Thread by @takashionary

Since I see the trend of sharing “untranslatable” Japanese phrases, I’m jumping on the bandwagon and sharing some that I selected from a Japanese perspective.

A thread:

1. 遠慮のかたまり (enryo no katamari)

In the Kansai dialect, it literally means "piece of refrainment" and indicates the last piece of food on a shared plate by multiple people, i.e. the last portion on a plate that everyone feels hesitant to reach for.

2. ありがた迷惑 (arigata meiwaku)

It literally means "helpful nuisance" and describes someone’s favour that you find rather unpleasant and annoying. For instance, if someone gives you a mountain of snacks you don't really like, that'd be arigata meiwaku.

3. 三日坊主 (mikka bouzu)

It literally means "a three-day monk" and figuratively describes people who quit something that they started a couple of days ago (usually to improve themselves, like going to a gym and studying a new language).

4. 終活 (Shūkatsu)

It stands for "人生の終わりのための活動" meaning "activities to prepare for the end of one’s life", which includes writing your will and deleting “inappropriate data/files" on your laptop that you don't want others to discover after you kick the bucket.

5. 大人買い (otona gai)

It literarily means "adult buying" and indicates the act of purchasing a large number of particular items (e.g. DVDs) at once — something that we used to long for in our childhood.

6. 賢者タイム (kenja taimu, PG13)

It literally means “sage time” and figuratively indicates the time when every male person gets very calm, feeling as if they became a sage/philosopher.

More details in my blog post (low-key, but one of my fav posts...)
takashionary.com/kenja-taimu

And finally, there are more interesting Japanese expressions in this post :

"20 Untranslatable Japanese Phrases with Specific Meanings" (the list doesn't resemble the dodgy ones you find on the web ;))

takashionary.com/there-is-a-wor…

#Nihongo #日本語勉強

(I'm adding one more)

高校デビュー (koukou debyū)

It literally means "high school debut" and describes introverts who try to change themselves dramatically and become social and extroverted when entering high school.

Some typical examples in this post:
takashionary.com/koukou-debut/

Not quite relevant, but if you're fond of exploring Japanese words and phrases, you may try out this Japanese synonym finder tool that I've made recently.

takashionary.com/japanese-synon…