【誕生日（たんじょうび）】”TANJŌBI”
Meaning:
birthday
Usage:
「誕生日には何が欲しい？」
（たんじょうびにはなにがほしい？）
(Tanjōbi niwa naniga hoshī?)
“What do you want for your birthday?”
- When talking to friends, children, or respectfully, we often add a prefix “お(o)” and say “お誕生日 (おたんじょうび / otanjōbi).
- In Japan, a birthday person is celebrated by friends or family. It is common to have lunch or dinner, eat a cake together, and receive gifts from them. In some countries in Europe, like Germany, I heard that a birthday person has to pay for everyone. (…Wirklich?)
Glossary:
- 誕生日（たんじょうび）: birthday
- 何（なに）: what
- 欲しい（ほしい）: be wanting, be wishing (It’s an adjective, but it’s used like the English verbs “to want” and “to wish”.)
【プレゼント（ぷれぜんと）】”PUREZENTO”
Meaning:
present
Usage:
「さくらは誕生日プレゼントに新しい自転車をもらったらしいよ。」
（さくらはたんじょうびぷれぜんとにあたらしいじてんしゃをもらったらしいよ。）
(Sakura wa tanjōbi purezento ni atarashī jitensha wo moratta rashīyo.)
“I heard Sakura got a new bike as a birthday present.”
- In Japan, there are many names that come from flowers, including Sakura. Basically, flowers are often used for girls’ names and trees for boys’ names, but recently there have been many new names that are free from traditional gender concepts, and even boys are increasingly being named gorgeous and beautiful names. (I love this trend!)
- さくら (Sakura) = cherry blossom
- もも (Momo) = peach
- ゆり (Yuri) = lily
- すみれ (Sumire) = Japanese violet
- かえで (Kaede) = maple tree
- あおい (Aoi) = Japanese mallow flower
- “～らしい (rashī)” expresses hearsay or guessing. It is used when you guess based on the information you have seen or heard, or when you heard something from someone else. Here are some usages:
- 「あの2人は付き合っているらしい。」
（あのふたりはつきあっているらしい。）
(Ano futari wa tsukiatte iru rashī.)
“It seems (or I heard) that those two are dating.” - 「雨が降るらしいから、傘を持っていこう。」
（あめがふるらしいから、かさをもっていこう。）
(Ame ga furu rashī kara, kasa wo motteikō.)
“I heard (or the forecast said) that it’s going to rain, so let’s bring umbrellas.”
- 「あの2人は付き合っているらしい。」
Glossary:
- 誕生日（たんじょうび）: birthday
- プレゼント（ぷれぜんと）: present
- 誕生日プレゼント（たんじょうびぷれぜんと）: birthday present
- 新しい（あたらしい）: new
- 自転車（じてんしゃ）:bicycle
- もらう: to receive, [+verb] to get somebody to do something (It contains a nuance of thankfulness.)
- ～らしい: seeming […], appearing […], I heard […]
【ケーキ（けーき）】”KĒKI”
Meaning:
cake
Usage:
「日本で一番人気のケーキはショートケーキだ。」
（にほんでいちばんにんきのけーきはしょーとけーきだ。）
(Nihon de ichiban ninki no kēki wa shōtokēki da.)
“Shortcakes* are the most popular cakes in Japan.”
*A shortcake in Japan is a strawberry sponge cake.
- Do they sell a cake named “shortcake” in your country? Probably, if you order it in Japan, you will get a different-looking cake. In Japan, a cake made with sponge cake and fresh cream with strawberries on top is called a “shortcake”. I’ve never seen a cake shop that doesn’t have a shortcake, which is a typical birthday cake. If you ask children who grew up in Japan to draw a picture of a cake, most of them will draw a picture of a shortcake with strawberries on it. That shows how popular this cake is in Japan.
- “人気” is a tricky word. When it is read as “ninki”, it means popularity. On the other hand, when it is read as “hitoke”, it means a sign of life, human presence. So, if you read the sentence “この商店街は人気がない” alone, even Japanese people cannot tell whether it means “This shopping street is not popular” or “There are no people in this shopping street at all”. (Most of the time, it means popularity, though.)
Glossary:
- 日本（にほん）: Japan
- 一番（いちばん）: No.1, the best, the most
- 人気（にんき）：popularity
- 一番人気（いちばんにんき）: the most popular thing
- ケーキ（けーき）: cake
- ショートケーキ（しょーとけーき）:
【ロウソク（ろうそく）】”RŌSOKU”
Meaning:
candle
Usage:
「100均に可愛いロウソクが売っているよ。」
（ひゃっきんにかわいいろうそくがうっているよ。）
(Hyakkin ni kawaī rōsoku ga utteiruyo.)
“You can buy cute candles at 100 yen stores.”
- “100均 (ひゃっきん / hyakkin)” , sometimes written as “百均”, is an abbreviation for “百円均一 (ひゃくえんきんいつ / hyakuen kin-itsu). You can buy almost everything in the store for one hundred yen plus consumption tax.
I have been to stores with this concept (like dollar stores or pound shops) in other countries as well, but the selection and quality of the products sold are completely different in Japan. You’ll be amazed! You can buy kitchen utensils, stationery, simple bags, underwear, and even cosmetics for 100 yen. You can also buy Japanese souvenirs, so a friend of mine always goes to Daiso (one of the biggest 100-yen stores in Japan) before going back home. - In Japan, we also put candles on the birthday cake, but there is no custom to say “make a wish” or pray for something when blowing them out. After the Happy Birthday song, everyone says “Happy Birthday!” and then the birthday person blows out the candle. That’s it!
Glossary:
- 100均（ひゃっきん）: 100 yen store
- 可愛い（かわいい）: cute
- ロウソク（ろうそく）: candle
- 売る（うる）: to sell
【風船（ふうせん）】”FŪSEN”
Meaning:
balloon
Usage:
「ディズニーランドに行くとミッキーの風船が欲しくなるよね？」
（でぃずにーらんどにいくとみっきーのふうせんがほしくなるよね？）
(dizunīrando ni ikuto mikkī no fūsen ga hoshikunaru yo ne?)
“When you go to Disneyland, you would want a Mickey balloon, right?”
- Who doesn’t love Disneyland? I know. It’s everyone. I love it, too. Did you know that we also have DisneySea, which is the world’s only Disney theme park with the concept of the sea? If you have enough time and money, I highly recommend you go to both! And if you stay at a Disney hotel, you can buy a special ticket (Multi-Day Passport Special) to go to both in one day!
*Please note that the type of tickets that can be used is currently limited due to COVID-19. Please ask the hotel you wish to stay at about the Multi-Day Passport Special.
[Official] Disney Hotels | Tokyo Disney Resort - “ね？” at the end of a sentence makes it a question asking for agreement. Depending on how you say it (when you overemphasize “ね？” strong or mad voice), it sounds like you are exerting peer pressure and you are forcing people to say yes. So, please pronounce it softly.
It can be used alone in a conversation. In this case, it means “see? (I told you.)” For example, let’s say you tell your friend that tomorrow’s test has been canceled, but your friend doesn’t believe you. The next day, your friend says, “Today’s test is really canceled!” and you say, “ね？”
Glossary:
- ディズニーランド（でぃずにーらんど）: Disneyland
- 行く（いく）: to go
- ミッキー（みっきー）: Mickey
- ミッキーマウス（みっきーまうす）: Mickey Mouse
- 風船（ふうせん）: balloon
- 欲しい（ほしい）: be wanting, be wishing (It’s an adjective, but it’s used like the English verbs “to want” and “to wish”.)
- ～ね？: right?, isn’t it?, doesn’t it? (If you add this to the end of a sentence, it becomes a question to ask for agreement.)
【お祝い（おいわい）】”OIWAI”
Meaning:
celebration
Usage:
「出産のお祝いにみんなが集まってくれた。」
（しゅっさんのおいわいにみんながあつまってくれた。）
(Shussan no oiwai ni min-na ga atsumattekureta.)
“Everyone gathered for the celebration of the birth of the baby.”
- This is a list of celebrations that are often celebrated in Japan. It is sometimes written on the noshi paper, which is wrapped over the gift wrapping paper (or under the wrapping paper in some regions).
- 出産祝い (しゅっさんいわい / shussan iwai): for giving birth
- 誕生祝い (たんじょういわい / tanjō iwai): for birthday
- 結婚祝い (けっこんいわい / kekkon iwai): for getting married
- 快気祝い (かいきいわい / kaiki iwai): for recovering from illness
- In Japan, there is a custom called “内祝い (うちいわい / uchiiwai)”. Originally, it meant to share a happy event that happened at “うち (home)” with the people around you. But nowadays, it has a different meaning. It is a custom to give back a return gift as thanks for the original gift. But I don’t like this custom much. The price of a private gift is supposed to be about half to one-third of the gift you originally received. In other words, even if you give a congratulatory gift, the recipient will have to spend money to buy a return gift. So when I give a gift to someone, I always add a few words,”お返しはいいからね (おかえしはいいからね / Okaeshi wa īkarane)” which means “Don’t worry about returning the gift.” 🙂
Glossary:
- 出産（しゅっさん）: giving birth
- お祝い（おいわい）: celebration
- みんな: everyone, everybody (That’s a casual word. For formal occasions, say “皆さん [みなさん / minasan]”.)
- 集まる（あつまる）: to gather, to get together, to assemble
- ～してくれる: kindly to do something for somebody
【お誕生日おめでとう（おたんじょうびおめでとう）】”OTANJŌBI OMEDETŌ”
Meaning:
happy birthday
Usage:
「お誕生日おめでとう！」
（おたんじょうびおめでとう！）
(Otanjōbi omedetō!)
“Happy birthday!”
- Please check out the article below for some phrases to celebrate your friends and family!
Birthday Phrases to Celebrate Your Special Ones in Japanese
Glossary:
- 誕生日（たんじょうび）: birthday
- おめでとう: congratulations, happy for you
- お誕生日おめでとう: Happy birthday