(foreign students talking about going to an international festival)

Foreign student 1 (F1): Are you going to the festival tomorrow?

Foreign student 2 (F2): Yeah I want to. Where should we meet?

F1: It’s near Torikatsu Daigaku (Chicken Cutlet University) station.

Foreign student 3 (F3): What??! It’s Toritsu Daigaku! (Municipal University)

All: *LOL*

(a gaijin and her friend M-chan having a chat)

Gaijin: M-chan wa ikura desuka? (How much is M-chan?)

M-chan: Heee~~ nansai deshou?? (Whaaatt??? You mean how old??)

(a gaijin met a Japanese guy and talked in English)

Gaijin (G): So are you a student?

Japanese (J), trying so hard to speak English: No, I am working. I do naashingu.

G: What?? You do nothing??

J: Yes. Are you a student?? What are you studying??

G: I study computer science.

J: Oh. I also studied computer science before, but I do not like it so I change to naashingu.

G, getting very confused: What???!

J: Naashingu, I am a naasu.

G, finally understood: Oh! Nursing…

(few moments after quite a big aftershock, a lab member’s monitor seemed weird)

Me, asking to the owner: I-san, sono monitaa daijoubu kana? (is that monitor okay?)

I, a japanese student: Ah, daijoubu janai, yabasou kore… (ah, it’s not okay, looks bad)

St, with some other japanese student seeing I’s computer: Disupurei ga shinda… (the display died)

Sg, foreign student from B country, only understand the word ‘shinda’ : How many people died??

S, tweeted: Last night was the best night ever, ureshii

B, commented: Why ureshii (envy)?? Shouldn’t it be tanoshii (happy)??

S: He? ‘Ureshii’ means happy, envy is ‘urayamashii’ ^^;;;

B: Ah!!…..hahaha…yeah, you’re right…sorry…^^;;;;;;

(in a lab progress report meeting)

N : Anoo…senshuu purintaa ga kowashitan desuga… (Umm…last week I broke my printer…)

Sensei, surprised : Hee?? Kowashita?? (What?? You broke it??)

*some lab members laughed*

N, confused : He?

*another lab member miming a hammer punch on the printer*

N, realizing her mistake : Ah…sumimasen…kowaretan desu! (Ah…I’m sorry…it’s broken!)

Sensei : Hee…kowaretan desuka… (oh…so it’s broken…) *smiling*

*transitive and intransitive verbs in Japanese are often confusing because the words are quite similar, like in this case between “kowasu” and “kowareru”

(a Japanese student was creating a lab account for a new African student)

J (Japanese) : Dochira no meeru adoresu wo tsukaimasu ka? (Which e-mail address do you want to use?)

A (African) : Mou ii, mou ii.. (it’s enough..)

J : He?

A : Mou ii, mou ii.. (it’s enough..)

J, changed to English : What do you mean by “mou ii”?? In Japanese, “mou ii” means “no,thank you”!!

A : Ah……………sorry……

(a gaijin with his car stopped by a police)

Policeman : Kore wa maikaa desuka? (is this ‘my car’*?)

Gaijin : Iie, anata no kuruma janai desu. (no, it’s not your car)

Policeman : Chigau, chigau. Kono kuruma wa maikaa desuka? (no, no. is this car ‘my car’?)

Gaijin, got annoyed : ANATA NO KURUMA JANAI!! (It’s NOT YOUR CAR!!)

Policeman, muttering and letting the gaijin go : Wakarahen yarouna~ (he doesn’t get it~)

* The Japanese often add ‘my’ to express self-owned things, so ‘my car’ here doesn’t mean literally the policeman’s car, but the gaijin’s own car.

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