Simple Lessons in Japanese

I thought it is time to have a little fun with things Japanese. I am going to make a list of Japanese words that is utilized often, if not too much, on a daily basis:

1. Ganbare, ganbatte, ganbaroo: meaning could be ""work hard!", "try harder!", "do your best!", that type of thing. This is always used when someone is trying to obtain something, be it in a competition, entering the best school, etc. I think this is probably a word that is burned in the psyche of every Japanese

2. Kawaii: meaning "how cute!" or just "cute!". Girls are mostly the one who are saying this when they look at objects deemed worth being considered as cute. Frankly speaking, it annoys me when they say this, especially if the women are past their junior high school. That's right, there needs to be a moratorium on NOT using this word when you are older :P

3. Irasshaimase: meaning "welcome!", said when you are entering store. I thought it was quite noisy when I first keep hearing upon entering stores, but these days, I am used to it. Strangely enough, I somewhat crave it when I go out of Japan and entering a store, hehehehe.

4. Arigatou gozaimasu: meaning "thank you". I think this is probably known already, even to non Japanese speakers.

5. Yabai: There are two meanings for this word, one is good the other bad. In the old times, yabai means bad actually, referring to an unpleasant condition that has been encountered, so for this, it means "oh no!", "darn" or something similar to that. On the other hand, younger generations could consider this as something cool, badddd (as in good bad, ;P). For instance, when you eat and the food is delicious, many kids choose to say yabai oishii, instead of just saying oishii. Older people usually do not like it when kids use this word in that context.

Well, those above are ones that I can think of for now. Note that all word translations with exclamation marks are written by purpose, to denote the necessity of emphasis and spirit when you say it. Have fun with them!