Hello! This is Malia from the SALC. In this blog post, let’s look at five common mistakes that Japanese speakers make in English. Here is a preview of today’s list in order of difficulty:
Cheap
Play
Image
Exciting vs. Excited
Had better
Do you make mistakes with any of these words?
Have you heard others make mistakes so aren’t sure what is correct?
Check the list below to check your English!
1. Cheap
In Japanese, anything related to money can be ‘安い’. In English, this word means ‘cheap’. However, this is not always the correct word to use.
‘Cheap’ refers to price or quality. The opposite word is ‘expensive’.
When talking about money that you earn, you must use ‘high’ and ‘low’.
My salary is cheap. ✕
My salary is low. 〇
Let’s look at some examples.
価格の場合：
A: I like your bike. Was it expensive?
B: No, it was only 2,000 yen.
A: That’s so cheap!
品質の場合：
A: Last week, I bought this jacket online. It was 30,000 yen, but there’s already a hole in it.
B: The fabric looks kind of cheap. You can’t always trust online stores.
給料の場合：
A: Why did you quit your job?
B: I found a new job that pays 200 million yen per year. It’s a much higher salary.
A: I should find a new job, too. My hourly wage is low, so I can’t spend money on my hobbies.
2. Play
“I play karate.”
“Let’s play on the weekend.”
Have you ever said something like this? The problem is direct translation from Japanese. Let’s look at the meaning of ‘play’ in English and when you should say ‘do’ or ‘hang out’ instead.
The Japanese word ‘遊ぶ’ means ‘play’. But in English, this word is only used for children and games. When you say ‘友達と遊ぶ’ as a teenager or adult, it means see your friends and spend time together. In this case, the correct English verb is ‘hang out’. If you use ‘play’ to say ‘友達と遊ぶ’, it sounds immature.
But! If you’re talking about a game, then ‘play’ is correct, regardless of age. Of course, this applies to video games, card games, board games, and so on. It also applies to sports that are games, meaning sports that are done together with an opponent.
Sports like soccer, baseball, and basketball:
Two or more teams or opponents play a game together to get points and win. Because it’s a game, the correct verb is ‘play’.
Martial arts (e.g., kendo, archery) and individual performance sports (e.g., gymnastics):
Martial arts are fighting or performance, not a game. Other performance sports like gymnastics can also be done against an opponent, but they are never done together with an opponent. Therefore, they are not a game. The correct verb is ‘do’.
Sports that have their own verb:
Some sports are normal activities, like swimming, running, cycling, skating, and surfing. This is true for any sport name that ends in –ing. In this case, don’t say ‘play’ or ‘do’ before the sport name. Use the original verb for the activity, e.g., swim, run, cycle, skate, and surf.
I do swimming. ✕
I play swimming. ✕
I swim. 〇
Let’s look at some examples.
「友達と遊ぶ」の場合：
A: Long time no see! How have you been?
B: Not too bad. How about you? It’s been forever.
A: It has. We should hang out. Are you free this weekend?
スポーツの場合：
A: What is your favorite sport?
B: I do judo and play soccer, but judo is my favorite. How about you?
A: I do gymnastics, but I also love to skate. My favorite sport to watch is figure skating.
3. Image
A simple mistake that even advanced Japanese speakers of English make is using the word ‘image’ to mean ‘想像/創造する’. This mistake is common because ‘イメージする’ is used in this way. However, this is not how it should be used in English.
It is rare to use ‘image’ as a verb. It is almost always used as a noun with three main meanings: picture, form/shape, and idea/impression. To say ‘イメージする’ in English to mean ‘想像する’, the correct verb is ‘imagine’, and the noun form is ‘imagination’. ‘Imagine’ sounds kind of creative, so it is common to simply say ‘think about’.
Let’s look at some examples.
画像の場合（写真、絵、図など）：
A: Check out this picture of a cat that I found online.
B: It’s so cute. Please send me the image!
A: Sure, I’ll download it now.
形・姿の場合：
A: Some people say “God created mankind in his own image.” Do you believe that?
B: No, I don’t think humans are that important. They’re just arrogant.
A: Maybe you’re right. Most religions from human history have gods who look like humans.
観念・印象の場合：
A: This shirt looks bad on me.
B: I think you look great.
A: Thanks. I guess I just have a negative image of myself.
「イメージする」の場合：
A: You need to think about your future. What do you want to do after you graduate?
B: I’m not sure. I’ve been a student since childhood, so it’s hard to imagine myself with a career.
4. Exciting vs. Excited
Some words are adjectives in their original form, like ‘sad’ and ‘good’. Some adjectives come from adding a ‘y’ to a noun, like ‘sleepy’ and ‘funny’. And some adjectives come from verbs, like ‘excited’ and ‘exciting’.
But wait… what’s the difference between those last two? When should you use a past participle (過去分詞) and when should you use a present participle (現在分詞) as an adjective?
Maybe you have said “I’m interesting” or “I’m exciting”.
This is grammatically OK, but you probably wanted to use –ed instead of –ing:
「I’m interested.」=「興味があります。」
「I’m interesting.」=「私は面白い人です。」
「I’m excited.」=「興奮しています。」
「I’m exciting.」=「私はワクワクさせるような人間です。」
Adjectives that end in –ed describe the passive subject of a sentence:
主語は「興味を持っている」なら、何かによって興味を持たせられている。
主語は「興奮している」なら、何かによって興奮させられている。
Adjectives that end in –ing describe the active subject of a sentence:
主語は「面白い」なら、何かへ興味を持たせている。
主語は「ワクワクさせるようなもの」なら、何かへ興奮を持たせている。
Why is this so different from how things are said in Japanese? You can see that the direct Japanese translation is kind of long. But in English, making adjectives passive or active is often as easy as adding one syllable to the end of a verb: 興奮させられている = excited.
Need an easier way to remember which is which? In Japanese, it is common to add ‘的’ to a noun to change it into an adjective that describes an active subject.
Let’s look at an example.
stimulate (v.) = 刺激を与える
stimulated (adj.) = 刺激されている
stimulating (adj.) = 刺激させるような = 刺激的
Think about it! If you could say ‘興味的’, it would mean ‘面白い’. If you could say ‘興奮的’, it would refer to ‘ワクワクさせるようなもの’. So, if you’re not sure if you should use –ed or –ing, try saying the same idea in Japanese using a noun + ‘的’. If you can, use –ing. If you can’t, use –ed. It doesn’t work with every word, but it will help you if you often mix up these two adjective forms.
5. Had better
Many Japanese people learn that ‘had better’ means ‘～したほうがいい’. Some people even think that ‘had better’ is softer and more polite than ‘should’. This couldn’t be farther from the truth: In most cases, ‘had better’ is rude.
had better = ～しないと○○になってしまうよ
should = ～したほうがいい
be supposed to = ～すべき
Should is neutral. But if you want to be less direct, you can say something like “It might be good if you…”
If you tell someone that they ‘had better’ do something, you might sound like a parent who is scolding your child. The meaning becomes ‘～しなさい’, and the nuance is “こうしないと、どうなるのかわかっているでしょう”. Kind of rude, right? So you had better not use had better! (Oops, I mean, you should not use had better!)
Let’s look at some examples.
shouldとhad betterのニュアンスの違い：
「You should go to Disneyland.」=
あなたはディズニーランドに行ったほうがいいです。楽しいから！
「You had better go to Disneyland.」=
あなたはディズニーランドに行かないとだめです。行きなさい。
had betterを自分の行動に対して使うなら無難、他人の行動に対して使うなら要注意：
「I had better finish my homework now.」=
私は今宿題を終えないと。
（先延ばしにしてしまうと、とどこおってしまうかもしれない。）
「He had better finish his homework now.」=
彼は今すぐ宿題をやらなくてはなりません。
（いつもすっぽかしてるの。今日もしないと大変なことになるよ。）
「You had better finish your homework now.」=
宿題を今すぐやりなさい。しないとどうなるかわかってるだろう。
（どうなるか→私は怒る→そのあとのことを想像してみろ）
Shouldで聞いて、had betterで答える場合：
「Should I go home?」 → 「Yes, you’d better.」
家に帰ったほうがいいですか？ →
当たり前だ。しないとどうなるのかわかってるでしょう。
「Should I go home?」 → 「No, you’d better not.」
家に帰ったほうがいいですか？ →
帰るつもりですか？絶対に帰ってはいけないよ。
他人にhad betterを使っても失礼ではない場合：
If the reason why someone ‘had better’ do something is an external factor that is obvious to both the speaker and listener, it is sometimes OK to use had better.
「あ！もう1時だ！バスはあと5分で来るでしょう？You had better go.」
（今すぐ行かないとバスに乗り遅れてしまうからね。）
In this case, ‘○○になってしまう’ means ‘乗り遅れてしまう’.
Both the speaker and listener know this, so there is no rude nuance.
If the context was unclear, then it might sound rude:
不明確な文脈の「You had better go」=
「あなたはここにいるべきじゃない。気まずいから帰ったほうがいい。しないと…まあ、あなたもわかってるでしょう。」
Have you made some of these common mistakes in your everyday English? The next time you use the vocabulary or grammar points above, remember what you learned today or share your knowledge with your friends. For more support with your English language studies, come visit me in the SALC during 4th period on Tuesdays and Fridays. I’m looking forward to seeing you there!
Malia Bernard
English LA