BondLingo Learn Japanese

Making mistakes is part of language learning. It’s going to happen, and the people you’re talking to understand. This is especially true if you’re learning a language that’s really different from English, like Japanese.

You might get embarrassed if you end up saying something silly, but don’t worry. Everyone who has learned Japanese has been there.

To help you, I’ve collected some mistakes I made and heard my friends make while learning Japanese. This way you can learn from our mistakes and become amazing Japanese speakers.

Common Words We Mess Up

Foreigners mistake 1 : ある aru and いる iru

Two words that I still mess up with are “aru” (ある) and “iru” (いる). These two can be tricky because they have almost the same meaning. Almost.

Both words mean “to exist,” but “aru” is for inanimate objects and “iru” is for animate objects. So if you’re saying “There is a book,” you say “Hon ga aru” (本がある). If you’re saying “There are three people,” you say “Sannin ga iru” (3人がいる).

Besides the similar meaning, these words also sound pretty similar. So just be careful which one you use, because it sounds weird to Japanese people when you mix them up. 

Foreigners mistake 2 : Kawaii and Kowai

There are some other words that foreigners mix up because there is only one sound that is different. My favorite example of this is when I heard a girl describe a bird as “kowai” (怖い), which means “scary.” She definitely meant to call it “kawaii” (可愛い), which means “cute.” 

Foreigners mistake 3 : Oni and Ani

Japanese has few enough sounds that it’s really important to articulate correctly. Otherwise you’ll end up making mistakes like this. If you aren’t careful, you just might end up calling your “ani” (兄: older brother) an “oni” (鬼: ogre). 

Foreigners mistake 4 : Kawaisou and Kawaii ?

Sometimes foreigners make mistakes because we think the word should mean one thing, but it actually means something completely different.
My friend once told a woman her baby was “kawaisou” (かわいそう), thinking she was saying “Your baby looks cute!” Unfortunately, “kawaisou” has nothing to do with the word “kawaii,” and actually means “pitiful.”
So she told the woman her baby looked pitiful. 

Foreigners mistake 5 : Potato fry

Along with Japanese words that don’t always mean what we might think they do, there are even katakana words that can trip us up. It took me a long time to figure out that “potato fry” (ポテトフライ) just meant “French fry” (or chip, if you’re British). The one that still confuses me today is the word “konsento” (コンセント), which doesn’t mean “consent,” but rather “power outlet.” 

Those words and compounds derived from the English language but in most cases not in fact used in English with the same meanings.

Other Japanese English (wasei-eigo)

• Salaryman in Japanese language means office worker.
• Skinship in Japanese language means physical contact.
• Drive in in Japanese language means roadside restaurant.
• Dutch wife in Japanese language means sex doll.
• Car sex in Japanese language means public sex in a car.
• Ice candy in Japanese language means ice lolly.
• New half in Japanese language means trans-gender.
• Open car in Japanese language means convertible car.
• Play guide in Japanese language means ticket agency.
• Love hotel in Japanese language means a hotel designed expressly for sexual liaisons.
• Oil shock in Japanese language means oil crisis.
• Free size in Japanese language means one-size-fits-all.
• Philippines pub in Japanese language means a bar with Filipino staff.

Other words I’ve heard a lot of people struggle with are “Ko-So-A-Do” words. At least, that’s how I learned them. These are words that have similar meanings,
but they change based on how they start. For example, “kono” (this), “sono” (that), “ano” (that), and “dono” (which), can be grouped together.
You could also have “koko” (here), “soko” (there), “asoko” (there), and “doko” (where). 

These ones become tricky because of the spatial awareness needed to use them. “Ko-” words are things close to you, the speaker. “So-” words are close to the person you are speaking to.

“A-” words are not close to either of you, and “Do-” words are question words. The closeness can be physical or more abstract, such as referring to information instead of an actual object or location. 

Pronunciation

Although Japanese is one of the easier languages to pronounce (I’m looking at you, English), we can actually overcomplicate it as a foreigner. Words in Japanese don’t have any sort of stress on them. If you put emphasis on any of the syllables in a word (aside from the natural inflection you use when speaking), it’s going to sound odd. 

A good example of this was when I would hear my friends stress the second syllable of “watashi” (私: I, me) and say “waTAshi.” It always came out a bit awkward. So make sure to keep your speaking pretty even. 

Ame or Ame / Hashi and Hashi or Hashi

Japanese almost has tones. They work a lot differently from languages like Chinese, and you generally won’t have to worry about them. But there are a lot of homophones in Japanese that are distinguished by tone. Examples of this include “ame,” which can mean “candy” (飴) or “rain” (雨), and “hashi,” which can mean “bridge” (橋), “edge” (端), or “chopsticks” (箸). 

Luckily, words like this can be deduced from context, so you won’t have to worry about the tones. Also, I always mix them up because I learned my Japanese in Kansai, and the tones are different there. Even tones can vary by region. 

Japanese People Are Nice

Japanese can be a really difficult language for English speakers to learn. But Japanese people know this, and they are really nice. If you say something weird, just know that it happens to everyone. 

Mistakes are learning experiences, and most Japanese people will be happy to help you improve and learn the right words to use. The more you get out and speak Japanese, the more mistakes you’ll make, and the faster you’ll learn. 

Learn Japanese Online with BondLingo

Recommend

Study in Japan?