An effective way to learn and remember Japanese vocabulary is to not only to try to memorize particular words, but also to learn how to define them. As students we often become too dictionary dependent and not actually take the time to learn the meanings of new vocabulary. Often we forget new words and as a result become frustrated and get into a negative state of thinking, believing we can’t easily remember new words.
However, we can communicate what we want to say often by defining the word we have forgotten. We do this quite often in our native language when we can’t remember elusive words or when we are just having a mental block. In the process oflearning the definitons of new words we also improve our chances of remembering new words and reinforce words we already know.
Japanese Vocabulary
This method will work wonders for building your Japanese vocabulary, improving your overall fluency anddevelping reading skills.
1. Try reading the definitions by yourself
2. Listen to the audio tracks and take mental notes of Kaoru Sensei’s readings
3. Try to read the definitions in the same manner as Kaoru Sensei
4. Find the English translation for each definition
5. Try to recall the definitions from memory
6. Repeat process until you can define each word from memory
7. Watch the Video
Japanese Vocabulary List with Definitions
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| Word | English | Definition |
| あくび | Yawn | ねむくなったり、 あきたりしたときに、 しぜんに口を大きくあけていきをすること。 |
| いじめる | よわい人に、わざとひどいことをする。 | |
| うるさい | 音が大きすぎて、いやだ。 やかましい | |
| えんそく | 学校で、 見学やうんどうのために遠くに出かけること。 | |
| おいしい | あじがよい | |
| かお | 目や、 はなや、 口があるところ。 | |
| 聞く | 声や音を耳でかんじる。 | |
| くせ | いつも、 気づかないうちにしてしまうこと 。 | |
| けいさつ | わるい人をつかまえたり、 みんなのくらしをまもったりするやくしょ | |
| こうえん | みんながあそんだり、 休んだりするためのひろば。 |
English Trasnlation
Bully Excursion Face Park Noisy Yawn Delicious Listen Police Habit
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A few nights ago I had some Japanese friends over for drinks. We were talking about a friend who had given me a gift. The gift was a digital photo frame. A photo frame that makes slide shows of photos you upload. A great present. The friend had kindly uploaded photos of my students, friends and family. A mutual friend who was drinking with me complimented the friend who had given me the present by describing him as “mame”. I had never heard a person being described as “mame” up until then (mame can mean bean). Trying to get my Japanese friends to explain what it meant was quite a challenge. Also, no dictionary we had in the house could really explain the meaning of the word. This is often the nature of certain Japanese words.
Untranslatable Japanese Words
There are words in Japanese that are simply untranslatable. In order to understand these untranslatable words you need to live in Japan for quite some time. But just living in Japan isn’t enough. You need to live the life of a Japanese – speak the language, mix with Japanese and do what they do. There are words and phrases in Japanese that have had me confused for months or even years. Then one day something unique only to Japan will happen and I will finally experience the true meaning of one of the words. Vocabulary in Japan is strongly associated to cultural understanding and cultural experience.
The Japanese language is so uniquely diversified. During the course of one meal at a restaurant the different “styles” of conversations you can overhear is mind boggling. You could hear business contacts having a polite conversation where keigo is being used, a family speaking a local dialect, young people talking using lots of new katakana words, an old couple communicating with grunts and high pitched yeps, and some Japanese conversing with no words at all. As a result there is also lots of Japanese that gets lost in translation for the foreigner.
These moments where you hear a new word you haven’t heard and can’t understand really make you realize that you are not Japanese. They sort remind you of your limited cultural congeniality to Japan and put you back in your place as an outsider. However, the moment you discover the true and deeper meaning of one of these elusive words it can only be described as enlightenment. They are moments of learning bliss that can never happen in a classroom or be explained by a teacher. The only way to learn them is by cultural discovery.
Japanese seem to have and use less vocabulary than English speakers. However, some Japanese words can expresses concepts, ways of thinking and aspects of life that English simply cannot. I feel the strong and important association of the Japanese language and Japanese culture is often neglected by teachers in the classroom. It should be taught to students of Japanese. Language and culture are taught, but separately with no emphasis on the connection they have. Real Japanese, language is more about culture than it is about grammar or vocabulary. Study the culture and you’ll understand the language better.
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