L202 - Foul Language

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L202 - Foul Language

This lesson contains a bunch of words you normally wouldn't use, but may read in manga, hear in movies or if you ever see people fight.

In Japan, people are very conservative in using foul words. Therefore you will rarely hear people using foul words in ordinary conversations. In other languages it may be not so uncommon to use bad words in sentences, maybe even just to strengthen a word. That would not be the case in Japanese. Or at least not in normal polite and educated circles.

There seems not to be as many foul words in Japanese as in English. Probably it is because it is possible to make a really big difference just by changing the politeness level. Just making a sentence to a lower politeness level than expected could really be rude in Japanese. The following examples are just said in a lower politeness level together with the strengthening "yo" in the end, making them sound harsh.

	Romaji	English	Said by	Polite version
なんだよ！	nandayo!	What (do you want)!!?	men	nan desu ka?
なによ！	naniyo!	What (do you want)!!?	women	nan desu ka?
みないでよ！	minaide yo!	Don't look!	women	minaide kusasai
みるなよ！	miruna yo!	Don't look!	men	minaide kusasai
みてんじゃねーよ！	miten ja ne-yo!	Don't look!	men	minaide kusasai
なんていったのよ！	nante itta no yo?	What did you say!?	women	nan to iimashita ka?
なんていったんだよ！	nante itta n da yo!	What did you say!?	men	nan to iimashita ka?
やめろよ！	yamero yo	Stop!	men	yamete kudasai
やめてよ！	yamete yo	Stop!	women	yamete kudasai

Comparing to the polite version to the right, you can see that there are actually no words that are foul in themselves. You can usually create rough versions of words using the plain form of the verbs, or using the rough imperative form (order form). Plain forms are usually used by themselves only if you are close. If you are using them to someone you do not know so well be considered rude.

Examples of Different Politeness Levela

Here are some examples of a few different ways of making requests or orders.

	To see	Verb form
見ます	mimasu	Polite form (-masu)
見る	miru	Plain form
見ない	minai	Plain negative form
見て	mite	Plain request
見て　ください	mite kudasai	Polite request
見ないで	minaide	Plain negative request
見ないでください	minaide kudasai	Polite negative request
見ろ	miro	Rough imperative (order)
見るな	miruna	Rough negative imperative (order)

Words for Fights

Here's a list of other words, that can be used in fights or quarrels. Please be careful about using them, as they may actually be considered more rude in Japanese than their English counterpart.

	Romaji	English	Said by
馬鹿／バカ	baka!	Idiot!
バカみたい	baka mitai!	You look stupid!
バカだ	baka da!	That's stupid!
バカやめてよ	baka yamete yo!	Stop being stupid!	women
バカやめろよ	baka yamero yo!	Stop being stupid!	men
うそつき	usotsuki!	Liar!
このすけべ	kono sukebe!	You lewd!
このへんたい	kono hentai!	You pervert!
だまってよ	damatte yo!	Shut up!	women
だまれよ	damare yo!	Shut up!	men
このくそったれ	kono kusottare	You asshole!	men
このあま	kono ama!	You bitch!	women
やりまん	yariman!	Slut/whore!
ちび	chibi!	Shorty!
よわむし	yowamushi	Weakling!
ぶす	busu!	You're ugly!	to women
げそ	geso!	You're ugly!	to men
ぶた	buta!	Pig!
でぶ	debu!	Fatso!
おかま	okama!	Fag!	to boy
おてんば	otemba!	Tomboy!	to women
おとこおんな	otoko onna!	Tomboy!	to women
くそ	kuso!	Shit!
うんこ	unko	Shit!

Continue to the Flash Card Trainer Drill to practise this chapter's vocabulary list. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know in the forum!

You may also want to look at the article 200 Slang Expressions in Japanese.

Yoroshiku onegaishimasu,

Johan

Comments (21)

My first observation from watching, Anime is that girls use masculine words and forms like "Boku" as in "I" so i wonder with the westernization of Japanese culture if masculine and feminine is that important anymore? #2 The site says it means Shi* but "Kuso" is translated in almost every anime i have seen as "Damn" Some clarity maybe by someone less ignorant than my self please :)

I watch a lot of anime and my suspicion is that feminine and masculine don't much matter anymore at least not in anime's. For instance "Boku Wa" "I am" is used by women charachter's in anime but to my knowledge "Boku" is a masculine form of "I". Just an observation. I may be totally wrong. On another note "Kuso" is most frequently translated as "Damn it" and not the S word. again another observation, the Osaka, Tokyo and that odd dialect may have an influence on how words are used in context..

I was watching a subbed TV show, and in one of scenes 'bastard' was translated; it was used a few time afterwards, too. I didn't quite hear what the word was, and wondered if its on this list, under a different name? Or should it be added to the list?

this is really great...

chibi is a cuss word DEPENDING on how you use it.

if it's use is to offend people, then it is a cuss word.
you see guys, the tone of your voice while saying these words -especially japanese words- is IMPORTANT.
you may offend others even though you're using polite words yet saying in a harsh way.

you get what i mean, guys?

chibi is a cuss word?!?!?!

It is like saying "Can you please lower your volume/voice?" which is generally a polite was to ask someone to be quiet, versus telling them to "Shut up" or "Shut your yap" which is harsher. Many English speakers take for granted the many ways we say the same thing, and thus get confused when other languages do the same.

some one told me that there were no cussing words in japanese.

and why does it have "woman" and "men"? can't we all just say it?

Urusai wa Ne i probably misspelled that..

Yes, sex is important when speaking japanese.

A man can probably say "yamete yo", sounding unpolite but still well-mannered, but a woman saying "yamero yo" sounds so manly... but that, as well, might be her intention if she wants to sound very rude. There are also expressions and words that are feminine in its sound, and a guy using them can end up embarrassing himself.

What is the difference between kuso and unko? Is one of them worse than the other?

HAH and my sensei said there are nooooo curse words japanese....

well now i can say stuff like that in japanese class :twisted:

Sweet! Now i can cruse guys that i hate! :mrgreen:

No, "n" is a word all by itself. It is a more informal equivalent of the particle "no". So "nante itta no yo" and "nante itta n da yo" differ only in style of speech. "no" is essentially the same as "n", and both "no" and "n da" can be thought of as short forms of the polite equivalent, "no desu ka".

on "nante itta n da yo" is there supposed to be something before or after the n?

This is kind of different. Most languages have different names for people of different genders, at least some of the time. English doesn't have male and female words for friend, but it does have words like actor and actress.

What's going on here is that in Japanese there are different words USED by males and females to convey similar meanings. I don't think this is the case to a similar extent in any other language that I am familiar with.

this is sort of like spanish we use "o" and "a" to distinguish a boy from a girl. ex: Amiga (a friend who's a girl) / Amigo (a friend who's a boy)

Well, it's difficult to say why, but there are so many expressions which are used by the specific gender. Normally, women don't say "yameroyo". If a woman said like that, she will be regard as a strange or rough person like a man. Or possibly some people might think she was actually HE. Actually it's common to distinguish the person's gender by his/her speaking way. Japanese is such a language.

Example:

"Stop being stupid!" Has to be said different?
Why? I mean in america we have one word to say and all of us can say it, in japan does it really make a difference? I mean a boy has to say:

baka yamero yo!

And A women has to say:

baka yamete yo!

But why? Does it REALLY make a difference on how you say it?

As Johan said, some of these words are considered ruder by nihonjin than their English translations are considered by English speakers. Perhaps social expectations are more rigid in nihon than in the U.S. or England, and it is more insulting to tell someone that their behavior is different from what is expected of someone of their age and gender. I am just guessing.

It's interesting that cross-gender themes come up so frequently in anime and manga-- but sometimes, what a culture considers somewhat taboo is more likely to appear in popular literature.

how is that fowl??i'm a tomboy.

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