Socha (粗茶 – “Coarse Tea”)
Socha 粗茶 In Japan, when serving tea to visitors, we sometimes say “socha desuga” (粗茶ですが). 日本では、来客にお茶を出す際に「粗茶ですが」と言うことがあります。 Since ‘so‘ (粗) means
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Learning English and Japanese
For everyone learning English/Japanese
Essay
Giri-giri (ぎりぎり – “Barely”)
Giri-giri ぎりぎり Today I ‘giri-giri‘ (ぎりぎり – “barely”) met a deadline. 私は今日、ある締め切りに「ぎりぎり」間に合いました。 Giri-giri is an onomatopoeia that represents that something
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Kanji (漢字 – “Chinese Character”)
Kanji 漢字 Japanese people often use ‘kanji’ (漢字), which are characters born in China. 日本人は、中国発祥の文字である「漢字」をよく使います。 The term kanji is written
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Yamayama (山々 – Mountains)
Yamayama 山々 “Yama” (山) means “mountains,” and the kanji 々 means a repetition of the last character. 「山」は “mountain,” 漢字「々」は直前の漢字の繰り返しを意味します。
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Gokiburi (ゴキブリ – Cockroach)
Gokiburi ゴキブリ Many people don’t like ‘gokiburi‘ (ゴキブリ – cockroach). 「ゴキブリ」は、多くの人間から嫌われています。 I talked about ‘gokiburi‘ a few times on Lang-8,
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Akaten (赤点 – Failing Grade)
Akaten 赤点 Have you ever gotten an ‘akaten‘ (赤点) on an exam? あなたはテストで「赤点」をとったことがありますか？ Since ‘aka‘ (赤) means ‘red’ and ‘ten‘
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Natsubate (夏バテ – Summer Lethargy)
Natsubate 夏バテ The hot humid weather has continued lately. 最近とても蒸し暑いです。 Please be careful not to become a state called ‘natsubate‘
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Jama (邪魔 – Hindrance)
Jama 邪魔 In the area where I live, some people park their cars on a street, though it is prohibited
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Choromakasu (ちょろまかす – Sneaking)
Choromakasu ちょろまかす To steal something surreptitiously or to cheat on someone’s money is called ‘choromakasu‘ (ちょろまかす) in Japanese. 人の目をごまかして何かを盗むことや、金銭などをごまかすことを、「ちょろまかす」と言います。 There
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