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“Baka” is the most common Japanese swear word. The baka meaning usually translates to foolish or stupid. But it can take on a whole range of meanings depending on context, relationship, and other factors.
In kanji, it’s usually written baka 馬鹿. When separated, those kanji mean uma 馬 (horse) and shika 鹿 (deer). These kanji were selected because of their sounds “ba” and “ka.” But there are several other combinations that would have worked. Like 母娘 (Mother-Daughter), 馬娘 (Horse-Daughter), 破家 (Broken-House), 莫迦 (Trillions-Beautiful voice), 馬稼 (Horse-Earning money), and 跛家 (One foot-House). Now that’s baka!
Baka is also commonly written in Hiragana as ばか or in Katakana as バカ. On the internet, it is sometimes written as ヴァカ or βακα.
Although the baka meaning can take many forms, there is certainly a negative connotation attached to it (it is a swear word after all). So it’s not typically used in public or legal situations.
For example, if you say “baka” to a subordinate in your company, you may have to spend time in HR watching videos on an old VCR. Use caution before pulling this puppy out of your Japanese language arsenal.
So, we are going to study this baka word so as not to be 馬鹿 by misusing it.
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An Introduction To Basic Japanese Slang
Japanese slang is fun to use and helps with getting through to those keeedzz. Get J-Slang 101 right here.
Rachel B
tofugu
You’ve been studying Japanese your hardest for a while now, and it’s finally your time to go to Japan. You get there and you’re able to convey your points to people, but you don’t understand anything they’re saying! It’s all alien jargon to you! People are throwing these scary sounds out at you and like spitballs, they stick onto your skin while you have no idea how to interpret them! Oh yeah, people use slang over there too!
Even if you feel like you know some slang from watching movies or anime, here’s a list of some essential words that will come in handy when you’re in a group of Japanese people, especially kids or youth, although many people of a more finely-aged demographic can often be seen using these words too.
You’ve been studying Japanese your hardest for a while now, and it’s finally your time to go to Japan. You get there and you’re able to convey your points to people, but you don’t understand anything they’re saying! It’s all alien jargon to you! People are throwing these scary sounds out at you and like spitballs, they stick onto your skin while you have no idea how to interpret them! Oh yeah, people use slang over there too!
Even if you feel like you know some slang from watching movies or anime, here’s a list of some essential words that will come in handy when you’re in a group of Japanese people, especially kids or youth, although many people of a more finely-aged demographic can often be seen using these words too.
“Baka” is the most commonly used Japanese swear word. It usually means foolish or stupid, but can take on a whole range of meanings depending of context, relationship, and various other factors. In kanji, it’s usually written 馬鹿. When separated, the literal meaning of those kanji are 馬 (horse) and 鹿 (deer). These kanji were selected simply because of their sounds “ba” and “ka”, but there are several other combinations that would have served the same purpose, such as 母娘 (Mother-Daughter), 馬娘 (Horse-Daughter), 破家 (Broken-House), 莫迦 (Trillions-Beautiful voice), 馬稼 (Horse-Earning money), and 跛家 (One foot-House).
tofugu
Teaching yourself Japanese isn’t easy, and let’s face it, it takes a large amount of time, effort, and dedication to make noticeable progress. After coming home from a long day of school or work, sometimes the last thing you want to do is sit down at a desk with another textbook. Wouldn’t it be more relaxing to just play some video games?
There are games out there designed to teach you Japanese. Most of those games only offer the basics of grammar and vocabulary, but they certainly aren’t the only games out there that can supplement your studying. Some of your favorite video games may hold within them the ability to become a teaching tool and can become a legitimately fun way to study.
Teaching yourself Japanese isn’t easy, and let’s face it, it takes a large amount of time, effort, and dedication to make noticeable progress. After coming home from a long day of school or work, sometimes the last thing you want to do is sit down at a desk with another textbook. Wouldn’t it be more relaxing to just play some video games?
There are games out there designed to teach you Japanese. Most of those games only offer the basics of grammar and vocabulary, but they certainly aren’t the only games out there that can supplement your studying. Some of your favorite video games may hold within them the ability to become a teaching tool and can become a legitimately fun way to study.
Welcome to another edition of new Japanese learning resources! Sorry we’re late, folks. It’s summertime, you know? But it’s raining again here at Tofugu HQ, so let’s get back to studying with six new Japanese resources from August 2018.
Happy International Women’s Day!
We started the Badass Women in Japanese History series because we wanted to highlight the amazing lives and sheer badassery of historical Japanese women.
Take some time today to learn about and celebrate some of these lovely Japanese ladies!
- Tomoe Gozen: A warrior worth a thousand men
- Murasaki Shikibu: The world’s first novelist
- Queen Himiko: Loved by the people, the gods, but not historians
- Higuchi Ichiyō: Returned Japanese literature to its roots
You can’t learn a language just by studying vocabulary and grammar. There has to be something you give a damn about understanding in the long run. If you’re studying Japanese, maybe that’s watching anime or reading manga or novels or even actually talking to other human beings. Whatever it is, one reason many of us never become fluent in the languages we study in school is that we lack this motivation. Maybe you chose the language for some lame reason like it was the only class that fit in your schedule. Don’t worry, we’ve all done it.
But even when we start with a stronger motivator, I think another reason we give up is often that we put off the good stuff for too long, waiting for some magic moment when we’ll have gone through enough textbook chapters to deal with the language in its natural state. Problem is, even if there were such a magic moment, the material in most textbooks is so dull that chances are you’ll never persist that long.
The sooner you grapple with the stuff you love in the original language, the better. Sure, it may feel like beating your head against a wall sometimes. But so does a textbook – and with a textbook, the reward if you manage to punch through the wall is rarely very exciting. No textbook can ever provide the kind of thrill I felt the other day when I actually understood a pun in the manga I was reading.
So when I realized that somewhere along the way I’d developed an interest in Japanese pop music and was frustrated that I couldn’t understand the lyrics, I decided that this was an opportunity. Even more so because I love to sing and wanted to be able to sing along.
My level of Japanese right now, after years of stop-and-start in both classes and self-study, is beginner to intermediate with a lot of weird gaps. While it’s way too soon for me to be able to translate songs myself, there are plenty of resources on the internet to help out, and I am definitely learning and inspiring myself to keep going. If you want to try it, I’ve figured out some tricks to help, and also some warnings about what you don’t want to learn from songs that I think will be useful whatever your current level.
May I present before you some new Japanese learning resources? I may?! Excellent, because last month had some real hits! Let’s get right down to it.
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