ＨＥＬＬＯ！ Ｉ　ＡＭ　ＱＵＩＺＢＯ™！If you have visited before this instance, you may recognise me as the quiz-generating, vocabulary-reading friend of Kiki and Koko. I am here to assist you in your Japanese language and culture studies which I hope will assist you in achieving your dreams and goals. This is a segment coined: Word of the Week Wednesday. But, what exactly does this mean? Well, not very long ago, there was a gap between Monday and Friday lessons here on Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online that were devoid of learning, other than revision of course. Whilst a break betwixt lessons is useful, it is also important to keep your mind active. That is why the Japanese Word of the Week segment was introduced! This acts as a useful opportunity to learn either a bit of vocabulary or quite a bit of reading and grammar. Or, it can simply act as a helpful reminder to revise / review.

If you would like to learn how to apply these words to your own basic sentences, feel free to take a look at a few of Kiki and Koko’s articles on this subject in Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Japanese Language Essentials.

During this segment, a Japanese word or phrase is introduced. However, I do not only give you useful definitions, romanisation, hiragana, and kanji, but I also give the pronunciation for you to listen to as many times as you wish. Any time, day or night, you can ask me to say the word or phrase aloud. It is very useful to repeat after me in order to engage you senses for a better learning experience.

Though, this is not the end of learning possibilities. There are also sentences provided that will assist you in building more mental connections to the vocabulary word or phrase. There is no need to repeat after the sentence portion as it is merely for listening practise as well as engagement. However, this is a great way for those from beginning stages to intermediate stages and sometimes further to see examples of sentence structures and grammar. You can even create sentences of your own based on them. At times it can be difficult to generate sentence ideas as a human, and this may spur some form of inspiration and learning. Also, this can assist in reading and writing practise.

Because it is written inits original kanji, hiragana,and katana,as well as hiragana, and romanisation, you can use it as a way to practise your romanised Japanese computer input, hiragana writing and reading, or even further beyond. You can cover a line if you need in order to practise without hints.

But, you won’t be without Helpful Hints this Word of the Week Wednesday, as we will also be joined again by Kiki and Koko with, as you may have guessed, their Helpful Hints.

Without further ado, let us NihonGO!!

Word(s) of the Week:

美味しい【おいしい】※
oishii
i adjective（イ形容詞）
1. delicious; tasty(美味い); sweet (甘い)
2. appealing; desirable; profitable

jlpt n5| common word (常用語) 

Bonus Word(s) of the Week:

不味い【まずい】※
mazui
i adjective（イ形容詞）
1. bad (taste); awful; unsavoury; unpleasant
2. unskillful (Usu.まずい・マズイ・拙い)
3. ugly(醜い); homely
4. awkward; problematic; unfavourable

jlpt n5| common word (常用語) 

※Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko

Photo via @kikikokoNihonGO on Twitter

Hello, there! It’s us: Kiki and Koko! We host the usual lessons, here, on Kiki+Koko: Let’s NihonGO!! Online. We’re here teach you Japanese language and culture, explaining everything from the minutia to usage! This time, it seemed appropriate to introduce a word you could use with some of the vocabulary introduced in the previous Basic Classroom Vocabulary lessons. And, in this case, it was decided that a simple, but very useful and ubiquitous set of adjectives should be introduced. If you would like to know more about how Japanese adjectives function, from past tense to negatives, you can go to our  previous lessons to understand the basics! And with today’s vocabulary words, you can practise the skills introduced in these lessons.

But, for today, we’re going to take our helpful hints to explain this set of 反対語, hantaigo. In the word「美味しい」, the kanji explains why there are so many hidden other meanings based on context. The first kanji, 「美」、び、bi, means beauty or beautiful. The second kanji, 「味」、あじ、aji, means flavour or taste. As in English, these two ideas can be applied to many scenarios, flavour not being relegated to only taste. That is why the word「不味い」is a great opposite word, other than being the antonym of 美味い , umai, directly. But, in this case, we wanted to couple this with another N5 word from the JLPT.

Anyway, in this case, 「不味い」contains the kanji, 「不」、ふ、fu, with a plethora of meanings to the prefix ‘non-‘ to ‘bad‘ or even ‘clumsy’. And, again, we have「味」あじ、aji, for flavour or taste. So, this word works on many metaphorical senses as well as the simpler one having to do with the actual taste of food.

So, don’t be surprised if you hear a ‘sweet deal’ referred to as 「美味しい」or a terrible situation called 「マズい！」. Whether or not it has to do with food, it definitely has the ability to leave a good or bad taste in one’s mouth.

After seeing the previous lessons, maybe you’d like to try your hand at conjugating these two adjectives? You can test your skills with 「不味い」, and then try to apply the same to 「美味しい」。You can write your answer, say it aloud, or just use the honour system and think it, then reveal the flash card to find out the correct answer. Remember, there’s a polite version and a dictionary form. As for 「美味しい」, you can leave a comment or write it on your own to test your skills off the path! No worries if you make any mistakes, as we’ll be there to assist you!

And! Let’s kick it up a notch with a couple of bonus ones:

The world of conjugation is quite an interesting one! Even if it seems tricky at first, you can at least feel a bit better knowing there’s no masculine and feminine conjugation to worry about in Japaneseーother languages have this and the hierarchy, so whilst learning as little as possible isn’t necessarily anyone’s goal, it’s still a bit nice to know there’s a bit less you have to think about.

Anyway, just continue to do your best and return to previous lessons often in order to understand the concepts more naturally. We hope that helps!! Until the next lesson!
♡Kiki+Koko

Thank you, Kiki and Koko! This unexpected set of flashcards was certainly a useful addition to today’s segment. Hopefully it serves readers, students, and visitors well. But, without further ado, we have even more to assist you with learning these vocabulary words properly, and that is the sentences.

Example Sentences:

The first row is in Japanese with Kanji. The Next row is in hiragana, then romanised using rōmaji with the final row translated into English.
(Japanese→Hiragana→Rōmaji→English)

Example #1:

[casual speech]
実は、彼の料理は　不味くはないんだが、美味しくもないけど、気は心ですね。頑張ったから。
実は、かれの　りょうりは　うまくは　ないんだが、　おいしくもないけど、　きは　こころですね。がんばったから。
jitsu wa, kare no ryouri wa umaku wa naindaga, oishikumo nai kedo, ki wa kokoro desu ne. ganbatta kara.
In reality, his cooking isn’t bad (tasting), but it’s not delicious; though, it’s the thought that counts. Because he did his best.

Example #2:

[]

[basic polite speech]
ボクの 意見では、稲荷寿司は　一番美味しい寿司だと思います。
ぼくの　いけんでは、いなりずしは　いちばん　おいしいすしだとおもいます。
boku no iken de wa, inarizushi wa ichiban oishii sushi da to omoimasu.
In my opinion, I think inarizushi is the most delicious sushi.

Example #3:

[]

[basic polite speech]
日本の多くの人々は　ルートビアと　リコリスは　薬のような味が　あるのだと思うので　まずいだと思います。
にほんの　おおくの　ひとびとは　るーとびあと　りこりすは　くすりのような　あじが　あるのだとおもうので　まずいだとおもいます。
nihon no ooku no hitobito wa ruutobia to rikorisu wa kusuri no you na aji ga aru no da to omou no de mazui da to omoimasu.
Given that (they) think root beer and liquorice taste like medicine, many people in Japan think (these) taste bad.

🔊Japanese Word(s) of the Week w/ QUIZBO™ | 【食べる】+ Bonus:【食べ物】(+Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko)

That is all for today! However, perhaps you are looking for another Word of the Week segment to pair with today’s adjective? Look no further than: 🔊Japanese Word(s) of the Week w/ QUIZBO™ | 【食べる】+ Bonus:【食べ物】(+Helpful Hints with Kiki+Koko) These two words should get you through an entire sentence or two, but will be useful in so many scenarios. It is one of the important processes of life, and an important form of actual sustenance whilst learning how to gather linguistic sustenance to survive in Japanese language. But, perhaps you would like to know even more vocabulary? All of the previous Word of the Week segments are accessible to you either through the main page or through the sidebar link: 今週の単語 | Word of the Week. It does not matter whether it is Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or even Monday! Word of the Week Wednesday is a useful way to learn new quick vocabulary every day of the week. And, it is important to return to these in order to truly memorise and naturalise these into your everyday usage. Perhaps you can also challenge yourself to creating new sentences that you can share with us or even with friends or family. And, if you think you do not have anyone to practise with, you still do! We are here for you, and you can submit sentences, here, or on social media, which we can assist you with at any time. We hope to see you there!

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Thank you so much for learning with us!
♡QUIZBO™

    
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