Ive seen and heard people say “daijobu desu ka?” and “daijobu ka?”. Same with “So– desu ka?” and “So– ka?”. A friend of mine, native japanese told me you can omit “desu” sometimes in a couple of dialects. I think we were talking about globalization and I said “sekai wa bijinesu desu” and he told me i could drop “desu” if i wanted. When is it okay to omit it?

Is "ASHITA E TO" an offensive sentence? What's the real meaning? "Cuz I saw many answers on web. And I need a real answer, for a real japanese man/woman or someone who knows Japanese very well. Thank you.

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Hello everyone.

I don't have an example for this one but i've heard a lot (in anime mostly) te being put at the end of a sentence. To me it seems sometimes like it's replacing 'to'. Other than that i have no idea how it's used , so could anyone of you please explain to me how to use it and why may i have heard it at the end of the sentence? Btw i'm not reffering to the te form of verbs.

So I know it means Japanese person but does it mean a specific type of person or can it be used for different things

The 3 things that come to mind are:

-A person who is ethnically Japanese (Ex. an American person with Japanese parents)

-A person who's Japanese by birth (Ex. A black person born and raised in Japan)

• /Only if/ someone who is born and is ethnically "pure" (not mixed raced) Japanese. (I'm assuming this would be used by xenophobes/extreme nationalists)

I was curious if the word Nihonjin can mean all of them, or if it's for one type and the other descriptions have their own unique terms?

Context:

As a beginner in Japanese, I’m considering translating using only N5-level knowledge for now, and I believe this approach makes sense for a few key reasons. One important thing I’ve noticed is that many English translations of Japanese are often not directly equivalent; they can sometimes feel "wonky," vague, or even incorrect. This is because Japanese and English are structurally very different, and translations often rely on approximation rather than direct equivalency. Since Japanese has five proficiency levels (N5 to N1) that gradually build on one another, it’s common for nuances to get lost when translating without fully understanding the depth of the language.

By focusing on N5, I’m acknowledging that I am a beginner, both in my approach to learning and in how I express myself. This allows me to be authentic and true to my current level, while ensuring that I don't overcomplicate translations or misrepresent myself as more advanced than I actually am. I plan to gradually increase the accuracy and sophistication of my translations as I progress to N4, N3, and beyond. This will also give me the opportunity to better understand and appreciate the subtleties that come with higher levels of proficiency.

For now, sticking to N5 ensures that my translations are grounded in the basic vocabulary and grammar I’ve learned, while allowing me to communicate clearly within the constraints of my current ability. It’s a step-by-step process, and by sticking with N5 initially, I can focus on mastering the fundamentals before moving on to more complex translations.

My Plan in Short: I intend to express my thoughts using only the vocabulary and grammar I have mastered from JLPT N5. I believe this approach will be useful both when translating to Japanese natives as a beginner and in everyday conversation. My ideal is that the more I learn, the more accurately I will be able to articulate my thoughts.

For context, I studied Japanese for two years in University and then took a gap year which has led to my Japanese ability going from conversational to back to basic.

I touched down in Tokyo this morning for an 11 day trip of Japan before I start University again. I’m loving Tokyo but I’m getting by fine with just English & basic Japanese, so I don’t think staying here will do me any favours.

I plan on staying within Kanto/Kansai for this trip however, I am unsure of which cities I should stay in which would give me the chance to be fully immersed in the Japanese language (aka forced to speak Japanese if I want to get by).

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

海外から見た日本人はどう思っているのか知りたいので

Intended meaning: Japanese people use more 12keys keyboard or qwerty keyboard on their smartphones?

In Japan, are children with scoliosis exempt from physical education classes?

I’m looking for casual reading recommendations to help prepare for the N1 exam. I want to find something that’s simultaneously gripping/enjoyable but also challenges my Japanese skills.

I’ve been reading ノルウェーの森 by Murakami since I enjoyed the English version, but the Japanese is a tad simple.

If anyone has any recommendations I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks!

i'm japanese who went to all school levels in america so i don't have a natural experience socializing in japan with japanese people (and my japanese speaking ability is limited).

in america, a lot of people will always say 'thank you so much' to service workers (baristas, food worker, store worker, etc) and i carry that into my japanese. i always say ありがとうございます to most workers, like when they finish taking my order.

my mom says this is kind of weird and makes it obvious i'm not from japan. she says its fine to just not say anything but i want to at least acknowledge that i'm thankful for them helping me.

does saying it make me seem like a foreigner or it's totally normal and japanese say it too?

I know you have to say 失礼します but, when do you say that, before opening the door, after opening and closing the door, saying it while opening the door? I’ve done this years ago but I forgot the proper way of doing it

I would like to find people who also have this hobby.

I really love watching videos on youtube depicting someone, in first person, walking the streets and nature of Japan. This is something I have a hard time sharing to people around me, because I don't know exactly what it is. I just think that it's so interesting and relaxing taking a virtual walk in Hokkaido, for example.🥹

Please suggest sources where I can find entire N3 syllabus/ content at one place so I can recap. Suggestion and tips are also welcome.

Sure Japan was the economic powerhouse decades ago and Japan had had the second largest music industry for a while now (and traditonally having the largest in Asia even before they overtook the UK's dominant runner up position to America)..............

But the Karaoke concept of devices sounds exactly what the American captialistic model would creaate and the type of innovative creativity so common during the British invasion.

So what is it that made the concept invented in Japan first rather than the UK or the USA which are the countries that typically make these revolutionary advances in music? Is there something in Japanese culture esp as Japan was booming as an economic power from the 60s onward that led to the Karaoke technology frst developed there over the USA and United Kingdom? Did the leadng countries of English language lack specific cultural tendencies that delayed them from inventing the singing machines that Japan would instead crete as Karaoke?

I have been reading "Kusamakura" by Soseki and I have been craving books that have similar tones. In the book he refenced multiple stories about love, or loss of child. I wonder if there is books that have "old" "classic" feel to them. Preferably also describing the era they are in, it could be a novel or stories in form of poetry. Some works in enjoyed are shipwrecks by akira yoshimura because had classic feel of a less modern japan

I am still very new to the language and I recently encountered this honorific. From my understanding it's supposed to refer to someone marital status I believe? But I am not entirely sure.

Like, when is it used exactly instead of honorifics like さん? What exactly is it's use? I almost never see it be used so is it not a very common phrase or is it's usage just very niche?

Appreciate the help in advance!

Is there a specific context that determines which form is used? Or is it just preference?

I’m a student for GCSE and my teacher told me last year to use omounode instead of omoimasu as it is a casual version of it, however I don’t know if omounode is specific for something as she told me to use it for things like すしはうまいと思うので好きです or すしはうまいと思うのですごい食べ物です。 The problem is I don’t know whether omounode is a combination of omoimasu and kara in a sense that it must be I think so… or if you can stop at omounode without adding extra information. Any help in the matter is greatly appreciated, ありがとう🙏

I use the android version of anki and I would like to put hiragana reading above of my sentences with kanji, can you guys give me some recomendations?

I recently got this book via recommendation. So far I love it, it does a better job at getting across information that my GENKI books. Only thing, I don't know how to study it. GENKI is pretty easy because it's made for college classes, but this book isn't.

Does anyone have any tips on how to best study out of the book?

Hi all,

I am finishing up my masters in my home country (Belgium) and am planning an exchange semester to Japan next year. 5 choices are open to me, but after having researched online I am still uncertain about which city would be the best pick.

The universities I can apply for are Kobe Uni, Keio Uni, Waseda Uni, Hitotsubashi Uni and Kyoto Uni. From what I gathered, the prices for a student dorm will be a bit higher in Tokyo than in Kyoto and Kobe, but that is about all of the info I've been able to find.

I know for example that Hitotsubashi is quite "far" from Tokyo itself; is the campus/nightlife not boring then ? And conversely, how would Kyoto be ? I know there are lots of temple and cultural monuments to see there, but I can't imagine that I will visit a temple each day for the full semester that I'm there haha.

All in all, I am curious to see what people's opinions of these universities are, as well as what the good / bad points of each city are.

Thanks to those who will have taken the time to read this!

PS. I am doing a masters in Business, so I'd imagine I'd be on either the Economics or the Business campus of the institution I'll pick

I was watching a street interview video a long time ago (can't remember which one, but probably one from "Ask Japanese") and a couple of Japanese young girls were surprised to find out that バイバイ wasn't a purely Japanese expression.

At that time I didn't give it too much thought, because I'm pretty sure that happens to many other speakers of other languages. We use words in Spanish or English, for example, that originate from other languages, and not everybody is knowledgeable enough to know that.

But I just realized that in the case of Japanese, the katakana would be a very obvious clue, and they have probably written it on Line many, many times. So, how is the reaction from those girls even possible? Is it just typical young people behavior (acting completely clueless sometimes) or is there something more to it that I'm missing?

Edit: Just to be clear, I understand that katakana is not only used for foreign words, so I was not talking about words in general, but about the example in my post (or similar words), because I could not understand which use of the katakana those native people could be thinking about to consider バイバイ a Japanese word/expression. Thanks to everyone who explained the possible causes to me.

My wife is native Japanese. She insists one must never use a combination of on yomi and kun yomi. However when discussing foreign gods in academic articles, I have read it is acceptable and done. Example 太陽の神 taiyō no kami ( kun yomi ) vs 太陽神 taiyō shin ( on yomi ) for the Egyptian Sun God RA. She says it sounds pretentious and would never happen.

basically i'm 15 and going to be going on an exchange trip to japan pretty soon. our teacher has us in a few groups with some japanese kids, same age as me or a couple years older, and i would really love some tips for conversation with them. how formal should i be? how many emoticons can i use? what things should i talk about?

Both my roommate and I have Japanese connections, and a deep respect and love for the Japanese way of life. We are also getting old and have a lot of pain and sadness in our lives. We are looking into ways of decorating and furnishing our small home so that it resembles a traditional Japanese home, and are hoping it will bring us some peace and beauty. We are looking into futon beds, cupboards behind rice paper walls (probably have to be acrylic paper), tatami mats and so on. If this is the right place, we'd like to ask for advice. First two questions are the above acrylic rice paper walls, and a Japanese-quality futon made in the US so shipping is manageable. All advice gratefully accepted.

I'm currently learning the potential form conjugations but I was wondering if what I'm doing is correct.

Take for example the verb 聞く, I put it into potential form 聞ける.

If I then want to turn that into the past tense, can I just conjugate the -ru ending?

Do I use ichidan or godan rules for conjugating it?

If I use the godan rules I get:

聞ける　⇒　past: 聞けった
聞ける　⇒　past polite: 聞けらました
聞ける　⇒　past negative: 聞けりなかった
聞ける　⇒　past polite negative: 聞けりませんでした

I apologize if this makes no sense, like I said I'm just trying to learn.

Title. How was your experience?

I ask because I'm getting into my 30s and i want to gauge how much time I'll need to spend to be able to function socially in Japanese, i learned it 10 years ago. And although it sucked, i was able to converse casually about what university students converse about while hanging out. But that was a long time ago, i rarely spoke japanese for 4 years now. But I'm trying to get back to it, and I'm researching what I'll need to do and spend in terms of time to able to function socially in Japanese.

Can anyone share their experience?

In Tokyo the cashier asked me if I wanted a bag and used the word 'Kaban', and so when I need a bag I've been saying "Kaban o kudasai".

Now I'm in Kyoto and when asking this way, I've had some confused looks, am I saying this incorrectly? Is there a different way I should ask? Is it a dialect thing?

I'm heading to Osaka soon also, would I ask differently there? I'm still a beginner at Japanese and so my understanding isnt the best. Any help would be appreciated.