Job Discussion Forums

Sour Grape · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 241

Such as "Consent", which means electrical socket. Also "mansion" and "talent".

Can you think of any more, or do you know where a list can be found? I'm thinking of doing one of these every time I have three or four minutes to spare at the end of a class.

Thanks in advance.

saloc · Joined: 04 Jul 2003 Posts: 102

challenge
naive
gorgeous
cunning
bargain

are words with different meanings in Japanese that spring to mind but there are loads, really. And then there are all those phrases like "just size", "body con" "level up" etc that we just don't use at all

Sour Grape · Joined: 10 May 2005 Posts: 241

That's just what I was looking for, thanks.

Anyone got more, please add them.

Speed · Joined: 04 Jul 2003 Posts: 152 Location: Shikoku Land

"service" (sabesu) in Japanese to mean `free` or `complimentary`

How about that? Good one, eh?!

Clerk · Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 17

I can only vouch for terms I've personally encountered, and even then I can only say that they're accurate at the time that I post this message (since all sorts of interesting changes can happen on a wiki page), but you may find this list to be useful.

azarashi sushi · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Posts: 562 Location: Shinjuku

campaign
service (sa-bisu)

Miyazaki · Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 635 Location: My Father's Yacht

"Nyuu Faysooh"
= New Face

This is a person that is new to the organization, club or someone that has just become famours or popular for some reason.

"Nyuu Taipu"
= New Type

A product that is new, cutting edge or innovative.

"Maiyu paceu"
= My Pace

A person who is an individual and does things the way they want to do them without really comforming to the group.

"Catch-eee"
= Catch

The chimpira guys that stand outside Shibuya or Shinjuku stations and approach girls to get invovled in the sex trade.

There's a lot and I can't remember all of the katakana words that are derived from English but have their own meaning.

king kakipi · Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 353 Location: Australia

I loved "joy police" for gaming centres, "basket" for basketball, "takushi", "rubu hoteru" and others that elude me at the moment.

king kakipi · Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 353 Location: Australia

and my wife's friends here use "3 - 9" (san kyuu) for thanks when they are using mobiles for texting in Oz.

gaijinalways · Joined: 29 Nov 2005 Posts: 2279

Thanx to all the contributors. I plan to update some Japlish worksheets I use, and some of these examples will make interesting addditions.

cornishmuppet · Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 642 Location: Nagano, Japan

I got told today that 'neet' is a word used in Japanese that means uneducated and unskilled people, or something like that. When I said that I'd never heard of it (except as in, 'neet vodka' etc) she told me it was from the UK. Anyone else ever heard of it?

groothewanderer · Joined: 14 Sep 2007 Posts: 33

3P = threesome Wink

Andru · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 22

ironopolis · Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Posts: 379

smart - in Japan means slim

my car - when they mean private vehicle

Not English I know, but the German word "Arbeit" actually just means work in German speaking countries, not the part-time job that it means in Japan.

Incidentally, ko-n-se-n-to is not meant to be from consent. It's from some old expression 'concentric plug', I think, which makes a little bit more sense.

markle · Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 1316 Location: Out of Japan