The Iidabashi Japanese Language School motto is "Be Unique, Have fun Globally!" We teach classes focused on conversation skills to foreigners living in Japan.
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- Study with Jokes!
- June 10th, 2013Category: Uncategorized
- Today's topic is pretty light and "punny."Every country has jokes that are combinations of same or similar sounding words, right? I'm not sure whether you'll find these funny or not, but I'd like to introduce a few jokes that might be effective for remembering voca ... » Continue Reading
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- Let’s learn some onomatopoeic words: “muki-muki” and “muchi-muchi”
- June 3rd, 2013Category: Uncategorized
- 【muki muki むきむき/ muchi muchi むちむち】 Japanese is famous for having many onomatopoeic words. Today, we will learn two interesting expressions which can be used in daily situations. They are: "muki muki" and "muchi muchi". Both "muki muki" and "muchi muchi" are ... » Continue Reading
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- Should “ら／ラ(ra)” be pronounced as “L” or “R” in Japanese?
- May 27th, 2013Category: Uncategorized
- 【ら／ラ＝La? or Ra?】 Should "ら／ラ(ra)" be pronounced as "L" or "R" in Japanese? One of the difficult things for Japanese to pronounce is "L" and "R" in English. Actually the pronunciation of "ら／ラ(ra)" in Japanese is different from both "L" and "R" in English. A ... » Continue Reading
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- “High Tension”???
- May 21st, 2013Category: Uncategorized
- 【Hai Tenshon ハイテンション】 In Japan they often say “high tension” or “the tension is high” to mean elation or excitement. This is a Japanese-made phrase made up of English words. “Tension” in English means tenseness, anxiety, stress, or voltage, so if you translat ... » Continue Reading
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- Katakana Word: DABURU ダブる
- May 13th, 2013Category: Uncategorized
- 【DABURU ダブる】 You can probably tell from its sound, but this katakana word is taken from the English word "double." It differs in that in Japanese, it's used only as a verb, but its meaning is also derived from the English word. In Japanese, it has the meaning ... » Continue Reading
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- Useful Kanji: 右 Migi (right)／左 Hidari (left)
- May 6th, 2013Category: Uncategorized
- 【右 Migi (right)／左 Hidari (left)】 How many people have noticed the functionality and user friendliness of this sign? As the text is only written in Japanese, it would seem likely that many people simply passed it by. However, the stress of trying to part ... » Continue Reading
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- Karaoke Jargon: HAMORU ハモる
- April 29th, 2013Category: Uncategorized
- 【HAMORU ハモる】 Does everyone like karaoke? Today's phrase is "hamoru." "Hamoru" means, "to harmonize with the main melody." This phrase saw common use after karaoke became popular in the later part of the 1980s in Japan. The Japanese sound, "ru," is a ... » Continue Reading
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- Common Mistakes: How to translate “There is a taxi over there” in Japanese?
- April 22nd, 2013Category: Uncategorized
- Anyone who has studied even a little Japanese should easily be able to explain the difference between "imasu" and "arimasu". 庭にネコがいます。庭に木があります。庭にブランコがあります。 Niwa ni neko ga imasu.Niwa ni ki ga arimasu.Niwa ni buranko ga arimasu. There's a cat in the garden.There's ... » Continue Reading
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- How to say “to cause trouble” or “break, break down (like with cars or computers)” in Japanese?
- April 15th, 2013Category: Uncategorized
- 【TORABURU トラブる】 "to cause trouble" or "break down (like with cars or computers)" "トラブる toraburu" is a Japanese verb written in katakana that formed from the English word "trouble". There are many Japanese verbs that end in "る(ru)" in their dictionary forms (r ... » Continue Reading
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- Common Mistakes: “Wakarimasen”? “Shirimasen”?
- April 8th, 2013Category: Uncategorized
- "Wakarimasen" or "Shirimasen" "I don't know" In Japanese, there are two ways to say "I don't know": a) wakarimasen b) shirimasen For the the following questions, which one should you use? (Both can be used in some cases.) １）この人を知っていますか？Kono hito ... » Continue Reading
