Favorite Japanese Word/Phrase

just-joe

Just wondering what your favorite Japanese word or phrase is, and if there is a reason, then why?

I like saying jagaimo (potato) for no reason, maybe because it sounds ridiculous.

My other recent favorite is "丁重にお断りします" (teichou ni okotowari shimasu/I politely refuse) because it is really polite but kinda useless amongst friends.

Atavan-Halen

I like Tamago (egg). No idea why though!

Konata

かわいい！(kawaii - cute) and すごい！(sugoi - awesome) are my favourites I say them far too much >_>

FruitLover

ずっこんばっこん

I'm not going to explain it... :eek:

Konata wrote: »

すごい！(sugoi - awesome)

'凄い' is a general superlative, so it can also mean 'really bad' when used in a negative phrase, or it can refer to a large number of things.

Konata

FruitLover wrote: »

'凄い' is a general superlative, so it can also mean 'really bad' when used in a negative phrase, or it can refer to a large number of things.

Ah! I didn't know that. I've only heard it used in a positive sense thus far so that's pretty interesting to know.

Kana

Oh I've just seen this thread now(*・▽・*)
It's so interesting;D

すごい=凄い mostly used in a positive.

日本語に興味がある人たちを見ると、すごく嬉しいです！

cocoshovel

別に　＆　何でもない

Not sure if thats the right kanji for them.

Hiragana = べつに & なんでもない

There is something about those two that just sound so nice to me. :D

Kana

cocoshovel wrote: »

別に　＆　何でもない

Not sure if thats the right kanji for them.

Hiragana = べつに & なんでもない

There is something about those two that just sound so nice to me. :D

Yep thats all rite(*^^)b!
ahaha sounds so nice?!but i think the pronunciation of つ（tsu） is difficult for English speaker.
dont u think so?:pac:

cocoshovel

Kana wrote: »

Yep thats all rite(*^^)b!
ahaha sounds so nice?!but i think the pronunciation of つ（tsu） is difficult for English speaker.
dont u think so?:pac:

Not overly. At first it was a bit hard but fairly quickly I found it easy.
Sometimes its a bit tricky with words like 月 （つき）but I think I have the hang of it now.

Kana

cocoshovel wrote: »

Not overly. At first it was a bit hard but fairly quickly I found it easy.
Sometimes its a bit tricky with words like 月 （つき）but I think I have the hang of it now.

Oh it's good for you.
Just out of curiosity,Why have u started to learn/study Japanese?;)

funky penguin

I think it's the　 ら　り　る　れ　ろ　that I find difficult to pronounce sometimes.

Ooooo, and that word....sometimes.....is one of my favourite Japanese words! ^_^

時々 It has such an onomatopoeic feel to it!

Kana

funky penguin wrote: »

I think it's the　 ら　り　る　れ　ろ　that I find difficult to pronounce sometimes.

Ooooo, and that word....sometimes.....is one of my favourite Japanese words! ^_^

時々 It has such an onomatopoeic feel to it!

Oh thats interesting.
For example 借りれる another example 受け入れられる
I think its hard for u isnt it?；P
らりるれろ　are frequently used in passive construction.

時々（Sometimes）…That sound is really similar to どきどき；P
どきどき=in fact, its an onomatopoeia."Heart beating"

Pyongyang

With my trip to Japan jsut a couple of months away, I've started digging in to my books and learning some very basic Japanese. Hello, my name is, I would like 70 beers please etc...

However I am really enjoying learning Katakana (Hiragana not so much yet) and trying to decipher what things mean. I am using a lot of my Japanese video games and trying to decipher what is written on the covers. There is a lot of stuff I cannot decipher yet, but I'm enjoying getting some of it translated at least!

My personal favourites right now are:

PCエンジン

and

NECホームエレクトロニクス

osarusan

持ちつ、　持たれつ。 (Mochitsu, motaretsu)

Something along the lines of 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours'.

ApeXaviour

金魚の糞 　(きんぎょのくそ / Kingyo no kuso)

Clingy [person]

literally translated as goldfish poop!