“To win” is not an easy word to translate into Japanese. First you need to work out what kind of…
百
Meaning: one hundred Reading: ヒャク（ヒャッ、ピャク、ピャッ、ビャク、ビャッ） 百（ヒャク）: 100 (one hundred)三百（サンビャク）: 300 (three hundred)百姓（ヒャクショウ）: a farmer, a peasant, a farmhand百貨店（ヒャッカテン）: a…
Is Chinese food 中華料理 or 中国料理?
chuuka_ryouri or chuugoku_ryouri? Have you had an experience that you went to a Chinese restaurant in Japan and the food…
とかい, とうかい, とうかい
Japanese has so many homonyms – the same sound but different meanings. Today I talk about とかい and 2 different とうかいs.
島
Meaning: island Reading: トウ、しま（じま） 列島（レットウ）: an archipelago, a chain of islands日本列島（ニホンレットウ）: the Japanese Islands離島（リトウ）: an isolated island; leaving the…
レンジでチン
When I googled ”レンジでチン,” I got nearly 5 million hits. It is a very common expression in Japanese. What does…
十分 – じゅっぷん or じゅうぶん ?
If you are reading this article, that is probably because you were intrigued by the question in the photo. So…
空
meaning: sky, emptyreading: クウ、そら（ぞら）、あ、から 空港（クウコウ）: an airport空気（クウキ）: air架空（カクウ）: overhead, aerial; fanciful, imaginary航空（コウクウ）: aviation空（クウ）: the air, space, the void 空（そら）:…
Kaiseki
If you have read or heard about traditional Japanese multi-dish meals, you may have come across the word, かいせき/kaiseki or…
ちずとチーズ
Today’s sound key words are ちず（地図） and チーズ. Listen and repeat the sound, and you will be able to pronounce them correctly.
地
meaning: ground reading: チ、ジ 地球（チキュウ）; the earth地位（チイ）: a (social) position, a status地域（チイキ）: a region地理（チリ）: geography産地（サンチ）: a producing centre,…
シール
Have you ever been asked シールでよろしいでしょうか? at a checkout of a shop? Do you know what that means? If you…
「は」＆「が」(1)
A: 息子（むすこ）は ケガをしたので 仕事（しごと）を 休（やす）んだ。 has quite a different meaning from B: 息子（むすこ）が ケガをしたので 仕事（しごと）を 休（やす）んだ。 I don’t usually…
冬
meaning; winter reading; トウ、ふゆ 冬至（トウジ）: the winter solstice冬眠（トウミン）: hibernation, winter sleep冬季（トウキ）: winter, the winter season冬期（トウキ）: winter, the wintertime暖冬（ダントウ）: a…
to fry
to fry 2 weeks ago, I wrote that the English word “to boil” is translated into 4 different Japanese words.…
よい＆ようい
The caption sentence: くねくね道（みち）を通（とお）るから、酔（よ）い止（ど）めの薬（くすり）を用意（ようい）した方（ほう）が良（よ）い。means: As we will go on a windy road, it’s better to have travel sickness pills ready.…
秋
meaning: autumn reading: シュウ（ジュウ）、あき 秋分の日（シュウブンのひ）: Autumnal Equinox Day (22nd or 23rd September)秋月（シュウゲツ）: an autumn moon, a harvest moon秋思（シュウシ）: a…
レア
Today’s Katakana Tuesday and today’s word is レア. It’s a short word and easy to work out the sound. It…
to take a day off
There are several different ways but the easiest way of saying “to take a day off (…)” is: (…を)休（やす）む. インフルエンザで三日間仕事を休んだ。…
夏
meaning: summerreading: カ、ゲ、なつ 夏季（カキ）: summer, summertime, the season of summer夏期（カキ）: summer, summer time, the summer period晩夏（バンカ）: late summer 夏至（ゲシ）:…
