日本人の知らない日本語
Covers all 12 episodes and 619 conversation scenes of 日本人の知らない日本語. Every scene has the original audio, a line-by-line Japanese script with furigana, an English translation, speaking notes, and key vocabulary. You can tap any line to hear just that line, or listen first and read afterward. The episodes revolve around a Japanese classroom and everyday conversation, covering counters, keigo, how kanji are read, slang, dialects, and words for good luck and taboo topics. Suited to learners who want to understand why Japanese people say things the way they do.
What you will learn
- Language knowledge in the classroom: counters (「一匹」, 「一頭」, 「一本」), the on'yomi and kun'yomi readings of kanji, pitch accent, and the semi-voiced sound are all explained in conversations between the teacher and students from many countries.
- Keigo and service-industry phrases: 「お〜になる」, 「召し上がる」, 「恐縮です」, 「恐れ入りますが」, plus much-discussed phrases heard in restaurants and convenience stores such as 「千円からお預かりします」 and 「こちら〜になります」.
- Casual speech and slang: 「やばい」, 「マジ」, 「パニくる」, 「うざい」, regional dialects such as Kansai-ben and Tsugaru-ben, and words with the prefix 「お」 such as 「お冷」 and 「おしぼり」.
- The culture behind the language: taboo words and lucky words, shrine visits, the tea ceremony, hanafuda, and ninja are explained along the way in the conversations.
- The view of foreign learners: the questions students from many countries ask and the habits Japanese people fall into when talking to foreigners are set side by side, showing which phrases are easy to misunderstand.
Episodes
- Episode 155 scenes
「〜ってもんじゃない」(it's not simply a matter of...) 「〜と数えるんだ」(you count it as...) 「〜わけにいかない」(can't do it, for reasons of duty or position)
- Episode 257 scenes
「お帰りになります」(the basic honorific pattern お＋verb＋になる) 「召し上がる」(the special honorific verb for eating and drinking) 「千円からお預かりします」(a much-discussed service-industry phrase)
- Episode 354 scenes
「おひかえなすって」(the ritual yakuza-style self-introduction) 「シカト」(to ignore someone) 「ボンクラ」(a dunce, a fool)
- Episode 450 scenes
「音読みと訓読み」(on-yomi and kun-yomi, the two kinds of kanji readings) 「本気と書いてマジ」(a kanji given a slangy reading through ruby) 「です・ますの由来」(where です and ます came from)
- Episode 557 scenes
「ぞっとする／ぞっとしない」(to get chills / not impressive) 「話の腰を折る」(to interrupt someone's story) 「百物語」(the Edo-period game of telling a hundred ghost stories)
- Episode 653 scenes
「嬉しい／楽しい」(a moment of joy vs. lasting enjoyment) 「役不足の本来の意味」(the original meaning: the role is too small for one's ability) 「言わんこっちゃない」(the colloquial way to say "I told you so")
- Episode 755 scenes
「青信号／青菜」("blue" covers green) 「みどりの黒髪」(glossy, jet-black hair) 「真っ赤」(bright red)
- Episode 850 scenes
「恐縮です」(humbled; "I'm honored") 「頂けますか／下さいませんか」(two polite ways to request) 「弊社／御社」(our company / your company)
- Episode 962 scenes
「大丈夫」 (yes or no?) 「いい加減」 (just right, or sloppy) 「適当」 (appropriate, or half-hearted)
- Episode 1055 scenes
「忌み言葉」(taboo words) 「お開き」(a lucky word for the end of a party) 「パワースポット」(power spot)
- Episode 1145 scenes
「パニくる」(to panic; slangy verb formed from a loanword) 「若者言葉」(young people's slang) 「女房言葉」(the old court women's vocabulary)
- Episode 1226 scenes
「パクられる」(slang: to get arrested) 「〜ずに済む」(to get by without doing something) 「お帰り」(welcome home)