Are you a maniac or an otaku? No, this has nothing to do with stalking or hikikomori. It has to do with levels of interest in a hobby.
I’ve been accused of being a maniac numerous times by Japanese speakers. The first time I heard the word, I thought, excuse me? It took me a second […]

Languages are interesting because each one has its own unique features.
For example, double negatives like “I didn’t see nothing” are considered incorrect in English, although they’re perfectly permissible in Spanish. If you’ve watched some anime in Japanese or had dinner with a Japanese family, you may have noticed the word that’s spoken before eating, […]

Check out this photo of a vehicle that belongs to a budget rental outfit in Cairns, Australia, named Wicked Campervans, a company that seems to get a real kick out of thumbing its nose at just about everyone.

Outraged cairns.com.au reader Mark sent a photograph of the van to us after his Japanese wife spotted it […]

Mrs Overoften uncovered this KitKat in a local shop, and knowing I have a passing interest in these matters, brought it home.
This KitKat gives you a vocabulary lesson in various ben (dialects) around Kyushu.

For example, starting in the north, you can see that those folks in Fukuoka say すいとう for 好きだ (suki da), which will […]

It’s funny how how tenuous the meanings of seemingly basic words can be. In English, the word “friend” is pretty straightforward, meaning someone you are somewhat well acquainted or friendly with.
Most of my English-speaking “friends” are close in age to me, but I certainly could have a friend who was 25, or 45, or […]

In case you were wondering, here is a list of the 30 most spoken languages in the world and the areas in which they are spoken.

Mandarin / China, Malaysia, Taiwan
English / USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand
Hindi / North and Central India
Spanish / The Americas, Spain
Arabic / Middle East, Arabia, North […]

scattered around buddhist temples in the tohoku region of japan there are mummified bodies enshrined in . practitioners of an ancient set of rituals known as shugendô, these monks actually mummified themselves in a prolonged act of asceticism. believing that they could attain enlightenment in a mere ten thousand days (about 8 years, […]

The other day, Remora wrote in to alert us about a page he found that is selling a coffee cup that claims to be a “Japan Masturbation Day mug.”
According to the text on the page, the number version of the date July 21 (which is a Japanese holiday known as “Marine Day”) is written […]

Last year was my first time to write the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. I wrote level 4: it was too easy. I received my certificate in March, and as I thought, I passed with flying colours.
Since I thought level 3 was quite similar to level 4, I thought for this year’s JLPT, I would be […]

One thing you don’t hear very often when speaking English is someone saying, “Wait, what’s the subject of your sentence? Oh, okay.” But in Japanese, a language that often omits the subject since it’s understood by both parties anyway, it’s possible to be in the middle of a conversation and suddenly need to verify what […]

What Japan Thinks reports on a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into portable electronic dictionaries used by the average Japanese. Since only 8% of the sample was even in their 20s, the survey mainly reflects the habits of those who aren’t formal students.
Most use both a printed (59%) and online (57%) dictionary, but […]

Publisher Jiyu Kokuminsha has announced this year’s 60 words and expressions nominated for “Japanese Buzzword of the Year, according to Pink Tentacle. They provide an interesting look at some of the events, people and trends that had an impact on Japan in 2007. A panel of judges will choose this year’s grand prize winner and […]

One question I’ve been asked by my ESL students in Japan is, just where is “standard” American English located geographically?
Most countries define a given region as the “official” dialect of their language, which is then used in textbooks nationally. In China the standard language is the Beijing dialect of Mandarin, in Italy its based […]

Sometimes it can seem that the Japanese use of creative English is totally random. I mean, how can you quantify the giant sign near J-List that says “SPLUSH IS NOT ONLY THE PROBLEM OF AGE”?
But there do seem to be subtle rules for what words get brought in, if you pay attention. Obviously, words […]

Richard Chmura (no relation, I think, and creater of GoStats) writes in to point us to an interesting article in The Mirror about Toujours Tingo, “a new book which draws on more than 300 languages exploring the areas where English fails us.”
Kaelling - Danish: a woman who stands on her doorstep yelling obscenities at […]

Every language is constantly evolving, and while the English major in me isn’t always happy about the LOLification of my own native tongue or seeing teenagers going weeks without typing an upper case letter or using punctation, I know that it’s natural for language to be pulled in different directions by its various speakers.
It’s […]

According to a survey by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, more young people are now checking kanji on their mobile phone than by using a dictionary.
In the survey of nearly 2,000 people, 80% of Japanese 20-somethings revealed that a quick check on their mobile’s email function was their preferred method.
For all folks in general though, […]

The photographer says this is probably an unfortunate romanization of getto (moon light). Pretty close though…
Uploaded to Flickr 02/06/07 by Nemo’s great uncle. Some rights reserved.

Just for fun, since my last two posts complained a bit about automatic translation (which is better than nothing for maybe making sense of an otherwise impenetrable Web site, but still regarded as no good), I tried running some sample text through AltaVista’s notorious Babelfish.
Not content with mere technical text that Babelfish could butcher perhaps […]

Check out this video of a Japanese comedy skit that includes English subtitles of what the actors are saying. You can also find supplementary information here.

Funny?
Many thanks to Edmund Wong.