One of the first words a foreigner learns upon coming to Japan is daijobu (dai-JOH-boo), a very useful term which means “okay” “alright” or “no problem.” It’s quite a handy word since you can combine it with other words and people will understand what you mean, for example say wasabi daijobu will let the sushi chef know that it’s okay to leave wasabi on your sushi, and daijobu? said as a question is very easy to say. The opposite of this word is dame (dah-MEH), meaning “no good” or “not okay.” While it can be used in quite a few circumstances, dame can sound quite harsh, so a maybe consider softening it with chotto (CHO-toh, “a little”) in front of it. Finally, a good work to know is kudasai (koo-dai-sai), an all purpose word that means “please [give this to me]” which has many uses from restaurants to office setitngs. Now you know some Japanese words!
