Ok, time for some more slang! As promised a while back, i’m going to show you some words that are contracted in Japanese. Those nasty extra syllables aren’t needed are they? d( ^_¬)
Again, you’ve got to hand it to the Kansai region for coming up with most of these.
CHAU (ちゃう) – Different / thats wrong!
Chau is the contracted form of ‘Chigau’, to be different. Often doubled to ‘chau chau’ in common speech. 「いや、ちゃうちゃう」 – “No no no, that’s wrong…”. It’s more ‘different’ than ‘incorrect’ though. Mike from Gakuranman.com found an awesome example of using ‘chau’ with ‘chihuahua’.
OHISA (おひさ) – Long time-no see! / It’s been a while!
Simply the contracted form of Ohisashiburi! This contraction actually feels worth it though. 「おい、お前ら！おひさ！」 – Hey you guys! Long time no see!
-SU (っす) – To Be
-su is quite simply, the contraction of the ever famous ‘desu’. Ok, so we’ve got ‘da’ which is just as short, but it gives you some variety. 多分、むだっす！
UMEE (うめー) – Yuuuuuum!
Not really a contraction, but hey. If you are ever going to work for NHK, the you need to learn the bazillion ways of saying ‘oh my sweet Jebus that tastes good!’. Ume is a standard slang, from Umai (delicious). Adding extra vowels increases the strength of the word, and therefore how tasty the thing is (or how much bullshit you’re giving us Mr. Reporter-san!). Having either a ー or a small ‘ぇ’ is common.
「ぅわ、これマジうめー！」 – Holy shit, this is scrumptious!
Dave Smith is an illustrator with great interest in Japan and Japanese culture. Find out more about Dave at