遠慮, as mentioned previously, means to actively refrain from doing something. This is a nifty way around negative imperatives or having to reply with a very blunt negative refusal. 怠る (おこたる) is another wicked cool Japanese verb that means, fundamentally, … Continue reading
Welcome to the Tenth Annual How to Japanese Murakami Fest! With the goal of stirring up even more interest in Murakami between now and October, when the Nobel Prizes are announced, I will post a small piece of Murakami translation/analysis/revelation … Continue reading
I’ve got another article in the Japan Times, this time about the procedural phrases that make Japan go round. Aside from the idiomatic ones I introduce at the beginning of the article, just about any of the する／します verbs can … Continue reading
I haven’t done a pyramid style list for a Japanese word in a while (not since “Power Up Your ちょっと” to be specific), so I thought that I’d do one for the word そう. I’m referring to the そう used … Continue reading
Thinking about 遠慮 and かもしれない has also made me wonder recently whether or not the へん from the Kansai dialect plays a similar role. For those who don’t know, the Kansai dialect is prevalent in and around Osaka, Kyoto and … Continue reading
I’ve got a short piece on 遠慮 over at Néojaponisme. It’s a rewritten version of one of my first posts – “How to Say No by Saying Yes”. Don’t forget that you can also make use of お断り as a … Continue reading
A funny, casual alternative to 遠慮 is お断り. Technically it’s derived from the keigo（お＋断り＋します） of 断る（ことわる）, which means to reject or refuse, but I think the actual usage is more casual. It’s generally used as a terse method of shooting … Continue reading
Japanese people hate saying no. Not only do they hate saying no, they even hate using negative endings to verbs. This presents a problem for many foreigners, who upon arrival suddenly find that there are many things they would like … Continue reading