Vocabulary– category –

Why do English words sound so different in Japanese? Learn the rules: consonant clusters, final consonants, L vs R, long vowels, and common abbreviations. Essential for reading katakana.

Master modern Japanese youth slang: yabai, kusa (LOL), emoi, gachii, and more. Includes origins, usage examples, and when NOT to use slang in formal settings.

Picture this: you walk into a clothing store in Tokyo and spot the perfect jacket. You want to ask the staff for it in a different color — but how do you say "the red one" in Japanese? Or maybe you're watching a Japanese drama and the ch...

Whether you are taking a Japanese language class, attending a university lecture in Japan, studying for the JLPT, or watching a Japanese school drama (校内ドラマ), classroom vocabulary is essential. This gui...

Here is a fact that surprises most people who start learning Japanese: you already know thousands of Japanese words. Japanese has borrowed thousands of words from English, French, German, and other languages. These loanwords (外来語, gai...

Wasei-eigo (和製英語) are Japanese words built from English sounds but with completely different meanings. Learn the false friends that trip up English speakers.

Explore Japanese food culture vocabulary: seasonal ingredients (旬), etiquette phrases, restaurant types, cooking methods, and conversation phrases for dining in Japan.

Master Japanese weather and season vocabulary: 40+ words for all four seasons, temperature expressions, seasonal highlights, and small talk patterns.

When you first start reading Japanese katakana and recognize a word — マクドナルド (McDonald's), コーヒー (coffee) — it feels like cheating in the best possible way. But gairaigo (外来語), Japanese loanwords from other languages, can als...

Japanese has thousands of onomatopoeia words — far more than English. If you've read manga or watched anime, you've seen them everywhere: ドキドキ (heart pounding), ふわふわ (fluffy), バラバラ (scattered). But did you know Japanese onoma...