Katakana is a big part of the Japanese language. It is a alphabet-like set of characters that are used to represent foreign words as well as certain slang expressions, sounds in written form and also words with very difficult kanji. When you are studying Japanese you are bound to run into it all the time but since it isn’t quite as common as hiragana it will take a bit longer to get comfortable with. Once you do become comfortable with katakana, it doesn’t mean you will be comfortable with all of it’s usage.
マンツーマン Let’s learn English bro
The English language is a commodity in Japan. Japanese people spend some of the most money in the world on learning English. Since English learning in Japanese schools is completely disconnected from actual practical English speaking, many people rely on English conversation tutoring, or Eikaiwa (英会話). Many advertise their service, not as one-on-one English lessons but as “man to man” conversation… Now, the last time I had a man to man talk, my father was talking about how important using protection was. Before you start to imagine students and teachers drinking beer and talking about sports, cars and women, remember there are a lot of these mistaken nuances.
テンションがたかい How tense are you?
Do you have high tension? In Japan, having high tension has nothing to do with stress or electricity. It means you are energetic and have an energetic personality. On the other hand, having low tension means you are feeling a bit down, perhaps depressed, maybe just tired, or maybe you have a dull and boring character. When asked what kind of people they want to date, some people may say they want someone with high tension. Imagine saying that in an English speaking country….what were they thinking?
マンション Delusions of Grandeur
This is one of the first bastardized loanwords that most people learn when they study Japanese. Your friend tells you he lives in a mansion, you think “What the hell is he talking about?”, you go to his mansion; a 10 story apartment building and think “Wait, what…this is all yours?” and he walks you up to his tiny one room apartment. “Where is the mansion?”. Your friend isn’t completely delusional. In Japanese a mansion basically refers to an apartment room.
ホーム Going home to ride the train
How many times do you have to say “platform” quickly before it starts to sound like home? I’ve tried it about 100 but unless you transcribe it to katakana, it just doesn’t work. This almost makes sense in Katakana which is why most of the time a train platform is referred to as the “home”. It took me a few weeks to figure this out, I couldn’t imagine why I was being told that a train was approaching my home but it made me feel uneasy.
ライブハウス Live at the Live House
Someone must have messed up and thought that the “live” in “live music” was a noun. Small concerts in Japan are called “Lives” and concert halls are called “live houses”. Try to go to 3 lives without picking this up and using it yourself when speaking English.
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9:21 am on February 28th, 2012
I have the same problem only I don’t even bother going because they’re so damn expensive in Japan. That was my main mode of social interaction in Boston but who wants to see some college kids play Yuzu songs for 2500 yen! Luckily Nage-sen lives are increasing in Tokyo, kind of like a tips system.
9:28 pm on November 25th, 2011
Wow, I used to be very into J-rock, so I used “live” as a noun, and the oddness of it never even occured to me, it just became a word I used without a second thought. It’s been over 5 years since that begun and until now I’d never questioned why I use it instead of saying concert! Crazy.