To my readers from the US and Canada, I hope you’ve had a great Thanksgiving! Here are some Thanksgiving related vocabulary to mark the occasion! 感謝祭 (かんしゃさい, kanshasai) – Thanksgiving This phrase is literally as you see it in English. 感謝かんしゃ means thanks (it’s used as a noun), whereas 祭 (pronounced as まつり own it’s own, and more often as さい in… Read more »
I’ve been playing catch up with my Arashi TV shows, as well as watching NewsZero weekly… So here’s a mix of words from various places. あおり運転 (あおりうんてん, aoriunten) – tailgating This was the topic of this week’s PuraIchi – Sho’s NewsZero segment after the revamp. The problem of tailgating has been a hot topic in the recent months. Sometime back,… Read more »
I’ve been into fountain pens and fountain pen inks for over a year now. And well, Japan is quite a huge maker of fountain pens and inks. Recently, a brand of inks from Kyoto, appropriately called Kyoto Ink have been making the rounds internationally. I got a few bottles of them, and thought I’d rather this one with you. With… Read more »
So I got a message from J today, asking me what the words on the yellow sticker mean. Well, good news! I hope you bought that pack of Okinawa pork because… It’s on offer! Let’s see what’s on the yellow sticker: “レジにで本体価格の３割引き” レジ – cashier 本体価格 (ほんたいかかく) – pre-tax price 割引き (わりびき) – tenths discounted So yup, that pack of… Read more »
Hi all! It’s been a long time since I made a post! Today I would like to do a review of the Japanese Graded Readers mobile app. If you’ve been wanting to have listen to stories in Japanese, then this is the app for you. I tried out the app on my iPhone. It contains a couple of stories graded… Read more »
Introducing a new segment on Nihongo Manabu! Say What? aims to discuss words and phrases that are easily confused. In this first post, let’s talk about two fairly similar sounding words, へび (hebi) and えび (ebi). The two words might sound similar, and they do indeed both refer to a type of animal, they couldn’t have more different meanings. While you… Read more »
This week we’ll explore some travel related vocabulary! Modes of transportation will not be covered in this post, please refer to my Types of Transport post instead. 旅行 (りょこう, ryokou) – travel; trip 旅 (たび, tabi) – travel; trip; journey ツアー (tsuaa) – tour 観光旅行 (かんこうりょこう, kankouryokou) – (sightseeing) tour ガイド (gaito) – guide; tour guide; conductor; guiding; leading ツアーガイド (tsuaagaito) – tour… Read more »
This week, we’ll continue our exploration of various occupations in Japanese. 料理人 (りょうりにん, ryouriin) – cook; chef 給仕 (きゅうじ, kyuuji) 1. waiting on a table; serving (at dinner) 2. waiter; waitress; waitperson; server; cabin boy; bellboy; page; pageboy 3. office boy; office girl ウェイター (ueitaa) – waiter ベルボーイ (berubooi) – bellboy ポーター (pootaa) – porter 弁護士 (べんごし, bengoshi) – lawyer;… Read more »
We’ll continue our exploration of how various occupations are called in Japanese. 写真家 (しゃしんか, shashinka) – Photographer カメラマン (kameraman) – cameraman; photographer; cinematographer 画家 (がか, gaka) – painter; artist 運転士 (うんてんし, untenshi) – driver; train driver; train engineer; motorman; taxi driver 歌手 (かしゅ, kashuu) – singer 作曲家 (さっきょくか, sakkyokuka) – composer プログラマー (puroguramaa) – programmer 技術者 (ぎじゅつしゃ, gijutsusha) – engineer;… Read more »