Since japanese kawaii/kowai is already taken, I’ll add chikubi (乳首) and kuchibiru (唇) are confused by some learners (including me at least twice). Nipples and lips respectively.
I also messed up the words for jealous/envious and selfish so told someone their vacation was selfish (or at least talking about it) instead of that I was envious.
I recently learned the words for oyster/persimmon and rain/candy are very similar. I had a Japanese person repeat them for me and I still can’t really tell the difference.
For candy, this is why I think remembering the loanword for candy ( キャンディ kyandei ) can be kinda nice. Allows you to get some clarification by asking if that’s what they’re actually talking about.
it’s pitch accent. There’s nothing different about the sounds the characters make (ka and ki or a and me), but the pitch contour is different. For extra fun, those pitch accent patterns vary across Japan and may be opposite in some places.
Yeah that’s what was explained to me but the differences were so subtle I can barely hear them. At least with the way the Japanese person spoke them to me.
Since japanese kawaii/kowai is already taken, I’ll add chikubi (乳首) and kuchibiru (唇) are confused by some learners (including me at least twice). Nipples and lips respectively.
I also messed up the words for jealous/envious and selfish so told someone their vacation was selfish (or at least talking about it) instead of that I was envious.
I recently learned the words for oyster/persimmon and rain/candy are very similar. I had a Japanese person repeat them for me and I still can’t really tell the difference.
For candy, this is why I think remembering the loanword for candy ( キャンディ kyandei ) can be kinda nice. Allows you to get some clarification by asking if that’s what they’re actually talking about.
it’s pitch accent. There’s nothing different about the sounds the characters make (ka and ki or a and me), but the pitch contour is different. For extra fun, those pitch accent patterns vary across Japan and may be opposite in some places.
Yeah that’s what was explained to me but the differences were so subtle I can barely hear them. At least with the way the Japanese person spoke them to me.