Anime fans know there are some seriously overpowered characters out there, especially in shounen shows like One Piece and Naruto Shippuden. Another great example is the mysterious Yoriichi from the show Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Let’s get into the in-universe history behind this awe-inspiring demon slayer. Who is Yoriichi? Yoriichi Tsugikuni is a …
Japanese
When I first decided to tackle the question of, “What does saa (さあ) mean in Japanese?” I figured it would be a really straightforward task. The expression “saa” pops up all the time in real life, anime, and tv-dramas, so I figured that I knew exactly what I was going to be tackling right off …
If you watch enough anime, you’ve probably heard yare-yare a thousand times. In fact, you may have heard it so often that you think you understand the meaning of this deceptively simple phrase. However, there’s a good chance you’ve missed at least a bit of the nuance behind this surprisingly layered expression. In this article, …
A surprisingly common question is, “Should I learn Chinese or Japanese?” This is, equally, a surprisingly difficult question to answer. There’s a lot of different factors that would influence your decision. I’ll be covering a handful of different things, but we’ll focus on the earning aspect first. Should I learn Chinese or Japanese? …
No matter how hard you try, some phrases just don’t translate between languages. This isn’t necessarily because something is “untranslatable,” but rather because languages grow out of their cultures, which have different contexts and ways of thinking about things. One example of an English phrase that doesn’t have an exact Japanese equivalent is “sounds good.” …
Anyone who has lived through 2020 knows that it’s sometimes hard to keep going. Indeed, occasional feelings of pessimism and negativity are a universal across all cultures. Because of this, it’s a good way to know how to encourage people when learning a new language. Let’s take a look at five ways to say “don’t …