You’ve been studying Japanese your hardest for a while now, and it’s finally your time to go to Japan. You get there and you’re able to convey your points to people, but you don’t understand anything they’re saying! It’s all alien jargon to you! People are throwing these scary sounds out at you and like spitballs, they stick onto your skin while you have no idea how to interpret them! Oh yeah, people use slang over there too!

Even if you feel like you know some slang from watching movies or anime, here’s a list of  some essential words that will come in handy when you’re in a group of Japanese people, especially kids or youth, although many people of a more finely-aged demographic can often be seen using these words too.

Watch this video before you learn some of these words, then watch it again afterwards, and see what you can recognize.

So how did that go? Let’s do some learnin’ and then come back later. Hopefully the next time you watch it a lot more will make sense. Let’s start with verbs:

Verbs

しゃれてる(shareteru)

Shareru is a verb that comes from the adjective oshare which means fashionable. By itself it can most properly be used to mean stylish, but recently shareru is used to describe anything good. Just as the word umai is a synonym of both oishii (tasty) and jouzu (skillful/good at), you can use shareru (and its present-tense form shareteiru which gets slang-ized into shareteru) to refer to something that is good. This is more popular among teenagers.

A:さやかはいつもかわいい服を着てるね！(Sayaka wa itsumo kawaii fuku wo kiteru ne!)
A: Sayaka always wears such cute clothes!

B:そうね、いつもしゃれてるね！(Sou ne, itsumo shareteru ne!)
B: You're right, she's always doing it right!

しけてる(shiketeru)

In a sense, shikeru is the opposite of shareru. You use shikeru when something is bad, distasteful, or leaves you with an empty feeling. This is also more popular among teenagers. I’ve seen games and sports played by Japanese teenagers who shout “Shiketa!”when they miss and “Shareta!” when they score. (Both past forms of the word)

A:お母さん、今日の夕飯しけてるね!(Okaasan, kyou no yuuhan shiketeru ne!)
A:Mom, today's dinner sucks!

B:そんなこと言うな！(Sonna koto iuna!)
B:Don't say that!

いかれてる(ikareteru)

Whoa dude, you’re going crazy! Ikareru  can mean many things, but if you hear someone call their friend ikareteru after they said or did something strange, they’re being called crazy. It’s nothing seriously insulting in the slang version when it is used between friends. Having been called ikareteru more than a few times, I am usually fine with the sentiment. You can also say 頭いってる (atama itteru).

A:最近ずっと考えてるけど、AKBのメンバーと結婚しようと思う。(Saikin zutto kangaeterukedo, AKB no membaa to kekon shiyou to omou.)
A: I've been thinking about this for a while but, I think that I'm going to get married to an AKB member.

B:頭いってる！お前いかれてる！(Atama itteru! Omae ikareteru!)
B: You've lost it! You're completely crazy!

ウケル(ukeru)

This is another funny example of the Japanese language using verbs where the English equivalent is an adjective. Ukeru literally translates to “to take,” but in slang-lang is used as a reaction to something that is funny. It’s in the verb category although it’s more of an interjection

A:最近、自分はかわいいかなって思ってる。(Saikin, jibun wa kawaii kana tte omotteru.)
A: Lately, I've started to realize that I might be cute.

B:wwwww～ウケる！(wwwww~ ukeru!)
B:lololololol~ You're hilarious!

Adverbs&things

超 (chou)、めっちゃ (meccha)、マジで (maji[de])、 ガチ (gachi)

If you’ve been learning Japanese in a classroom, you’ve probably learned the adverb “very” as totemo or sugoku. But in english, do we exclusively use “very” as an adjective when we talk to people? I for sure know that when I talk with my way cool friends, we totally use words that are super convenient and create emphasis instead of “very”. For example, a Japanese conversation can go like this:

X:これ、とてもかわいいね。すごく安かったし、とても便利だよ！本当に！(Kore, totemo kawaii ne. Sugoku yasukatta shi, totemo benri da yo! Hontou ni!)
X: This is very cute. It was surprisingly cheap, and is very convenient. Really!

Although this way of speaking is very proper, it’s not really what you’ll hear young people say on the street or talking to friends. It would go more like this:

X:これ、超かわいいね。めっちゃ安かったし、マジで便利だよ！ガチで！(Kore, chou kawaii ne. Meccha yasukatta shi, maji de benri da yo! Gachi de!)
X: This is super cute. It was totally cheap, and really convenient. Seriously!

Chou and meccha can be used interchangeably unless you’re in the kansai area, where meccha is the go-to word.

Maji, meaning really or seriously, (which comes from majime which means serious,) actually seems to have been used since the Edo peroid. Gachi has the exact same usage as maji. Let’s let AKB48 show us a few ways to use maji!

Adjectives

ヤバい(yabai), ウザい(uzai), キモい(kimoi)、ダサい(dasai), ブス(Busu), ズルい(zurui), びみょう(bimyou),さいてい(saitei)

These adjectives are often used as interjections. Note that some are written with katakana until the hiragana i. This is the most common way to stylize slang words, but can also be written in either all hiragana or all katakana.

Yabai- said when something bad happens. Confusingly can also be said about good things too. People started to use yabai as ”uncool” in the 80′s, and then in the nineties as “sugoi“, an interjection meaning “wow” “amazing.”

A:ヤバい！雨降って始めた！(Yabai! Ame futte hajimeta!)
A:Oh crap! It started raining!

A:猫ちゃんの写真みて！(Neko-chan no shashin mite!)
A:Look at the picture of this kitty!

B:ヤバい！かわいい！(Yabai! Kawaii!)
B:OMG! So cute!

Uzai- Annoying. Used to describe a person. Can also mean gloomy, troublesome, loud, or bothersome. If you’re calling something or someone uzai, it’s never with a positive connotation.

A:あっちゃんはいつもツイッターで何人ものツイーツをリツイートしてて、うちは読みたくない！ウザい！(Acchan wa itsumo tsuittaa de nan nin mo no tsuiitsu wo ritsuiito shitete, uchi wa yomitakunai! Uzai!)
A: On twitter, Acchan keeps retweeting so many people's tweets that I don't want to read! It's so annoying!

B:そんなにいっぱいだとめっちゃウザいよね。(Sonna ni ippai nara meccha uzai)
B: If there's that many it gets totally annoying.

Kimoi- Gross. Comes from kimochi-warui which can mean gross, bad feeling, or sick to the stomach. Kimoi less versatile in that it can only mean gross. (On a side note, things can be both kimoi and kawaii at the same time!)

A:コウイチくんみて！鼻水出てる！キモイね！(Koichi-kun mite! Hanamizu deteru! Kimoi ne!)
A: Look at Koichi-kun! His nose is running! Isn't he gross?

B:キモイキモイ！こびとづかんにみえる！
B: Gross gross! He looks like a kobitodukan!

Dasai- Lame or uncool. Can be used to describe objects or people. The Japanese view on what is lame might differ from your view- despite my example below, Asia loves crocs! Hipster glasses also bombard the nation. Because eyesight in Japan is the worst in the world, there are many people who wear contacts under their lensless glasses.

A:山田くんはクロックスはいてる！ダサくない？(Yamada-kun wa kurokkusu haitteru! Dasakunai?)
A: Yamada-kun is wearing Crocs! Isn't that lame?

B:ダサイよね！(Dasai yo ne!) 
B:You're right, he's so lame! 

Busu- Ugly. Originated from busaiku, the longer form of ugly. It’s pretty serious, so be wary of people’s feelings, even when joking. Seriously. You don’t want to be called ugly.

A:AKB48のメンバーの中にかわいい子いる？(AKB48 no menbaa no naka ni kawaii ko iru?)
A:Are there any cute girls in AKB48?

B:いや、みんなブス。(Iya, minna busu.)
B:Nope, they're all ugly.

Zurui- Sneaky. Can also be used as “not fair!” or “you suck!” Think of the sly and cunning fox in old children’s stories.

A:今日は学校サボって、遊園地行った！(Kyou wa gakkou sabotte, yuuenchi itta!)
A: Today I skipped school and went to an amusement park!)

B:ずるい！(Zurui!)
B:You sneaky bastard!

Bimyou- Not very good. Kind of between maa maa and mazui when using it to describe foods. Definitely has as negative connotation. It can be used about anything that’s a little less than giri-giri, or not good. J

A:ラーメンバーガー美味しかった？(Raamen baaga oishikatta?)
A: Was the ramen burger good?

B:ううん、びみょうだった（笑）(Uun, bimyou datta.)
B: No, it kind of sucked lol

Saitei-The lowest (worst). The word itself can mean the ultimate lowest in a non-slang situation as well, like in math or statistics. As slang though, you can use it to describe any person, thing or situation.

A:最近のポップ音楽きらい。特にジャスティン・ビーバーさいてい。(Saikin no poppu ongaku kirai. Toku ni jasutin biibaa saitei.)
A:I hate today's pop music. Especially Justin Bieber, he's the worst.

B:あのガキ？ウケるよね！(Ano gaki? Ukeru yo ne!)
B:That kid? He's a joke!

Text Slang

Nowadays, people one their スマホ(smartphone) use various アプリ(apps), including ones like Twitter, where these useful little buzzwords originated.

なう、うぃる、わず
nau, wiru, wazu
now, will, was

Now, will and was. The use of these words is very different from the use of them in English. Basically, you just slap them onto the end of whatever you are doing, going to do, or did do. This is better learned through examples, so here are some of your favorite celebrities demonstrating the lovely use of nau, wiru, and wazu! (These are almost exclusively text slang and are hardly ever used in speech.)

You didn’t know that Bill Gates was a huge Pokemon fan?

And that’s why you’re off the air.

You go, Dalai Lama!

Heart attack now- at least you’re being honest, McDonald’s.

So go ahead and watch the first video again. Now memorize these and impress your Japanese friends. You’ll get a fun reaction.

This list is short and basic, but essential. Once you know these, you’ve got a basis for the harder stuff, so study up!

What’s your favorite Japanese slang that’s not included in here? Do you have any fun stories about using or hearing slang? Share them in the comments, and let us know if you want to see more posts like this!