Dictionary

Throughout the next year, hopefully, speaking Japanese will only be getting more natural and easier. So in order to make it easier for myself and not have to consciously translate all the little additions in Japanese, which no doubt will start appearing in my writing (and speech), but also to share a few interesting things, I made this dictionary of phrases and words I use most; I promise to regularly update it as new words start coming in. And who knows, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two as well?

In brackets is the Japanese version. Whenever you see a few things in there separated by commas, they will be in the order of: kanji, hiragana, katakana.

If you’re having troubles viewing Japanese script on your screen, I suggest trying to install East Asian languages first (how to).

B

ben (弁) - dialect
bentō (弁当) - packed lunch, Japanese lunch box

D

denshi jisho (電子辞書) - electronic dictionary

G

go- (ごー) - prefix added to words of Chinese origin; it makes the word sound more polite and shows respect towards the listener

H

hisashiburi (久しぶり、ひさしぶり) - long time no see, long time

J

jinja (神社) - Shinto shrine

K

Kaga (加賀) - once the name for the area of Kanazawa and nearby places, and the name of the samurai clan living there; now "Kaga" is often added to names of Kanazawa products to show that they are local
Kaga yasai (加賀野菜) - Kaga vegetables, vegetables produced only in Kanazawa and nearby places
Kanazawa (金沢) - Kanazawa
keigo (敬語) - honorific language including various levels of respectful, humble, and polite speech; it includes both special vocabulary and special grammatical forms
keitai denwa (携帯電話) - mobile phone; often shortened to just keitai
-ken (県) - prefecture
Kindai (金大) - colloquial name for Kanazawa University; it's short for Kanazawa Daigaku (金沢大学)
kōhai (後輩) - junior (at work or school); someone who does the same thing as you, but has done less of it/has less experience in it
konbini (コンビニ) - convenience store; short for konbiniensu sutoa (コンビニエンスストア)

M

maccha (抹茶) - fine powder green tea used in the tea ceremony as well as a flavour for various sweets such as ice-cream, cookies, Kitkats etc.
matsuri (祭り、まつり) - festival
momiji (紅葉、もみじ) - means both autumn colours and the leaves changing colours, and Japanese Maple

N

neko (猫、ねこ、ネコ) - cat

O

o- (おー) - suffix added to words of Japanese origin; it makes the word sound more polite and shows respect towards the listener
okaeri (お帰り、おかえり) - welcome home, you're back; this is a shortened form of okaerinasai (お帰りなさい、おかえりなさい)

P

purikura (プリクラ) - photo booths popular especially among girls, which allow for "beautification" of the photographed through making the skin paler and the eyes bigger, and adding captions, pictures etc. on to the pictures; it's short for purinto kurabu (プリントクラブ), print club

R

ryūgakusei (留学生) - overseas student, exchange student (ie me in Kanazawa)

S

sakura (桜、さくら、サクラ) - cherry trees and their blossoms
sempai (先輩) - senior (at work or school); someone does the same thing as you, but has done it for longer/has more experience in it
shinkansen (新幹線) - bullet train; network of high-speed trains

T

tadaima (ただいま) - I'm back!, I've returned!, literally means "right now", "just now"
tera (寺) - Buddhist temple, in the names of the temples it's often read as ji