About our explanations on “Ichiyo’s Japanese Learning Site”

We often use strange English translations on this site and our videos on purpose.

Ichiyo

I’m Ichiyo and I represent “Ichiyo’s Japanese Online Lesson.”

Please read this page to understand our explanations correctly.

Ichiyo’s Japanese Online Lesson:
We want learners to have the correct Japanese skills. Therefore, we offer two types of services. One is the private Japanese lesson. The other is the “Daily Japanese Mail Support” service. You can learn Japanese with us anywhere in the world.

Contents

About our English
About our English translations
About our Vocabulary charts
The Video

About our English

We usually use American English. This is because Japanese people have been learning American English since World War II. Moreover, we have an English staff from the Philippines. If you find any mistakes on this site, please let us know.

About our English translations

Sometimes, we cannot translate Japanese sentences into English correctly. This is because there are many specific Japanese expressions that English does not have. Therefore, we often use strange English translations for English speakers to explain specific Japanese expressions.

For example, both「５ご時間じかんかかった。」and「５ご時間じかんもかかった。」are often translated as “It took 5 hours.” However, the nuance of the two sentences is different.

This sentence just states the fact.

Japanese Sentence	５ご時間じかんかかった。
Common English Translation	It took 5 hours.

This sentence has「も」after「５時間」. In this sentence, it indicates “too many than I expected.”

Japanese Sentence	５ご時間じかんもかかった。
Common English Translation	It took 5 hours.

Therefore, if we translate「５時間もかかった。」into English exactly, it becomes like this.

Japanese Sentence	５ご時間じかんもかかった。
Our English Translation	It took 5 hours and the time is longer than I expected.

Here is another example.

If we translate「鈴木すずきさんは元気げんきです。」using natural English, it is often translated as “Suzuki is fine.” However, it may seem strange to English speakers if we translate it as “Suzuki-san is fine.” The Japanese language is closely related to our hierarchical relationship.

English Sentence	Suzuki is fine.
Japanese Sentence	鈴木は元気です。

“Suzuki is fine.” is「鈴木は元気です。」in Japanese. If the speaker is not a higher-rank person than Suzuki, the speaker becomes rude to Suzuki. We can guess that the speaker is of the same rank person as Suzuki or of a higher rank person than Suzuki from the sentence.

English Sentence	Suzuki-san is fine.
Japanese Sentence	鈴木さんは元気です。

「さん」is an honorific title used when we say a person’s name. Therefore, when we hear「鈴木さんは元気です。」, we know the speaker respects Suzuki.

For these reasons, we sometimes use unnatural English translations to explain specific Japanese expressions. If you don’t know why we use unnatural English, you may not understand the Japanese expression. Please make sure you understand it. If you are our “Daily Japanese Mail Support” member, we will answer your questions and teach you Japanese every time until you understand it.