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Japanese Workplace Vocabulary: Essential Words for the Japanese Office
Picture your first morning at a Japanese company. Your manager walks past and says, 「お疲れ様です」 — and you freeze. Is that a greeting? Are they saying you look tired? What are you supposed to say back? Japanese office culture comes w... -
Expressing Wants in Japanese: 〜たい, ほしい, and 〜てほしい Explained
You see a beautiful piece of wagashi at a Japanese confectionery and think, "I want to eat that." Later, your friend keeps interrupting you while you study, and you wish they would just be quiet. That evening, browsing an online store, y... -
Japanese Travel Vocabulary: Essential Words and Phrases for Getting Around Japan
Picture this: you've just touched down at 空港（くうこう）— the airport — and the immigration officer holds out his hand and says something in rapid Japanese. You catch one word: パスポート. Relief washes over you, because you know exact... -
Japanese Expressions of Obligation: How to Say Must, Have To, and Should in Japanese
You’ve just arrived in Japan and your host family says, “靴を脅いでくださいね。お客さんの前でスリ̌... -
How to Ask Directions in Japanese: Phrases and Vocabulary for Getting Around
You're in Osaka. You've just come out of the subway, the streets look nothing like your map app promised, and there are five different exits behind you. A friendly-looking local is standing nearby. You know the name of the place you want... -
Japanese Medical and Hospital Vocabulary: What to Say When You’re Sick in Japan
You wake up in Tokyo feeling terrible — a pounding headache, a high fever, and no idea how to explain your symptoms in Japanese. This scenario is more common than you might think, and it is one of the most stressful language situations y... -
Japanese Noun Modification: How Relative Clauses and Descriptive Phrases Work
In English, you describe a noun by adding information after it: "the person who ate sushi," "the movie that I watched," "the bag I bought in Tokyo." Japanese works the opposite way — every modifier, no matter how long, goes before the no... -
Ageru, Morau, Kureru: The Complete Guide to Japanese Giving and Receiving Verbs
Imagine you want to say "My friend gave me a book" in Japanese. You look up the word for "give" and find あげる. So you say: 私は友達に本をあげた — and every Japanese person in the room quietly winces. You just said you gave your friend ... -
Expressing Reason in Japanese: 〜から, 〜ので, 〜ため, and 〜て
Picture this: your Japanese teacher asks why you didn't finish your homework, and you want to say "because I was busy." Simple enough — but in Japanese you have several options: から, ので, ため, and even the humble 〜て form. Pick the w... -
Japanese Frequency Expressions: How to Say Always, Sometimes, and Never
How often do you study Japanese? Do you always review vocabulary before bed, or only sometimes? Can you say that in Japanese yet? Frequency expressions — words like "always," "often," "sometimes," "rarely," and "never" — are among the mo...
