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July 14, 2007

Part I: Picking Up Japanese with Anime?

Posted in: Random Fun

While most people watch anime for fun (or for any of the reasons here), you would undoubtedly pick up words here and there whether you realize it or not. After watching a series or two you would very likely to have at least learned more than a dozen Japanese words, you just might not realize it, yet :)

I’ve compiled a nice long list of words that are often used in anime that are most likely to be picked up by you and me unconsciously. Go through the list and see how many words you can recognize and understand. You might also find that you are unable to explain the actual meaning, but during that split second when you read it, you knew what it meant.

Since the list is actually quite long, I’ll be breaking it down into 2-3 posts. That way I don’t have to type out that long a list (since I actually wrote them on a piece of paper earlier today) and I’m sure many people wouldn’t want to go through such a long list in one sitting either. I know I don’t.

For seasoned anime watchers, you would probably find that you can recognize pretty much all of these words, so try and see whether you are able to recognize all of them, or if there are any mistakes in spelling. I might make mistakes after all. Some words actually have more than one meaning and a few of the words could have the same meaning but used differently, but I would try and group them together.

  1. Baka (I can swear that 80% of the people will learn this as their first Japanese word, whether or not they watch anime)
  2. Aho
  3. Aishiteru
  4. Suki / Daisuki
  5. Kirai / Daikirai
  6. Nani
  7. Doushite
  8. Naze
  9. Watashi
  10. Watakushi
  11. Dare
  12. Itsu
  13. Hontou
  14. Sou
  15. Ore
  16. Boku
  17. Anata
  18. Kimi
  19. Omae
  20. Teme
  21. Shimatta
  22. Kuso
  23. Ohaiyou
  24. Konichiwa
  25. Konbanwa
  26. Oyasumi
  27. Konya
  28. Kyou
  29. Ashita
  30. Kinou
  31. Masaka
  32. Gomen nasai
  33. Sumimasen

The list will be continued in the next post, but how well have you done so far? :)

**Update: Click the spoiler tag “show” below to see the answers

[spoiler]

The answers here are drawn from my own knowledge of the language and might not be 100% accurate, but the general idea is correct.

  1. Baka = Stupid
  2. Aho = Fool
  3. Aishiteru = I love you
  4. Suki / Daisuki = Like / Really like
  5. Kirai / Daikirai = Hate / Really hate
  6. Nani = What
  7. Doushite = Why
  8. Naze =Why/How
  9. Watashi = I
  10. Watakushi = I (formal)
  11. Dare = Who
  12. Itsu = When
  13. Hontou = Really/Truth
  14. Sou = So/Really/Seeming
  15. Ore = I (often used by boys)
  16. Boku = I (polite, also usually used by boys)
  17. Anata = You (sometimes also can be used as “Dear” or “Darling”)
  18. Kimi = You
  19. Omae = You
  20. Teme = You (Rude)
  21. Shimatta = Damn it
  22. Kuso = Shit
  23. Ohaiyou = Good morning
  24. Konichiwa = Hello/Good afternoon
  25. Konbanwa = Good evening
  26. Oyasumi = Goodnight
  27. Konya = Tonight
  28. Kyou = Today
  29. Ashita = Tomorrow
  30. Kinou = Yesterday
  31. Masaka = Don’t tell me…/It can’t be
  32. Gomen nasai = Sorry/Apologise
  33. Sumimasen = Sorry/Excuse me

[/spoiler]

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