じゃがいも ≠ ポテト (Updated)
じゃがいも = ポテト = Google Images provides overwhelming proof: じゃがいも, ポテト. You can add フライド in front of the latter, but it’s unnecessary. Updated to reflect that いも actually refers more generally to tubers.
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バイク ≠ bike
バイク = bike = This one confuses a lot of people, and it frustrates the hell out of me when translators are unable to take a step back and realize that the villain/whoever is not pulling up on his/her … Continue reading
パンツ ≠ Pants
Nice pants: Nice パンツ: An inequality for this week. Just a friendly reminder that 外来語 doesn’t always mean what it sounds like.
改めて and 及び
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The newsletter is online and the podcast is up! I wrote about 改めて (aratamete), which is really just a fancy way of saying また (mata, again)…to a certain extent. And while doing the podcast, I was reminded of the Japanese … Continue reading
事項 and Kobe Recommendations
The newsletter is online, and the podcast is live: This month, I wrote about 事項 (jikō) and about how it’s essentially meaningless on its own. Because it combines with so many other words, however, it’s one of the most useful … Continue reading
初めて言われました
The newsletter is online! This month I wrote about the nice, efficient phrase 初めて言われました (Hajimete iwaremashita, That’s the first time anyone has said that about me). I think it’s potentially a nice way to gain a clearer understanding of the … Continue reading
御社・弊社
Happy New Year, all! As you might have gathered from last month’s post, 2025 was an eventful year, and fortunately it ended as smoothly as I could have hoped. The Japanese New Year’s holiday was excellent, as usual (as I … Continue reading
育休
The newsletter and podcast are online: Take a look at the newsletter for more details, but I’m taking the month off. I wrote about some of my favorite writing I’ve done since I started keeping How to Japanese way back … Continue reading
当日
The newsletter and podcast are online: This month I wrote about a word that was rattling around in my head earlier this year. 当日 (tōjitsu, the day it happened/will happen). I started by looking for some usage examples in Aozora … Continue reading
謎
The newsletter is up, you’re on the blog, which means the podcast is directly below: I wrote about a funny Japanese word: 謎 (nazo, mystery). I was inspired to look at 謎 because I was curious about the effect that … Continue reading