Japanese Lingo – “KY”

There are plenty of resources online where you can learn “regular” Japanese, so here I decided to let you know about words and phrases that I learned not from any textbook, but during conversations with native Japanese speakers.

“KY” is one of the very first “slang” words that I learned not too long after coming to Japan. It’s used as a derogatory term for someone who either never has anything of substance to talk about or drastically interrupts the flow of a previously interesting conversation. One thing it isn’t however is a secret. Usually it will be said by someone straight to the person’s face as soon as they say something stupid, and it almost always ends up with everyone else in the conversation agreeing. However, it’s not of course a terribly offensive or irritating thing to be called when you’re with friends. Since I haven’t heard too many adults say this word, I’d assume that it’s more reserved for the teen to 20-something set.

The acronym itself stands for “Kuki Yomenai (空気よめない).” The characters roughly mean “sky” and “spirt,” with the idea behind the meaning being that the person is so dumb that they can’t read the current situtation or conversation. As an English speaker I of course took a minute to make the distinction between this and the famous lubricant of the same name but that went away fairly quickly.

Japanese Lingo – Choi Waru

There are plenty of resources online where you can learn “regular” Japanese, so here I decided to let you know about words and phrases that I learned not from any textbook, but during conversations with native Japanese speakers.

This is another word that I learned from the chef at Yoroi, only this time it was directed at me. Apparently because of my usual one-button-open shirt style and the occasional pair over aviators of the summer, he dubbed me this word. I figured that it didn’t have the best meaning so I tried to refute the new nickname but they insisted and it stuck.

After doing some research online, I discovered that it originated from a magazine article awhile back and that it’s a term for middle-aged men who try to retain a “playboy” or “player” image. I’m 25 at the moment and far from middle-aged, but whatever.

In 7 months of living here, I have never heard anyone else other than him say this word. The more I think about it, the more I realize that he must use some fairly strange words.

Japanese Lingo – Talking About Yourself

There are plenty of resources online where you can learn “regular” Japanese, so here I decided to let you know about words and phrases that I learned not from any textbook, but during conversations with native Japanese speakers.

As far as I know there are about 4 different words for “I.” I’ll cover the words “you” later, but for now I’ll try to explain “I.” Since I really never knew all of these before coming here, perhaps it can give you a headstart if you’re coming to Japan soon. Each word varies in level of politeness and can change rapidly depending on who you’re talking to and the circumstances surrounding the occasion.

There are also two more ways to refer to yourself which are “Jibun no” and “Uchi no,” but they have slightly different meaning that leans more towards “my own.” Perhaps I’ll cover those later.

Watakushi:
This is by far the most polite way to refer to yourself and I’ve only heard it maybe five times at most. It’s only reserved for the most important of occasions or if you want to be extremely respectful to someone you meet for the first time.

Watashi:
This is the standard way to refer to yourself so you really can’t go wrong with it. In some situations, like if you know someone quite well, it can be too formal sounding and uncool, but no one can really get upset with you for being overly polite.

Boku:
This is one more step down the politeness ladder, but is still okay to use in most situations where you know someone well, or if you’re older than them. I’ve heard from friends that girls also think that it sounds cute for guys to use which is a plus. Unless your talking to your boss or someone much older than you, you should be just fine using this word.

Ore (pron. Ohr-ray):
Here is where we get into tricky territory. The consensus I’ve heard about this word is that it carries somewhat of a bragging and macho tone to it. I had never heard this word before coming to Japan so I used it quite frequently after learning it because it’s quick, easy to say, and also rolls right off the tongue after drinking a bit. As such, you always hear drunk salary men at bars and on the train using this word.

For the extra “tough guy” umph I’ve heard people roll the ‘r’ like you would in Spanish but I wouldn’t recommend it unless your obviously joking or you wanna get your ass kicked.

After unwittingly offending a few people, I now only use this word around guys roughly my own age that I’m on friendly terms with and it’s completely ok.

I hope that helps. I’ll try to cover the various words for “you” soon.

Japanese Lingo – うん

There are plenty of resources online where you can learn “regular” Japanese, so here I decided to let you know about words and phrases that I learned not from any textbook, but during conversations with native Japanese speakers.

This bit of lingo is one of the few things from Japanese that I’ve found that I’ve adopted into my English speaking as well. It’s basically a grunt of agreement, which is usually written in Romajii as “un” but sounds a bit like “ugh.” In conversation it’s usually said quite frequently to let the other person know that your’e both interested in what they’re saying and also that you understood it. Since I’m of course not a native speaker or fluent, I use it more frequently for the latter. Both men and women say it, but men tend to say it more an a grunt.

Here’s a sample conversation:

Japanese:
A: その映画好きですか？
B: うん。

Romajii:
A: Sono eiga suki desu ka?
B: Un.

English:
A: Do you like that movie?
B: Yeah.

Japanese Lingo – それがし

There are plenty of resources online where you can learn “regular” Japanese, so here I decided to let you know about words and phrases that I learned not from any textbook, but during conversations with native Japanese speakers.

それがし, pronounced “So-Ray-Ga-Shi,” is how samurai’s used to refer to themselves. As cool as it may seem to use the same word for “I” that the samurai’s did, often times people won’t understand this word because it’s so old. Once they do understand it, it probably won’t even get a laugh unless you’re talking about samurai’s at the time.

I learned it from a guy at T.G.I. Friday’s during happy hour if that helps paint the picture any better. Whatever…I still think it’s pretty cool.

Here’s a quick example sentence:

Kanji: それがしは食べたいです。
Hiragana: それがしはたべたいです。
Romaji: Soregashi wa tabetai desu.
English: I wanna eat.

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Email: thenationalpool@gmail.com
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Japanese Lingo – じゃん

There are plenty of resources online where you can learn “regular” Japanese, so here I decided to let you know about words and phrases that I learned not from any textbook, but during conversations with native Japanese speakers.

じゃん, pronounced “Jah-n” or like “John,” is one word that I’m pretty sure I never heard until I came to Japan. It’s kind of a slang word native to Yokohama and to some extent Tokyo as well. It’s pretty much just a tag word used at the end of sentences to mean “isn’t it?”

Usually the “n” part of the word is only loosely pronounced, with most of the emphasis being on the “Ja” part of the word. Although it’s certainly acceptable practice to say it around Yokohama and Tokyo, you may get some looks of surprise for saying if you are a foreigner. Nonetheless, you should at least know what it means in case it comes up in coversation.

Here is a real quick example sentence:

Kanji: ああ、　凄いじゃん！
Hiragana: ああ、　すごいじゃん！
Romaji: Ah, sugoi jan!
English: Whoa, pretty cool huh?!

Music: Myspace.com/TheNationalPool
Email: thenationalpool@gmail.com
Pictures: Flicker/TheNationalPool

Japanese Lingo – "無謀な挑戦"

There are plenty of resources online where you can learn “regular” Japanese, so here I decided to let you know about words and phrases that I learned not from any textbook, but during conversations with native Japanese speakers.

Recently when I was at my local sushi restaurant, Yoroi, I told the chef about my friend Rory who was driving his Gentsuki, or moped/scooter, all the way from Yokohama which is in the middle of Honshu up to Hokkaido, which a completely different island in Japan.

At the thought how crazy this was, he used a word that I had never heard before which was “無謀な挑戦” and in Hiragana it’s “むぼなちょうせん.” In normal English pronounciation, or Romaji, it’s pronounced “Mu-bo-Na-Chou-Sen.” It’s a combination of two different words, the first meaning “reckless, mad, or foolhardy” and the second word meaning “to challenge, or to attempt.” The “na” in between the two words, as far as I know, marks the adjective of the first word.

Although everyone at the time he used it understood the word perfectly, I have gotten some strange looks when I’ve used it in other situations. However, after showing the person I was talking to the kanji, or Chinese characters, involved in the construction of the word, they instantly understand and got a good laugh about it.

Music: Myspace.com/TheNationalPool
Email: thenationalpool@gmail.com
Pictures: Flicker/TheNationalPool