Language is full of nuance. That’s part of what makes it so interesting to learn. In this post, we’ll examine the many possibilities for “everything” in Japanese and explore some of the subtle differences between them. How do you say “everything” in Japanese? The best translation for “everything” in most contexts is likely to …
Japanese Vocabulary
“What’s up?” is such a common-place and casual greeting, but it can be surprisingly hard to translate into other languages. The literal translation in Japanese would be 上に何がある? (ue ni nani ga aru?), which would make no sense to Japanese speakers. They would probably just look up at the sky confused! It’s interesting how the …
In this article we’ll be discussing the Japanese word kisama in great detail. We’ll cover what it means (of course), and also how to write it, use it, and where it comes from. It’s a somewhat strange word in the Japanese language, with a long and varying history, so it’s well worth the time to …
English and Japanese don’t always match up, and it can be hard to find the best way to translate a common English phrase. One example is “take care.” [toc] How do you say “take care” in Japanese? The most common ways to say “take care” are お大事に (odaijini) and お元気で (ogenkide). Both these …
Japan has a reputation for extreme politeness, but people there still get angry. In this post, we’ll give you the right words to defuse the situation. How to say “calm down” in Japanese In Japanese, you can use the compound verb 落ち着く (おちつく) to tell someone to calm down. If someone is really panicking, …
Watching TV shows and movies in a foreign language you’re learning is a great way to practice your listening comprehension skills. Unlike audio created specifically for learning, they feature people speaking at normal speeds and usually in a colloquial manner. On the other hand, you can sometimes run into odd expressions that aren’t used so …
No buts about it: how to master the many “buts” of Japanese In English, there are many words native speakers reach for without thinking about the specific grammatical function they serve. Take the word “but.” Grammatically speaking it’s a conjunction used to show contrast between two different clauses. Native English speakers probably couldn’t tell you …
Anyone who’s learned a foreign language can tell you that it’s sometimes hard to find what a specific English word means in other languages. Japanese is a pretty different language from English, grammatically speaking. Translations are complicated and there isn’t always a one-to-one relationship between concepts like “or.” So how do you say “or” in …
Speaking proper Japanese in a business setting opens a whole can of worms on the language learning experience. It’s not enough to know the right words—you have to know when to use them, how to conjugate them, how to understand the ever-present sub-text, and, finally, how to use your body appropriately. That’s right, learning business …