Say you like manga and anime, things made in Japan, in Japanese. One day you feel a calling: you got to learn Japanese, because you love this stuff, and this stuff is in Japanese. Not knowing Japanese hinders your ability to enjoy the content one hundred percent. Then you start... and everyone tells you learning Japanese is too hard and learning it just for manga is a really stupid idea. That may not be exactly true.

When you start learning Japanese, more specifically, the kanji 漢字, the day always arrives when you hear something about the readings kun'yomi 訓読み and on'yomi 音読み but you still have no idea what they exactly mean. So, in this post, I'll explain what is kun'yomi, what is on'yomi, and what's their importance in the language.

In Japanese, kakko カッコ means either "appearance" or "parenthesis." In the former case, it's also spelled kakko かっこ and found in compound words.

• "Appearance"
  • カッコいい, カッコ悪い
  • カッコつけて
• "Parenthesis"

There are a lot of animes about sports, for some strange reason, and we all love to watch them showing the characters' hard work and sweat pay off while we're comfortably seated behind the screen. But what are those sports called in Japanese?

In Japanese, furigana 振り仮名 is a text written next to a certain character, word, or phrase, that shows how you're supposed to read it. It's also called "ruby text," rubi ルビ (the opposite being base text), or "reading aid," although it also has some non-reading-aid, creative uses.

For example: 今日日（きょうび） shows the word kyoubi 今日日, "these days," "in modern times," which has kanji 漢字 characters. Inside parentheses is the furigana: k-yo-u-bi きょうび, showing how the word is read using hiragana ひらがな characters.

Have you ever wondered how a fighting style is written in Japanese? Like boxing... or kickboxing... or chinese kickboxing... or drunken, chinese kickboxing? Or maybe how karate is written in Japanese? Well, worry no more, I've compiled a list of those names for you.

A question anime fans often ask themselves is "how do I write my name in Japanese?" Sure there is a way? Maybe you can write your name with kanji, maybe not, maybe it changes, maybe not. Well, either way, I'm here to teach you how to translate names to Japanese properly. The right way.

In Japanese, chigau 違う means literally "to differ," but it's typically used to say someone got something "wrong," to say it "is different" from what they said, to deny what someone said, i.e. to say "no" in Japanese.

In Japanese, shitsurei 失礼 means "impolite," in the sense someone has done something impolite, but it can also mean "excuse me," in the sense you've done or are about to do something that may be impolite. (e.g. enter a room, leave a room, etc.)

• Kanji
• "Impolite"
• "Excuse Me"

Those learning Japanese sooner or later come across these three words: ageru 上げる, kureru くれる and morau 貰う, and then across this problem: what's the difference between ageru, kureru and morau? Are their meanings the same or what?

• Usage Summary
• Ageru and Kureru Difference
• Kureru Usage Examples
• Kure and Kudasai
• Ageru Usage Examples
• Ageru Synonyms
• Agete Kureru
• Morau Usage and Examples
• Morau Synonyms
• Moratte Agete Kureru

Have you ever heard the word nippon 日本 in an anime? Maybe you thought you heard it, maybe you thought you misheard nihon 日本, which sounds almost the same. Well, the thing is, both nihon and nippon are actual, separate words in the Japanese language, though they are pretty much alike.

Have you ever heard the words nihon 日本 and nihongo 日本語 and wondered exactly what they meant? Obviously, they are words from Japan, they are in Japanese and they have something in common. Rest assured, their meanings are nothing too difficult.

Do you want to know the meaning of something in Japanese you saw in anime, manga or game but you don't know where to ask?

Post a comment below with your request!

In Japanese, irasshai いらっしゃい, meaning literally "come," is an expression used to welcome someone in a house or establishment. It's an abbreviation of irasshaimase いらっしゃいませ.

To welcome someone in a new place or group, youkoso ようこそ is used instead, and to welcome someone back home, okaeri おかえり is used instead.

• Meaning
• Examples

The expression itadakimasu 頂きます is one that's often said before meals in anime, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out it's one of things you have to say or else you'll come off as rude. But what does itadakimasu means in Japanese?