Tag: Japanese language

Body language is a big part of communication, and one aspect of interacting with the Japanese is picking up on ...

While the average Japanese person on the street may think there are "a lot" of foreigners in Japan, in reality ...

The other day I was riding my bicycle past a steakhouse, and I noticed a sign that promised "Steak & ...

Japan is a subtle place, where people often substitute vague, indirect language when discussing things they don't want to talk ...

October is an auspicious month here at J-List. It's our birthday, and a special one this year since it's our ...

Although Japanese has a reputation for being the "hardest" language to learn -- St. Francis Xavier famously said it was ...

For students of foreign languages, whether Japanese working hard to learn English or us gaijin studying Japanese, success often comes ...

Talking with people from other cultures often requires a "sense" for words that's quite unrelated to actual skill with a ...

All in all, "here are your gums" is not something you'd expect to hear outside a discussion of orthodontics, but ...

In addition to our popular Facebook page and the Tumblr I launched a few months ago, I have a fairly ...

A couple of posts ago I mentioned a funny scene in the Nichijou anime in which Yuko and Mio try ...

September means the start of university, and I've got quite a few readers in my Twitter feed who have just ...

One thing everyone knows about the Japanese people is that they use chopsticks to eat with. Yes, except for certain ...

It's common for words to pass from one language to another, with meanings that get updated or redefined to fit ...

No matter how many years I spend in Japan, every new day brings with it the potential for new linguistic ...

One theme I write a lot about is how there's exactly one "correct" way to do things in Japan -- ...

It's often said the Japanese are the most polite people on Earth, and this is generally a Good Thing. When ...

When you're a white guy studying Japanese in university, a funny thing happens: as you progress in your studies there ...

Recently I wote about the anime and light novel series Kore wa Zombie desu ka? and I thought I'd give ...

One thing you get used to about Japanese people is, they don't think too deeply about their own language, and ...

Japanese is a very subtle language, and I thought it'd be interesting to examine the many ways you can express ...

Recently I had a ceiling fan installed in my home in San Diego. Two electricians came to perform the installation ...

A few updates ago I wrote about transliteration, the process of moving a word from one writing system to another, ...

Transliteration is the act of transcribing words from one writing system to another, and it's a very complex and imprecise ...