6 Appropriate Ways to Ask “Why” in Japanese Without Losing Face As a foreigner learning Japanese, you were probably first taught that “why” in Japanese is どうして (doushite). But …
Japanese Question Words: Full Guide with Examples and Audio Questions (and the words used to form them) are essential building blocks for communication. You can’t always rely on …
The Master List of Core Japanese Vocabulary My favorite Japanese word is tsundoku—the art of buying too many books and never actually reading them. I enjoy …
The Complete Guide to Nanori: What It Is, How to Use It and More Most likely, you already know that being able to read kanji ( – かんじ) adds tremendous value to your Japanese …
25 Ways You Can Use Japanese Ki to Express Abstract Ideas Wish you could express abstract ideas and emotions in Japanese? Let’s talk ki! The Japanese ki is going to …
So Bad They’re Good: 18 Japanese Puns and Jokes to Make You Groan “I’ll never date another apostrophe. The last one was too possessive.” You have to admit: Puns are funny because they’re …
How to Introduce Yourself in Japanese (Formally or Casually) In Japanese, a one-size-fits-all self-introduction isn’t always appropriate—much like in English! When getting to know your intimidating new boss, you’d …
14+ Essential Japanese Gestures, Plus Body Language to Avoid We rely much more on non-verbal forms of communication than we realize. So knowing common and culturally-appropriate gestures can really …
12 Japanese Punctuation Marks You Need to Know Japanese punctuation, also known as 約物 (やくもの) — yakumono, includes all the written marks in Japanese that aren’t numbers, …
8 Steps to Learn Conversational Japanese I had made—yet another—social blunder. I used a phrase that sounded way too formal and made it seem like I …