15 Japanese Words You Might Not Know They are Japanese!
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- čas přidán 1. 01. 2021
- 15 Japanese Words You Might Not Know They are Japanese! Japanese culture explained by Asagi! There are many common Japanese words that are used in your country. Also, there are some misused Japanese words such as "hentai"... Let's find out how we actually use them.
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I'm starting to make this kind of Japanese cultural talking video more. Write "🙋🏻♀️" if you're up to it!
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I suggest making videos about the differences in Japanese dialects! Ranging from 沖縄弁 to 関西弁 to what I consider to be the hardest- 青森弁 XD
Talking of language, one thing I’d love to see you cover is the R/L pronunciation thing from a Japanese perspective, and also which letters westerners struggle with but which we don’t know we struggle with (e.g. the first syllable in ‘ramen’ which isn’t an ‘R’)
@@DanThomasUK Yeah foreigners especially have a hard time with the Japanese R's, tsu, and fu.
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Lol, if I hear another white, tattooed CZcams chef say the word 'umami' again, I'm going to scream. XD
In Poland we pronounce "karaoke" exactly as Japanese people do. We also use mentioned words along with:
origami, bonsai, aikido, jujitsu...
karate, judo also
Jujutsu. Jujitsu is the englicised version.
same in Czech rep.
Same in Greece.
It is surprising how a country so small have such a huge cultural impact on the world. There is so much japanese stuff around the world it's mind blowing
same thing with England which is even smaller
@@nicholasbrown4109 True
Think Toyota just became the biggest car sold in the United States. Also Japanese restaurants are almost in every major city and town. Not really all that surprising.
@@nicholasbrown4109 but, England used to be a Empire, the sun never sets on the Union Jack! 🇬🇧
My favorite Japanese words are sushi, tamagotchi and karaoke.
Other words known here in Scandinavia/Europe, at least by me, are: bonsai, banzai!, hikikomori, ninja, shogun, samurai, harakiri, kamikaze, kimono, geisha, sumo, tsunami, karate, dojo, kanban, hai (meaning both yes and no...), anime, sakana and of course lots of names of cars, motorcycles and electronics.
Oh wow! I had no idea "emoji" is actually a Japanese word. xD I've learned a lot from this video!
It's interesting that many people didn't know that's from Japan 😁
I'm glad you enjoyed the video~❤️
@John B. I guess you're one of those who still remembers that we used to call them emoticons
@@rap3208 hahaha shit im 23 and i remember that aswell, when i used msn and facebook back in the day they were called emoticons so i genuinenly thought emoji was just an evolution of emoticon whereas the ji was taken from jpeg for being a smaller picture.
It's a Japanese word, but the idea predates their knowledge of it!
I had only heard of about half of those words. Also I had no idea that "emoji" was a Japanese word. "Origami" is also a well known Japanese word in English.
Hello! I’m currently learning japanese, and i learned hiragana reallyw ell but im still learning katakana. Could you pls translate your username ? Its written in katakana and im really curious and what it says :)
@@teea8582 Ian Rogan is what it says
イ= I
ア = A
ン = N
ロー = Ro (long vowel)
ガ = Ga
ン = N
Good luck on your japanese learning journey!
@@klondike3112 Its prolly Ian Logan
I always thought emoji was “emotion” pronounced in Japanese, like terebi (television). I had no idea it was a Japanese contraction. Thanks for clearing that up.
Seems it's purely coincidental that emoji looks similar to the English words emotion and emoticon - that's pretty amazing.
@@thomaschalmers6559 Original I thought Emoji was a fusion of the English "Emotion" and the Japanese "Kimochi". "Kimochi" means "feeling"
Soy (from 醤油), skosh (from 少し), rickshaw (from 人力車), and tycoon (from 大君) are some of my favorite examples.
We also say in the US “head honcho” when we refer to someone being the boss. It’s based off of the Japanese word “hanchou” and I believe it was misspelled into the way native English speakers would interpret it.
The Japanese culture videos are interesting. This is a good one
Very interesting Asagi san, also Judo, Karate, Origami, Manga, Sushi, Tofu, Ramen, Wasabi, Zen, Futon Typhoon (Taifu) and many other Japanese words are in use in English speaking countries. I believe it’s down to the increasing influence and presence of Japanese Foods and Film in Western Countries as well as the significant increase of English speaking tourists visiting Japan ( pre current pandemic)
🌸 ❤️ 🌸
Didn't know matcha came from China. More videos like this would be great. I used to live in Yokohama. Now Im in Okinawa and the language is pretty fun to learn.
Did you know tempura is not originally from Japan. It was actually introduced to Japan by the Portuguese in the 16th century. I think it’s less known in Japan because its not common to see this word written in katakana.
Yes, as was Panko. Word for bread in Portuguese being pao. They were the first Europeans to land in Japan and establish trade.
Shiitake, that's probably the word I've used most recently. I've been creating dishes using them - delicious. I even had some with my English breakfast this morning.
I never knew tsunami was Japanese till I came to Japan 🇯🇵🤣
In Sweden, the word we often use for imitation crab or crabsticks is "surimi" which I didn't know until a few years ago actually was a Japanese word.
Another word that I never knew the background of was Rickshaw, coming from 人力車 :) (In Sweden we call it "Riksha" which is a little bit closer to the Japanese word, haha)
Jag är svensk fast aldrig hört ordet surimi inann, har du verkligen hört det?
A word I’ve used my whole life that I recently found out is Japanese is 少し. It’s been around for so long in the US that it’s become Americanized is “skosh.” Most of the time I’ll use it like “move over a skosh, would ya?” or some other informal way of saying a little bit, so the meaning is similar too.
I think that one is a coincidence. But maybe. Scooch over etc. don't sound like they have a Japanese origin.
Skoosh is a Scots word
@@CaptainWumbo You might be right, it could just be a coincidence. Hard to tell if it’s solid etymology or just a fun story ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@thomaschalmers6559 Huh, that’s fascinating. Does it mean about the same thing as “skosh” in english?
@@noahlively7600 not exactly 😆 - skoosh v. (cause to) gush, splash, squirt; dart, move rapidly with a swishing sound; etc
n. a splash, spurt, jet (of liquid); carbonated drink such as lemonade; etc
Skosh seems to be a US thing that's not made it across into British English - first time I've come across it. Learned something new, cheers!
Always super informative Asagi!!
Whoa, hold up! Are you saying that in Japan I can find a place to sing without shaming myself in front of others? And that place isn't even in the shower?? Dude, that sounds like heaven.
there are plenty of places you can rent a private room for a party with friends. but if you are serious......
Very interesting and thank for letting me know. Very cool!
Others: teriyaki = flavour
Me: teriyaki = tokyo drift
Mottainai is the only word new to me, and it is a very useful concept. Thanks, Asagi!
This is very interesting. I hope you do more like this
i missed "futon" in the list, which i only quite recently learned is a japanese word. i don't know how much it is used in other countries, but many german families have a foldable mattress for guests which are called futon.
back in the 90's people used alot of sayanora as a slang type 'bye' years later i found out that sayonara is pretty final and i started cringing everytime i've heard it
I thought it was final, too, but in Japan today, it is used even when you expect to see the person the next day.
Very good video, and I always learn something from you're content.
great video, love learning this kinda stuff!
Nice to learn the meaning behind those words thank you. Happy new year 🎊 and I wish you and everyone else on your channel good health and better times this year.
Thank you Asagi-chan, I learned a few things from you. Amazing what I didn't know about these words and now I can use then correctly. Arigato.
Wow I have learnt so much through this video thank you so much
Nice video, I really like the quick peek into Japanese culture
I would add these too!!
KAMIKAZE
HARA KIRI
SUSHI!!!
SHINKANSEN, though we usually say Bullet Train
KARATE?
JUDO
WASABI?
One of the few things I hate in Japan is Matcha. It's time for Japan to move on from that - though you need more espresso machines before you do that. Sadly, kohi in Japan isn't much better than American coffee. Filter coffee in 2021 no thank you.
The only other food that I HATE in Nihon is KAZUNOKU, which is kind of like organic tasteless rubber. Luckily I you only have to eat it on New Years Day
Yeah I'd say the martial arts karate and kendo are popular
Very interesting video, also your English voice is very nice, I felt so relaxed when I saw the video. I will wait for the next one!
Hi Asagi, have a terrific 2021! Good video.😁
Super interesting thank you. I am now trying to also get the pronunciation correctly like you said it.
Actually, bread in Japanese is the same as saying bread in Spanish which is “pan” as well
Hey, liked this, some words i knew, some not. Keep up the good work..🥰
In America we say the word "skosh" to mean a little bit of something. I was surprised to learn it comes from the Japanese 少し (sukoshi)
I'm American, and I've never heard 'skosh'. It sounds like twitchspeak to be honest.
@@takigan The term "just a skosh" (just a little bit) has been around since at least the 1950s. I suspect that it came into English just after WWII. The Japanese equivalent would be "sukoshi do ka desu."
Never heard that in the U.S.
@@specialk9999 My family and others in the hood I grew up in said it all the time. I dunno
@@colinbowden4663 oh, maybe it depends what area in the U.S.? I don’t know, maybe I just haven’t paid enough attention to hear it here.
Thanks, learned some new stuff!
When I worked in consulting, every consultant would throw a bunch of japanese words at the clients such as "Kaizen" and "Jidoka". These words would show up in every meeting.
Hello Asagi. I just discovered this channel and find it very interesting. I have (since childhood) some kind of affinity for Japan and the japanese people.
Anyway, congrats for this video and ... you got me subscribed.
共 ありがと.
Hope I got it right.
"Umami" is used as a word in the west, to cover a taste that is rounded and full, with both sour, sweet, salty and bitter in it.
“The taste of broth” is how it was described to me. A yeasty taste.
I would have to say "anime", "manga", "karate", "ninja", "samurai", "ginkgo", and "mochi" to name a few.
You are doing great and your channel is awesome! It is also very interesting to see your point of view on different hidden culture of Japan and how you can break down some of the background on certain topics, it was impressive how you were able to identify what region of japan filthyfrank was from by how he spoke. Keep up the great content!!!! and you are super cute!!!
Not exactly “family friendly” but words like “harikiri” and “seppuku” are becoming more frequently used for the same thing - the difference between the two would be educational to know but I understand if you don’t want to include them in one of these videos. Either way thank you for the video!
they mean the same thing, one is just cruder than the other, harikiri means belly-cutting and seppuku means ritual suicide.
Sushi and sashimi are very well known...Lots of other foods, too...
Wasabi
Miso
Mochi
Tonkatsu
Udon
Ramen
Soba
Ahi
Edamame
Nori
Unagi
Yakitori
Gyoza
Shabu Shabu
Teppanyaki
Enoki
Shiitake
Hamachi
Tatami
Kimono
Konichiwa
Domo Arigato
I was hoping to see Karate make the list....maybe the next time you do this exercise again! Loved the tsunami sign photo!
Super interesting! Etymology is one of my favorite subjects 🤩 yes we love sake 🤤
Wow, really interesting 👌🏻
Excellent video full of information.. I had no idea that emoji is a Japanese word.. and of course good to know about a fact how Japan has so much of the influence over the world with their work
Nice one! Gonna add more to the vocabulary as its gonna help to learn the language better, arigatou! :)
I suspect that the Japanese word for bread originally comes from the Latin word for bread "pānis". For comparison, in Italian, bread is called "pane". In French, it's "pain." In old Provençal variants, however, it is "pan". And the German word for breading is "panieren". Probably the word came with the bread itself from Europe to Japan.
Yes, that's right. I think the direct passing of that word to Japan is credited to the Portuguese, but it really could have come from any romance language.
Indirectly, yeah.
Pan comes Portuguese Pão.
The trade relations between Portugal and Japan and the Portuguese contributions to Early Modern Japanese cusine is beyond documented, from bread, to tempura, some cake, etc.
Japan adapts foreign words to their phonetics, and as such the foreign "Pão" was transcribed to what in romaji would be "Pan"
Very interesting content. Teriyaki often appears in the menu of fast food chains also. Harakiri is also well known, typically used in a figurative way to highlight the unfortunate consequence of an action to the person doing it. Otaku is also gaining popularity these days.
Fun fact, the "oke" in "karaoke" is actually an abbreviation of the English word "orchestra". "Kara" means "empty", so the word means something like "empty orchestra". Another thing, the kanji for "kara" is 空. Another meaning for that kanji is "sky", in which case it takes the pronunciation of "sora". If you're a fan of Kingdom Hearts, that word will be familiar. While Sora's name in that series never appears in kanji to my knowledge, it's been confirmed that "sky" is the meaning.
Hi! In case you're curious, I'm from Ukraine and I knew 11 of these 15 words before watching this video, but one of them - Matcha - I knew the word but I didn't know it was Japanese)
Btw, in Ukraine we also pronounce 'karaoke' the same way you do, we also use the word 'tsunami', though they never really happen in Ukraine, and we also use a few other Japanese words, such as 'origami', 'sushi', 'karate' and others :)
Going to watch this on my duty day! Hopefully I know all these! Been studying Japanese for a little over a year now - demo nihon-go wa chotto muzukashi desu yo
As a native English speaker who is a beginner studying Japanese.. this is a very helpful video! 💗💗💗
Very fascinating 🤔
Love you and your channel
Katsu
Sushi/Sashimi
Shiba Inu
Karate
Pan is a French word for bread (pain)
As for small countries influence on language - England and Spain have done OK 😉
tentacle
Japanese Pan comes from Portuguese Pão, as we introduced them to bread when we made first contact and established trade relations with Japan
The Japanese transcribed the "ão" nasal sound as "an", which is a common thing done in Japan when adapting foreign words to Japanese phonetics. At a superficial glance though, one would erroneously assume it came from Spanish Pan or even French Pain
Many are used commonly in Spanish such as Ikebana, as flower arrangement, bonzo (related to burning yourself to death to protest against something), bonsai, kimono, biombo (屏風). Of course there are many more food related, such as sushi, sashimi, and wasabi. There must be dozens related to martial arts/action movies/manga-anime (karate, judo,aikido, kamikaze, banzai, shogun, samurai, ninja, katana, shuriken, tonfa etc). Knife enthusiast use commonly japanese terms (Santoku, deba, yanagiba, nakiri, usuba, san-mai, urasuki, arato, nakato, shirogami, aogami). The last two are interesting, as they literally mean white paper and blue paper although they refer to types of steel.
I work for a Japanese company with about 200 Japanese personnel who are here to train us. We use a lot of Japanese phrases and words most are misspelled and or mispronounced. The Japanese personnel are also here to learn English, and learn the culture.
Great video
Japan may be a small country but you are an economic powerhouse that has a reputation for exporting quality products. I have my Father's old Nissan Xterra that just turned 200,000 miles and is still running strong.
Teriyaki is good but sukiyaki is even better - guess it's more common in Australia than USA LOL
I must be very proficient because I use far more - hibachi, udon, tempura, ramune, shiitake, ramen with nori (that's yummy). You can tell I'm a foodie, but I also appreciate Japanese brands (Lexus, Pentel, Yamaha, Fujitsu, Sony, Makita, Seiko, Mizuno). I have owned them all - never go wrong when I buy Japanese.
Alot of Japan culture in Cairns :)
@Asagi’s Life On the subject of Karaoke, while it’s true that some bars have a “Karaoke Night”, in Seattle, WA’s University Avenue, there are some of “Dedicated Karaoke” establishments, though they aren’t even close to the large “Karaoke Palaces” in Tokyo.
Umani is used a lot in the anime Food Wars! It's a very popular one👍
Interesting!!
Very interesting, I love Teriyaki sauce, I put that stuff on everything 😂
I love your content keep it up. Also, you are so pretty keep it up also. Arigato.
外国人は「絵文字」と「和牛」を発音すると、合ってない発音が出るに気付きます
特にアメリカ人がway-gooって発音してしまいます笑笑
はは！その通りです。Stevieさん。あなたの日本語は凄いね。あなたは何年勉強した？
I am a Chinese living in the Western world for over 15 years, and I always thought that matcha is a Japanese word, despite the word Cha is a Chinese word. I kept saying that, while it is true that many things we share in common between Japan and China were originated from China in the history, they are, respectfully, preserved and developed in Japan, which at the end of the day makes it Japanese with my respect. Not only did I respect but also do we appreciate amongst me and my friends. I do appreciate the fact that most Japanese will acknowledge the Chinese culture origin. Unlike what the neighbor country has been doing
Oh well,sorry! Being Eastern European i don't use any of these words in my language on a daily bases,however the video is great and educational.I like the way you talk and also that being rear beauty adding some spicy flavor to the video.
I have an idea,why you don't make videos about other cultures too?I will gladly watch them,not only the western one :)))).
Thanks for the video.
"Japan is a small country"
Population: *120 Million*
*sorry for turning the replies into Afghanistan I know Japan is certainly small compared to other countries.
India is a small country
Population : *1.5 billion*
Yes, it is a very small country, but it is EXTREME dense population-wise. It is only about the size of California, which isn't even the biggest state in the US. It just has 3x the population, not to mention a lot of it's 地理(Geography, sorry, I just learned this word so I have to try to use it until i "get it") is made up of mountains. So there is less living space than even it's already small size would normally allow.
By land area, Japan is slightly smaller than California, so I certainly wouldn't describe it as a large country.
If you rank countries by size Japan is #62 and it is considered small country by geographers. Only 33% of it's land is habitable and only 12.3% of its land is used for agriculture, many countries with less land are significantly higher in percentages of habitable and agricultural land. Japan's length does not run the entire east coast of the US, the closest size comparison would be California which is just slightly larger than Japan.
Densely populated =/= "Big" country
This video was pretty interesting! I've heard of 12 out of the 15 words. I didn't realize emoji or Karaoke were Japanese words, but it makes a lot of sense to me especially after you explain what Emoji means in the exact definition. I actually wish Karaoke in the United States was more like it is in Japan. Also interesting that Sake doesn't just refer to rice wine. Anytime I've had Sake it is rice wine, which I love by the way! I'm not sure why Sake is like that here(or at least anytime I've had it in the US}.
so knowledgeable
I've actually never heard of some of these, but now I know. American English tends to borrow from other languages, so it's not surprise that words like "teriyaki", "tsunami" and "karaoke" are used quite often here..
Great, now I want chicken teriyaki and sake! Enjoying the cultural vids. 🙋🏻♂️
Interesting!
Hey, we all know what a 津波 is. 🌊
Also, the words "tycoon" and "honcho" come from Japanese.
Asagi : good video 👍
Yeah, Tsunami 7:16 - it's when you're abroad and don't even have to learn a foreign language to be prepared.
I am surprised that you didn't bring up the work Kamikaze, we use that word fairly often in America
I have been to old style karaoke in Japan and it was a big room everyone performing for the crowd
さよなら is the common word that is used in India.
Although it is not use often,
It is a well known word for "bye"
So interesting, thank you. When you say Umami, what comes to my mind is the English word “yummy” - could it maybe be a derived loan word?
One Japanese word I have been saying since I was a child is Furikake. Most folks I know call it rice seasoning but I keep calling it furikake. If I recalled correctly it means “to sprinkle over” but when growing up I thought it meant “rice seasoning.” My favorites are Noritama and Ajiduoraku from Marumiya. Noritama is what I use when I was child and Ajiduoraku is what I currently use and prefer.
A word i came to know is "haiku. " The definition they give of that word here is it's a poem with three short phrases.
Wow, that explanation of Sake and Nihonshu clears up so many misunderstandings for me. I'm glad I actually learned something I've been confused about for a while. I was always confused as to why people in Japanese shows and anime said Sake when they meant alcohol or liquor because in America Sake is always fermented rice wine. Alright, so now I know what Beeru, Nihonshu, and Sake actually mean, instead of just being confused about it for the rest of my life lol
El Pan is the word for bread in Spanish. very similar
most these words are still not very common, relate to food, more likely familiar to those into anime.
you missed the word "tycoon". probably the very first word borrowed from japanese, and used for so long now most people would be surprised its not english origin.
taken from the japanese "Taikun" and used to describe rich/powerfull people like an business or oil tycoon.
I never ever heard people who aren’t Japanese or are not studying Japanese say “mottainai”, it makes no sense for them.
The same goes for “karoushi”, only the people who read certain articles would know and maaaaybe “teach” others such trivia, but it doesn’t have any actual meaning in English (or any other language)
Therefore both words wouldn’t have a meaning and shouldn’t really be in the list in my opinion
I really like this video
Japan is anything but small xD you should see San Marino or Luxemburg 😂
in german kindergarten like 15 years ago i was taught the word umami and explained the flavour
We used to sell Panko crumbs at my high school/college-summer's job -- Bob's Seafood. "bread child" crumbs make for a good outer layer on crab cakes.
"Emoji" is an interesting one because in addition to the original meaning of E Moji (picture characters), it also makes sense to english speakers as a shortened form of "Emoticons" as the :-) were originally called back in the early text days to become "Emo-ji" (emotion characters). Works both ways!
Another Japanese word I hear people in the U.S. use a lot is "sukoshi" 少し (usually pronounced as "skosh" by Americans). As in "Maybe you could add just as skosh more emotion to your writing? Let's add some emojis."
Ooooh! Emoji is 絵文字！！LOL I always thought it was エモ字 for emotional sign.
According to Wikipedia, bread came to Japan in 1543, when a Portuguese ship carrying Christian missionaries washed ashore. Spanish: pan / Portuguese: pao / French: pain / Catalan: pa / Corsican: pane / Italian: pane.
Romanian: pâine.
In Greece, many people use the word "sayonara" for flip-flops 😂
Umami is a Japanese word, because it was first described and distinguished as a taste by a Japanese chemist, Kikunae Ikeda in the early 20th century.