Learn Japanese Blog

Japanese casual and polite language varies greatly in relationships depending on how well people know each other and whether each party agrees to be treated in the way they are.

Fun fact: every week, Coto team gathers together to talk about their favorite Japanese learning resources. It could be anything from podcasts, J-vlogs, and new Japan-based TikTokers to newfound digital dictionaries and Japanese language blogs.  We have to say, squinting under the sun, sweating and exclaiming, “Atsui desu ne!” ten times in an hour was […]

The conjunctive particle けど is interchangeable with the particle が and has a similar meaning to the English word “but” or “even though”. However, Japanese people like to put けど (kedo) at the end of sentences to sound less confrontational and polite.

You've probably heard of the Japanese word kawaii, which means lovely, charming, cute and adorable. but what is the kawaii culture, and how does one become kawaii? How do you use かわいい?

Although JLPT is the de facto standard, it's only held twice a year. This got us thinking: what are the other alternatives to officially prove our Japanese?

Want to learn some of Japan's no-no words? We'll be going over some of Japan's Swear Words that you probably should not be using. They can range from kind of insulting to you'll get punched if you say this. Read on to learn more!

Okay. So you’ve studied the JLPT for months, reading grammar books, making flashcards and taking mock exams. You feel like you’re all set to take the test. There’s nothing that can go wrong when you have all that knowledge locked in, right?  Wrong. While we put most of our focus on studying Japanese, we tend […]

The million-dollar question that perplexes all Japanese learners at the beginning: Why is ha (は) read as wa — which sounds exactly the same as わ? We all thought Japanese phonetics is pretty straightforward, but just when you think you’ve nailed the hiragana and katakana writing system, you come across this conundrum.  Of course, once […]

Loan words in Japanese, or gairaigo(外来語), are words borrowed from foreign countries other than China — but not all of them come from English.

Primary colors in Japanese seem easy and straightforward, but you'd be surprised by how much culture and history go behind them.

A full-stack developer, engineer or data scientist in Japan? Check out these tech-related Japanese vocabulary.

So while it sounds weird, here's why you should trust Peppa Pig more than anime subs to soak in more Japanese knowledge.