Among the first few vocabulary we learn in any language is how to call our family members. A standard word for father in Japanese is otousan (お父さん / おとうさん). But did you know that there are many other ways to refer to your father in Japanese? Depending on who you are speaking to or talking … Read more

Unlike the English language, there is no single word for ‘brother’ in Japanese. In fact, it is hard to separate the importance of age and hierarchy in the family in learning about family members. Ani (兄 / あに) is the word for ‘older brother’ in Japanese while otouto (弟 / おとうと) means ‘younger brother’. But … Read more

Warning: This post contains language not appropriate for young readers.  Curious about curse words in Japanese? We swear we won’t tell! (no pun intended…)   It’s easy to get the impression when first learning Japanese that everything is ultra-polite and it’s impossible to sound offensive.  But just like any other language, Japanese comes with its fair … Read more

Learning about how to refer to family members can be a little tricky in Japanese! Generally, there are two standard Japanese words for sister: ane (姉 / あね) for ‘older sister’ and imouto (妹 / いもうと) for ‘younger sister’. These two words, however, have different variations depending on context, age, who you are speaking to, … Read more

The standard Japanese word for mother is okaasan (お母さん / おかあさん). This word is typically used when speaking to your own mother or talking about somebody else’s mom. But did you know that there are many ways to refer to mothers in Japanese? Other words like haha (母 / はは) and haha oya (母親)are used … Read more

You don’t learn slang words from your average teacher – and it’s likely you won’t hear Japanese slang outside of Japan! (Unless you have Japanese friends of course!) In my humble opinion, Japanese has way cooler slang than English because it has an expressive ring to it which makes you sound more fluent. Being able … Read more