The XQ Sumimasen Podcast

Language never stops changing, and that's something I've noticed even more after living in Japan for so many years. Because I'm not surrounded by everyday conversations back in the U.S., I'll suddenly start seeing words online that seem like everyone else already understands. Half the time I'm left wondering whether they're compliments, insults, or just another internet joke that somehow became part of everyday English. In this episode, I explore some of today's American meme slang and compare it with the closest Japanese equivalents I could find. Along the way, I also talk about how difficult it can be to separate reliable information from recycled internet myths, especially when slang evolves faster than dictionaries can keep up. Watch the Full Episode Listen on: Spotify Apple YouTube Slang Doesn...

Learning Japanese from textbooks is one thing. Understanding how people actually speak with their friends is something else entirely. Everyday conversation is full of slang, shortened expressions, and words whose meanings change depending on the situation. In this episode, guest co-host Scoey and I talked about some of the Japanese slang that confused us when we first arrived, how we gradually learned to use it, and what these expressions reveal about everyday communication in Japan. Watch the Full Episode Listen on: Spotify Apple YouTube Slang Changes the Way People Communicate One of the first things many Japanese learners notice is that everyday conversations often sound very different from what they studied in class. We discussed expressions such as yabai , maji , uzai , and bimyō , all of which ca...