101 Useful Japanese Words and Phrases
Japanese words that might actually come in handy!
OK so here goes! The Following isn't just some humdrum useless list of never to be used vocabulary, this is 'The Motts'. These words should come in handy at some point in your acquisition of the Japanese language.
While living in Japan, I kept a Journal of my doings. Along side of my nightly journal entries, I would re-copy all the words that I heard throughout the day, taken from a small note pad from which I used to memorize vocabulary and then right before I went to sleep, I would transfer them to my nikki (diary) filtering out the words that weren't real words and putting them in a nice and neat orderly fashion. Somedays I had quite a few words that I thought were words but when I searched for them in the dictionary there was no such thing. In reality, what really happened was that my ears at that time were just starting to get adjusted to the sounds of the Japanese language. One of the main reasons why I couldn't find a word was because nobody had told me that I needed to make the distinction between a long vowel sound and a short one. Since I was just a novice Japanese Dictionary user, if I heard a word that was of the long vowel type, I thought that I just wasn't hearing things correctly... yet. As soon as I figured out how to differentiate the sounds of a single a sound, from a doubled aa sound, and simlilarly a single i, from a double ii, the once undecipherable, non-existent words magically appeared in my dictionary. It was SL2 epiphany. So needless to say, it is important to pay careful attention to the lenth of vowels in Japanese words. Vowel length makes a big difference in the world of Japanese words. There were days when I wanted to give up my attemtps to learn how to speak Japanese. But through a little persistence it would eventually come to me. It was a lot of hard work, but I did the work in little baby steps. I remember listening to the radio to see if I could understand anything, but the Japanese would be speaking so fast and I could only catch maybe one word out of 5 minutes worth of conversation.I would try to start a conversation with the Japanese but the words were whirling around me at light speed, it seemed I could never catch on to what they were saying. But I persisted, and it paid off. Brick by brick, piece by piece, here a little, there a little, I had to have some milk before I could ge to the meat. By that time, the ever courteous and polite Japanese would begin to speak to me in English - broken- but nevertheless understandable. But, still that didn't curb my appetite for complete mastery of the Japanese language. It was my goal to be able to speak in Japanese with a Japanese like a Japanese, and I would give any and all things to obtain it.
This list is filtered to make sure that they will be useful to you. I hope you enjoy my random useful list of Japanese words and phrases hand selected for you to use as you see fit.ensou - a musical performance
joukyou - circumstances
kokuren - The United Nations
takeuma - lit. bamboo horse = stilts
aite - the other party, one's opponent, rival or match
idou - move, travel
densen suru - to be contagious
suzume - sparrow
nikko - sunlight
gekko - moonlight
ensoku suru - to go on a picnic
gakudan - an orchestra, a band
fuke - dandruff
ensoukai - recital, piano etc
ryuugaku suru - to study abroad
ryuugakusei - foreign exchange student
fumikiri - lit. to step and cut or railroad crossing
oyayubi - lit. parent finger or thumb
tsurai - difficult, hardship, hard, painful, trying
nameru - to lick
kagaku - science
moufu - blanket
denshigaku - electronics
kitsune - fox
honki de...? - seriously...?
maji de...? - seriously..?
kenpou - a constitution
kokka - a national anthem
terekusai - embarassing
niau - to go well with, clothes, hats etc, to look good in
seiza suru - to sit upright (square) traditional Japanese kneeling or sitting posture
ninki - popularity
chuuto hanpa - half-assed, mickey moused, careless, halfway unsatisfactory
inshou - impression
honmono da - it's the real thing
sugoi - bitchin, awesome, great!, righteous, amazing, super
kando suru - to be impressed
chousen suru - to challenge, attempt
kyoudou suru - to cooperate
kigen ga kireru - to expire (time), time limit
jibika -ears, nose, and throat doctor
zatsuon - t.v., radio interference
douryoku - to try, to strive
boeki - trade
teian suru - to suggest
kankakuteki na - sensual
giri no otousan - father-in-law
kemushi - caterpillar
nokogiru - to saw
kyousei suru -to compel,
dorodarake - muddy
kuuki o nuku - deflate (air in tire etc)
ton demo nai - ain't no thing
atarimae ja nai? - naturally!
irezumi - tattoo
momo - peach, thighs
kakoyoku - to look good in your clothes, studly, or chic
kakowarui - to look like crap ( in your clothes)
niau -it fits you, it suits you, it looks good on you
monomane - mime, imitate
chigau yo! - nuh uh! no way its different!
jishin - self, earthquake
zettai - for sure
nenrei ni kankei nai(aru) - has nothing to do with age
sugoku kiken - extremely dangerous
anata ni chousen - do you dare?
kiite inai - I haven't heard
hazukashigari - bashful
ketten - weaknesses
tsumari - in summation, in other words
haguki - gums (mouth)
tsuneru - to pinch
shikeru - to go stale, to get old or moldy
mukatsuku or mugatsuku - thoroughly pissed off
hineru - twist, twirl wrench
sanagi - cocoon
furitsuke - choreography
awabi - shell fish
kaki - persimmon
butai - the stage
chigau t'omou (I) don't think so
sou shite - do it that way then
iran - (I) don't need it or any of it
iranai - same as iran
toriaezu - for the time being
gaikoku no yarikata - the way foreigners do it
komakai - change (money), details
kirawareru - to be hated
tsurete iku - to take someone
tsurete kuru - to bring someone
suiei suru - to go swimming
oyogu - to swim
douyou shiyasui - unstable
kitai hazure - a letdown
sougouteki na - synthetic
stay tuned for more useful vocabulary you can plug and play into all the Ghetto Grammar constructions.
As Always
Ganbatte Ne! Do Your Best!
Makurasuki Sensei.