Every gaijin who speaks some Japanese knows the agony of accidentally using the wrong word of nihongo at an embarrassing time. Like 可愛い kawaii (cute), which is all too similar to the word 怖い kowai (scary), or 奇麗 kirei (which means both “pretty” or “clean”) and 嫌い kirai (hated), or おっぱい oppai (boobs) and いっぱい ippai (a large amount of something), or 避難 hinan (to evacuate to a safe place) and 避妊 hinin (to use contraceptive). I’m always nervous about saying the title of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya in Japanese since the word 消失 shoushutsu (“disappearance”) is very close close to 喪失 soushitsu, which means “loss” but is usually related to a person’s losing their virginity, a topic that was probably covered in more than a few doujinshi over the years. Of course, the worst thing you can do is be afraid of making mistakes, since nothing helps you learn like really embarrassing yourself in front of others. So be sure to embrace your errors!
If you need me, I’ll be in my bunk.
