掲示板 Forums - Which Japanese words did you know before studying the language?
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Kind of a broad question, but I'm interested to see which loanwords people have encountered the most, plus which random terms they somehow learned of. I've seen words like 可愛い and 友だち used as loanwords in English, but I also picked up 今年 somewhere along the way and honestly didn't know what it meant until I started studying It was fantastic to actually learn what that word meant after knowing the pronunciation for years.
Mostly stuff like こんにちは or はい that I knew from being told or I picked up from anime. For some reason a lot of English speakers say さようなら when saying goodbye even though Japanese people don't usually say it unless they won't see the other person for a long time.
I think only the words in Clavel’s Shogun, of which there are quite a few.
Before studying Japanese I knew these anglicized version of these terms:
honcho as in "head honcho" -> 班長
banzai -> 万歳
kamikaze -> 神風
hari-kari -> 腹切
seppuku -> 切腹
kaizen -> 改善
Also sushi 寿司, sashimi 刺身, shuriken 手裏剣, ninja 忍者, samurai 侍, bushido 武士道, katana 刀, and shinobi 忍び
I thought "gung ho" was Japanese (probably because there was a comedy movie call "Gung Ho" where an American auto plant is taken over by a Japanese company), but it's actually from Chinese.
Oooh ok I have a few (all of my siblings+ me have watched at least a little anime in our lives so I mostly knew those kind of words ^-^')
Kamikaze
Seppuku
Konnichiwa
Katana (I think most people know that tho)
Tomodachi (TOMODACH LIFE!!! best game )
Neko
Sushi (most people know this one tho)
Baka (my friend made me watch Toradora! which is where I think I picked that up other than just- anime fans in general )
Nani (thank u JJBA memes)
Im sure there r other ones but I forgot lol
I've been replaying Tomodachi Life out of nostalgia! I'm considering buying the Japanese version, but I can't remember what it's called at the moment...
I've been replaying Tomodachi Life out of nostalgia! I'm considering buying the Japanese version, but I can't remember what it's called at the moment...
I think the Japanese version is called "Tomodachi Collection: New Life"? Also, I 100% get that! I love Tomodachi Life lol, its so fun. I'm setting up my little brother's 2DS so we can play it together lol. I tried to make One Piece characters on there when I was younger and it Did Not Go WellI might end up playing the Japanese version tonight if I get the chance! I've heard its really good lol
I've been replaying Tomodachi Life out of nostalgia! I'm considering buying the Japanese version, but I can't remember what it's called at the moment...
I think the Japanese version is called "Tomodachi Collection: New Life"? Also, I 100% get that! I love Tomodachi Life lol, its so fun. I'm setting up my little brother's 2DS so we can play it together lol. I tried to make One Piece characters on there when I was younger and it Did Not Go WellI might end up playing the Japanese version tonight if I get the chance! I've heard its really good lol
I'm sending you a friend request so I don't end up spamming this forum with stuff about Tomodachi Life (I can and will write paragraphs when given the chance, lol)
I've been replaying Tomodachi Life out of nostalgia! I'm considering buying the Japanese version, but I can't remember what it's called at the moment...
I think the Japanese version is called "Tomodachi Collection: New Life"? Also, I 100% get that! I love Tomodachi Life lol, its so fun. I'm setting up my little brother's 2DS so we can play it together lol. I tried to make One Piece characters on there when I was younger and it Did Not Go WellI might end up playing the Japanese version tonight if I get the chance! I've heard its really good lol
Sounds good! Tomodachi Life is a great game ^-^
A lot to be honest.. In elementary I had a Japanese class and sure, I learnt some words like めがね たべる and probably more. I totally didn't do good back then lmao.
I actually knew quite a few so ill only list of a cupple lol
kawnichwa- meaning good evening/ hello ( the polite way)
oyasumi- meaning good night
I also knew how to say 'thank you' and alot more
I know a lot of Japanese words. Toyota Honda Nissan Mitsubishi Kawasaki Nintendo . Anyway that's a joke we used to tell when we tell others that we can speak Japanese, but we don't.
konichiwa, wasabi, arigato, sushi, sashimi, tamagoyaki, mochi
Ohayou, konnichiwa, konbanwa, oyasumi, domo arigatou gosaimasu, gomainasai, sumimasen... and many more... I knew A LOT of words from watching anime.
Ermmmm… Konnichiwa, sushi, arigatou, gomennasai, saiyounara, iie, mochi, sashimi, kawaii, tomodachi (tomodachi life is good), hai, ita, ie, haiku, there’s too many. Edit: Oh yea and I did NOT learn these from anime. Second edit: I actually know a lot more, the list is just so long that it will take forever. Sorry if it’s a lot to write