The Tofugu Podcast: Japan and Japanese Language

Find and watch the Big in Japan documentary here: http://www.biginjapandoc.com We interviewed David Elliot-Jones, the writer/producer of the Big in Japan documentary. He tells us why he went to Japan with two of his friends (Lachlan Mcleod: Director, Louis Dai: Editor) to "do anything he could to become famous." Everybody thinks they can become famous in Japan. Find out the truth of it all in this interview.

For more, check out our article on ganbaru: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/ganbaru/ "Do your best!" "Hang in there!" "FIGHT!" The Japanese verb 頑張る has a wide variety of English translations, and that's because it's such a nuanced word. Depending on how you say it and who you say it to, it could be an encouragement or a real downer. The Tofugu team sat down to discuss the definitions, translations, and our personal feeling about this complex word. And we really got into the weeds (societally speaking) when Michael, Mami, and Kanae navigate the sometimes-oppressive feeling ganbaru can carry.

You may already know that, in Japanese, you add a polite little something at the end of someone’s name: ~san, ~sama, ~chan, ~kun… actually, there are lot more honorific name enders than that. And there are a lot of rules for using them correctly, too. The Tofugu team discusses seven common names enders and how to use them, not to mention nine historical/obscure name enders that are good to know. For more honorific goodness, check out the article we wrote, Listenerさん: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/name-enders/

Have you ever wondered why 人々 is ひとびと and not ひとひと, or even ひとぴと? Or why it’s てがみ instead of てかみ, or くさばな and not くさはな? It’s all because of a little thing called rendaku, or “sequential voicing,” which we talk about in this episode. While most Japanese teachers will just say, “it’s a mystery,” we’ll teach you the rules that make things rendaku or not, and the exceptions in between. Of course, we couldn’t explain EVERYTHING. For that, you’ll have to jump over to our very in-depth rendaku article on Tofugu: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/rendaku

Hi, it's me, Sensei Jeff. I'm here to teach all you white belts how to count in Japanese. Punch! Punch! Punch! (Actually, we teach you how to count from zero to uh... a mysterious number. And, we teach you how to count in the Japanese style, rather than the Chinese style that's more common. It's a pretty neat episode, despite sounding so basic. Read more about it in our article!) https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/counting-in-japanese Featuring: Koichi, Michael, and Mami (for the first time!)

Get Brian's Book, Japanese Whisky: The Ultimate Guide to the World's Most Desirable Spirit → https://amzn.to/2NAEqPR Michael and Koichi interview Brian Ashcraft–author of several Japan-related books–about his latest book, Japanese Whisky: The Ultimate Guide to the World's Most Desirable Spirit. He tells us what makes Japanese whisky "Japanese" as well as what a whisky rookie should try first (and where to get it).

Read more about Genki: http://www.tofugu.com/japanese/genki-meaning/ Everyone learns "o genki desu ka" when they begin their Japanese language education. But the truth is real people don't say it that much. So, how do you ACTUALLY use genki? We cover genki's use cases, its history, etymology, and more.

Read more about ちょっと in our article: http://www.tofugu.com/japanese/chotto/ We talk about ちょっと. At first it seems like a simple, little word. But, it actually has many meanings and ways to use it. We cover most of them, I think.

In this episode we get into Japanese pronunciation. Whether you are a beginner, advanced, or fluent, you'll find something in this episode that will help you to improve your pronunciation. To read more, check out our (really in-depth) guide: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-pronunciation/

Prefer reading instead? We wrote a whole article about this (even more example sentences included!) https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/komu-compound-verbs Have you ever seen the Japanese verb 込む? On its own, it means "to be packed" or "to be crowded." But, this verb is also used in compound verbs... 255+ of them, in fact! You may have seen examples of this in your studies: 入り込む, 切り込む, 駆け込む, the list goes on and on. The problem is, the way that 込む affects the first verb (we'll call that V1) differs from word to word. In this podcast, we explore those inconsistencies, coming up with four "rules" you can follow to figure out the meaning of a 込む compound verb. It's both easier, and more difficult, than you think. Listen to the podcast to learn more, or check out our article for additional explanation and way more example sentences.