Say you like manga and anime, things made in Japan, in Japanese. One day you feel a calling: you got to learn Japanese, because you love this stuff, and this stuff is in Japanese. Not knowing Japanese hinders your ability to enjoy the content one hundred percent. Then you start... and everyone tells you learning Japanese is too hard and learning it just for manga is a really stupid idea. That may not be exactly true.
When you start learning Japanese, more specifically, the kanji 漢字, the day always arrives when you hear something about the readings kun'yomi 訓読み and on'yomi 音読み but you still have no idea what they exactly mean. So, in this post, I'll explain what is kun'yomi, what is on'yomi, and what's their importance in the language.
There are a lot of animes about sports, for some strange reason, and we all love to watch them showing the characters' hard work and sweat pay off while we're comfortably seated behind the screen. But what are those sports called in Japanese?
In Japanese, furigana 振り仮名 is a text written next to a certain character, word, or phrase, that shows how you're supposed to read it. It's also called "ruby text," rubi ルビ (the opposite being base text), or "reading aid," although it also has some non-reading-aid, creative uses.
For example: 今日日（きょうび） shows the word kyoubi 今日日, "these days," "in modern times," which has kanji 漢字 characters. Inside parentheses is the furigana: k-yo-u-bi きょうび, showing how the word is read using hiragana ひらがな characters.
Have you ever wondered how a fighting style is written in Japanese? Like boxing... or kickboxing... or chinese kickboxing... or drunken, chinese kickboxing? Or maybe how karate is written in Japanese? Well, worry no more, I've compiled a list of those names for you.
A question anime fans often ask themselves is "how do I write my name in Japanese?" Sure there is a way? Maybe you can write your name with kanji, maybe not, maybe it changes, maybe not. Well, either way, I'm here to teach you how to translate names to Japanese properly. The right way.
In Japanese, chigau 違う means literally "to differ," but it's typically used to say someone got something "wrong," to say it "is different" from what they said, to deny what someone said, i.e. to say "no" in Japanese.
In Japanese, shitsurei 失礼 means "impolite," in the sense someone has done something impolite, but it can also mean "excuse me," in the sense you've done or are about to do something that may be impolite. (e.g. enter a room, leave a room, etc.)
Those learning Japanese sooner or later come across these three words: ageru 上げる, kureru くれる and morau 貰う, and then across this problem: what's the difference between ageru, kureru and morau? Are their meanings the same or what?
Have you ever heard the word nippon 日本 in an anime? Maybe you thought you heard it, maybe you thought you misheard nihon 日本, which sounds almost the same. Well, the thing is, both nihon and nippon are actual, separate words in the Japanese language, though they are pretty much alike.
Have you ever heard the words nihon 日本 and nihongo 日本語 and wondered exactly what they meant? Obviously, they are words from Japan, they are in Japanese and they have something in common. Rest assured, their meanings are nothing too difficult.
In Japanese, irasshai いらっしゃい, meaning literally "come," is an expression used to welcome someone in a house or establishment. It's an abbreviation of irasshaimase いらっしゃいませ.
To welcome someone in a new place or group, youkoso ようこそ is used instead, and to welcome someone back home, okaeri おかえり is used instead.
Manga: Ouran High School Host Club, Ouran Koukou Hosuto-Bu 桜蘭高校ホスト部 (Chapter 1)
The expression itadakimasu 頂きます is one that's often said before meals in anime, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out it's one of things you have to say or else you'll come off as rude. But what does itadakimasu means in Japanese?
In Japanese, ittekimasu 行ってきます, meaning literally "to go and come back," is an expression used to say goodbye by someone leaving home to go school, work, etc. Whoever remains home bids farewell saying itterasshai 行ってらっしゃい.
In Japanese, itterasshai いってらっしゃい, meaning literally "go and come back," is an expression used when saying goodbye to someone leaving home to go to school, work, etc., specially after the person leaving says itte-kimasu 行ってきます.
In the west, LN means "light novel," and LNs mean "light novels." In Japanese, "light novel," or raito-noberu ライトノベル, is abbreviated to ranobe ラノベ, not to LN.
As for what a light novel is: it's a kind of novel that generally features anime-esque themes and is targeted at teenager and young adult audiences.
In Japanese, "light novel," raito noberu ライトノベル, ranobe ラノベ., or LN, is a manga without pictures. That is, they're novels, stories in pure text, that are written in the same style of fiction as manga and anime.
In Japanese, nya にゃ, nyan にゃん, or nyaa にゃー (also spelled にゃあ and にゃぁ), or "nyah," are onomatopoeia that mean "meow," the sound that cats make. That is, in order to say "meow" in Japanese, one of those words are used.
They can also be spelled with katakana, as ニャ, ニャン, ニャー, ニャア, and ニャァ. And there are other variants, too, like myaa みゃー.
In anime, fanservice, or "fan service," is a scene featuring a girl in swimsuit, or with clothes ripped apart, or depicting a glimpse of her panties, or naked in the bath, in a shower, in hot springs, or wearing a bunny suit, or nurse costume, or tied up, in bondage, or restrained in a dungeon cell, or something involving tentacles, or... anyway. It's that sort of stuff. Specially when found in an anime that's not supposed to be about that sort of stuff.
Note that fanservice is way more complicated than just that. It doesn't need to be a "girl" in swimsuit, it can be a guy. The content can be something so specific only men of culture would get it's fanservice, most people wouldn't even realize. It doesn't be a scene, it can be a design. It doesn't need to be anime, there's also fanservice in real life.
Everyone hates spoilers. Manga spoilers. Anime spoilers. TV spoilers. Game spoilers. We all know that spoilers spoil everything, so we avoid them like the plague as we chant the word to protected ourselves: "spoilers! spoilers!" But how do you even say that word in Japanese?
In the manga and animeNaruto ナルト, ninjutsu 忍術, taijutsu 体術, and genjutsu 幻術 (also romanized ninjitsu, taijitsu, genjitsu) are similar-sounding terms referring to how the ninjas fight. In this article, I'll explain what they mean in Japanese.
Manga: Ya Boy Kongming!, Paripi Koumei パリピ孔明 (Chapter 1, 孔明、渋谷に降り立つ。)
In Japanese, sugoi すごい, also spelled sugoi 凄い, means something is "incredible," so incredible it can be "unbelievable" or "awesome" or "amazing," and, sometimes, "horrific." It's an adjective, but it's often used as an expression, making it tricky to translate but easy to interpret.
Often, someone is referred to in third person neutrally, by the noun phrase "that person," ano hito あの人, ano ko あの子, or aitsu あいつ. Sometimes, by yatsu やつ, which refers to an individual person or thing.
Japanese is a pronoun dropping language, which means there are sentences you'd use "he" or "she" in English that you wouldn't use a pronoun in Japanese.
Watching anime in Japanese, I'm sure you've already seen some obscene Engrish word like reberu レベル, "level," thrown around and it made you think: why can't the Japanese speak English? Are they just really, really, really lazy? Do they like their Japanese language better than English? Or what? What's the reason for this travesty?
Have you ever heard the word kiriban キリ番 often used in DeviantArt and websites alike? Are you, perhaps, wondering what kiriban means? Do you think knowing what kiriban means will help you get that free drawing of your favorite character? Well, I'm here to clear you doubts about this important matter.
In Japanese, hito, nin, jin, ~bito, ~ri, ~to 人 are different readings of a same kanji, and the meaning of that kanji is "person," so hito, nin, jin, etc. all mean "person" in one way or another. In this article, I'll explain the differences between them and how they're used.
Have you ever wondered how do anime characters count things in Japanese? How do these Japanese numbers work and everything else? It all starts with ichi 一, ni 二, san 三, right? Or was it hitotsu 一つ, futatsu 二つ and mittsu 三つ？ What's the difference? Is there a difference?? What do these words really mean?! How do you even count in Japanese???
Do you know the numbers which anime characters use in anime? Numbers like ichi 一, ni 二, san 三 and so on? No? Well, here's a post about all those Japanese numbers and only about the Japanese numbers, so you can know pretty much almost everything about them.
The words natsu 夏, haru 春, fuyu 冬 and aki 秋 are often heard in anime as they are usually the Japanese characters' names. I'm sure you know one character or other called haru, and perhaps called natsu, or aki, but do these words have any other meaning you should know about in Japanese? Yeah, well, they do.
In Japanese, usui hon 薄い本, meaning literally "thin book," is an anime slang that refers to a doujinshi 同人誌, often, but not necessarily, a doujinshi featuring adult content, i.e. hentai 変態.
In Japanese, a "circle," or saakuru サークル, is a group of people that share a same interest or hobby. There are two notable kinds: the circles that are school clubs, and the characters in anime join because they like a certain activity, and doujin 同人 circles, which publish anime-related stuff.
This is about the katakanization of "circle," which is used in a different way from English, i.e. it's wasei-eigo 和製英語. The word for a geometric "circle" in Japanese is maru 丸.
In Japanese, doujinshi 同人誌 means a "fanzine," an indie manga 漫画, which may or may not be a derivative work, a parody featuring characters whose copyright is owned by someone else. It's also romanizeddōjinshi, dojinshi, douzinsi, dōzinsi, or dozinsi.
In Japanese, doujin 同人, meaning literally "same people," refers to people who have the same hobby as you. In anime and manga, doujin refers to indie manga, anime, games, etc., and their creation, as opposed to mainstream works.
The word doujin is also romanizeddouzin, dōjin, or dōzin.
In Japanese, manga 漫画 means "comics," as in drawings with speech balloons, it doesn't matter if the comics are Japanese, Korean, American, etc. In English, manga refers only to Japanese comics or artwork in the manga style. The word is also spelled まんが, マンガ.
In Japanese, "Kosoado Words," Kosoado Kotoba こそあど言葉, or even "Kosoado Pronouns," are the words start with ko, so, a, do こそあど, like kore, kono, koko, kou, konna, kocchi, and are used as demonstrative and interrogative pronouns.
In Japanese, koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu こいつ, そいつ, あいつ, どいつ mean "this one," "that one (near you)," "that one (far from us)," "which one?" They're kosoado words that refer to individual items, and, sometimes, to people.
These words have nothing to do with itsu 何時, which means "when," or itsuka 何時か, "sometime."
In Japanese, konna, sonna, anna, donna こんな, そんな, あんな, どんな mean "like this [thing]," "like that [thing] (near you)," "like that [thing] (far from us)," and "like what [thing]?" They're kosoado words referring to how things are, or the appearance of things.
In Japanese, kocchi, socchi, acchi, docchi こっち, そっち, あっち, どっち mean "this way (toward me)," "that way (toward you)," "that way (away from us)," and "what way?" respectively. They're kosoado words related to direction, but they can also refer to sides, choices, and people.
In Japanese, kono, sono, ano, dono この, その, あの, どの mean "this," "that," and "what." They're kosoado words very much like kore, sore, are, dore これ, それ, あれ, どれ, except they're used as adjectives instead of as nouns.
The words sono その and ano あの are also interjections. The word dono どの after someone's name is the honorific dono 殿.
Manga: Boku no Hero Academia, 僕のヒーローアカデミア (Chapter 48)
In Japanese, kore, sore, are, dore これ, それ, あれ, どれ mean "this thing (near me)," "that thing (near you)," "that thing (away from us)," and "what thing?" They're kosoado words that refer to things in general.
Sometimes, are? あれ？ is an interjection of doubt: "huh?"
In Japanese, kochira, sochira, achira, dochira こちら, そちら, あちら, どちら mean "this way (toward me)," "that way (toward you)," "that way (away from us)," and "what way?" respectively. They're kosoado words related to direction, but they can also refer to sides, choices, and people.
The words kocchi, socchi, acchi, docchi こっち, そっち, あっち, どっち are abbreviations of kochira, sochira, achira, dochira. They're used the same way in some cases, but they aren't considered as polite.
Manga: MONSTER, モンスター (Chapter 2 of Volume 3, ローヤーの法則)
In Japanese, konata, sonata, anata, donata こなた, そなた, あなた, どなた are kosoado words related to direction, and then to person. They're a bit odd, because donata means "who," anata あなた is one of the various way to say "you" in Japanese, and the rest is archaic.
In Japanese, koko, soko, asoko, doko ここ, そこ, あそこ, どこ mean "here," "there (near you)," "over there (not near you)," and "where?" They are kosoado words related to place.
Maybe you've heard it in anime, maybe you've heard it in the meme keikaku doori: (TL Note: keikaku means "plan")(Note: TL means "Translator Note"), and maybe you're asking yourself: is keikaku doori 計画通り really "all according to the plan?" What does the phrase keikaku doori mean in Japanese?
Well, I don't know what you expected but it, yeah, sure, you can translate keikaku doori 計画通り as "all according to the plan," and, yes, indeed, keikaku 計画 means "plan" in Japanese. The word doori 通り, however, is a little more complicated to explain.
In Japanese, nekomimi 猫耳 means "cat ears," and can refer to an actual cat's ears, to the cat ears of a cat girl or cat boy character, to cat ear headbands used to cosplay as a cat girl or cat boy character, or to other things that resemble cat ears, but technically are not. It's also spelledwithout kanji, as nekomimi ネコミミ.
In Japanese, tadaima ただいま, meaning literally "just now," is an expression used by someone who has returned home, from work, school, etc. It means basically "I'm back," "I'm home."
In Japanese, okaeri おかえり, meaning literally "return," is an expression used when welcoming someone back home from school, work, etc., specially after the person coming back home says tadaima ただいま. Longer variants include okaerinasai おかえりなさい, okaerinasaimase おかえりなさいませ, okaerinasaimashi おかえりなさいまし. They're also spelled お帰り, お帰りなさい, お帰りなさいませ, お帰りなさいまし.
In Japanese and anime, NEET, or niito ニート, is an acronym for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training." In other words, a NEET is someone who isn't studying, doesn't have a job, and isn't learning a craft. They aren't earning money, contributing to society, or acquiring skills.
They are doing nothing, basically. They're lazy bums living off their parents' expense or something.
So you might have heard one of these words in anime: ojisan, ojiisan, obasan and obaasan. Yep. Four words. Both ojisan and ojiisan and obasan and obaasan are different words. They aren't the same word at all, they just sound very alike.
In Japanese, fujoshi 腐女子, meaning literally "rotten girl," refers to a girl that fantasizes about guys being in a homosexual relationship with other guys, specially shipping male characters with other male characters in manga and anime, writing gay fanfics, drawing gay doujinshi 同人誌, and fan art featuring them, and enjoying gay genres called BL (Boys' Love) and yaoi やおい / 801.
Character: Koganuma Minori 古賀沼美埜里 Anime: Outbreak Company (Episode 4)
