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Japanese Spouse Words Explained: 夫, 主人, 旦那, 妻, 奥さん, 嫁, 家内, and パートナー in Modern Japanese
Imagine you are speaking Japanese with a colleague and you want to say, "My wife is Japanese." You reach for the most familiar word — 奥さん（おくさん）— and say 奥さんは日本人です. Your Japanese colleague pauses, and you notice somethin... -
彼氏 vs 彼女 vs 恋人 vs パートナー: Japanese Boyfriend, Girlfriend, Lover, Romantic Partner, Life Partner, and Safe Relationship Words
Imagine you have just made a wonderful female friend in Japan. You want to tell someone about her, so you say, "彼女（かのじょ）はとても面白いです" — and the room goes quiet. Because while you meant "She is very interesting," everyone ar... -
友達 vs 友人 vs 知り合い vs 仲間: The Difference Between Friend, Formal Friend, Acquaintance, Teammate, and Group Bond in Japanese
You just got back from a trip to Japan and you want to tell someone about the people you met. Some were close, some you barely know, some were your travel group. In English, "friend" does most of the work — but in Japanese, the word you ... -
父 vs お父さん vs 父親 vs パパ: The Difference Between “My Father,” “Your Father,” “Dad,” and Formal Japanese
You are introducing yourself at a new job in Japan. Someone asks about your family. You want to say "My father is an engineer." You reach for the word you learned in your first week of Japanese — but now you are not sure: is it 父（ちち... -
母 vs お母さん vs 母親 vs ママ: The Difference Between “My Mother,” “Your Mother,” “Mom,” and Formal Japanese
Imagine you are at work and your phone rings mid-meeting. You glance at the screen — it is your mother. Later, your Japanese colleague asks who called. You want to say "It was my mother." Which word do you reach for — 母（はは）, お母さ... -
先生 vs 教師 vs 講師: The Difference Between Teacher, Instructor, Lecturer, Honorific Title, Profession, and Polite Japanese
If you have ever studied Japanese, someone has probably called your teacher 先生（せんせい）. It is one of the first Japanese words most learners encounter. But here is something that surprises many English speakers: 先生 is not really a... -
学生 vs 生徒 vs 児童: The Difference Between Student, Pupil, Learner, School Level, Classroom Relationship, and Japanese Education Words
学生（がくせい）生徒（せいと）児童（じどう）Core meaningStudent (social status/identity)Pupil (in a teacher-learner relationship)Elementary school child (formal/institutional)School levelUniversity / higher educationMiddle school, high s... -
気持ち vs 気分 vs 感情: The Difference Between Feeling, Mood, Emotion, Physical Condition, and Japanese Nuance
You learned the word 気持ち（きもち）early on, and it seemed to cover everything: feelings, emotions, sensations. Then someone said 気分（きぶん）and you nodded along. Then a textbook used 感情（かんじょう）and suddenly you were not sure... -
家 vs うち vs お宅: The Difference Between House, Home, My Place, Family, Your House, and Polite Japanese
You have been studying Japanese for a few weeks and you want to invite a friend over. Easy, right? Except when you try to say "come to my house," you hit a fork in the road: is it 家に来ませんか or うちに来ませんか? And when you want to ... -
寒い vs 冷たい vs 涼しい: The Difference Between Cold Weather, Cold Objects, Cool Air, Feelings, and Natural Japanese
You step outside on a winter morning and say it's "cold." You pick up a glass of water from the fridge and it feels "cold" too. Then the summer breeze comes in and the evening air is — well, "cool." In English, one word covers a lot of g...
