear it when friends argue, when someone is getting too worked up, or when a host waves away a guest's polite refusals. In that use it means now, now, come on or never mind. Some older speakers also say māmā as gentle surprise, as in my, my, you came all this way.

The calming māmā is usually lower and softer, both syllables gently stretched, often with a patting or pushing-down movement of the hands. The rating māmā is flatter and quicker.

Plain mā is the softener inside the word. On its own it means well or I suppose; mā ii ka is oh well, never mind; and mā ne, with a little smile, is a modest yes, as in sort of, said by someone who is quite pleased.

Sokosoko, bochibochi and other so-so words

A few neighbours of māmā are worth knowing. Sokosoko means reasonably, more or less adequately, and can sound a little more positive. Bochibochi is the classic Kansai answer to how is business: getting by, little by little. Futsū is plain average, and bimyō, which has its own guide, is hard to say, slightly negative.

Mini dialogue: Monday small talk

Get the tone right with Mocchi

• Tell Mocchi: Give me six situations and ask me whether māmā sounds modest, fine or rude in each. Mocchi explains each answer and keeps a note of the ones you misjudge.
• Write your answers to three compliments and send them with /correct, so Mocchi can suggest warmer or more modest versions.
• Then open the pronunciation coach and choose a sentence intonation drill: the calming māmā and the so-so māmā differ mostly in tone, and hearing your own recording next to the model makes that difference clear.

Common learner mistakes

• Rating a friend's cooking or gift as māmā. Use oishii, ureshii or a specific compliment instead.
• Taking a Japanese speaker's māmā about their own skill at face value. It is often modest, so the skill may be quite good.
• Pronouncing it with short vowels, mama. That is the word for mum; hold both long a sounds.
• Using māmā in formal reports. In writing, choose specific words such as ōmune ryōkō, generally good.
• Forgetting the calming use. If someone says māmā while raising their hands, they are not rating anything.