even monkeys fall from trees

Most langblrs are here because we’re desperate to learn more, and many of us (especially those who are self-teaching) have limited opportunities to write in their target language and get feedback on it. So this challenge is intended to help fix that a little.

I have collected a list of 25 topics to write about. The topics are picked so that anyone can do them; you can write a few simple sentences, or you can aim to advanced language use. Whichever you use is up to you. I really want to encourage people to write in their target language, and to get feedback from native or advanced speakers of it.

If you have a particular area you would like correction or help on, then just include this as a note at the end of the text.

TIPS - 1. Spread them out a bit. Don’t try to do multiple a day, or even one every day; take your time, and think on the feedback you get. 2. You can do as many or as few of these as you like, just tell us which one you have picked at the top of your text, and then write your stuff. 3. Tag it ‘langblr25’ so that we can find them easily - it makes it easier to help each other mark them.

IMPORTANT - the only way this can work is if people will correct each others, so please, please do try to help other people out and PLEASE be kind in your corrections.

THE TOPICS -

1. A little bit about yourself - name, gender, age, where you live 2. Something about your family 3. An activity you enjoy doing and why 4. An activity you do not like doing and why 5. Describe an outfit you wear often, and why you like it 6. Describe a sport you did in school, include the uniform you wore. 7. Draw a really simple map and then write instructions on how to navigate it (left, right, crossroads, forwards, stop, etc) and include a picture of the map. 8. A book you like and why 9. Write a fake email and pretend you are booking a room in a city in a country where your target language is spoken. 10. Think of a place you like and describe the landscape. 11. Do you have any pets? Describe them. If you don’t, tell us about a pet you would like and why. 12. Tell us about a place you would like to go, and why. 13. Tell us about your house of bedroom or garden (or all three on separate days) 14. Do you enjoy studying? Tell us why or why not. 15. Write about any subject you wish. 16. Tell us about a stuffed toy you have/had. 17. Pick a random flower and describe it. 18. What kind of job do you want, and why? 19. If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? 20. Talk about a habit you have. 21. Give some advice (on any subject) in your target language. 22. Pick up the book closest to you, and translate the first paragraph (remember to include the name and author for copyright rules) 23. Your ideal sleeping situation - time, light, type of bed, place, sounds, etc 24. Tell us about some food and/or drink you like. 25. Tell us why you are learning this language in the first place.

New Year’s Resolutions || 新年の抱負 Hey guys! For those of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a lovely day, and for those of you who don’t, I hope you had a great Monday! I find that this is the time where most people start preparing for the new year by making plans or making resolutions. In Japanese ‘New Year’s Resolution’ is “新年の抱負・しんねんのほうふ”. So guys, what’s some of your New Year’s Resolutions? Reply to this post or message me on anonymous if you’re feeling shy! It can be in English or Japanese, whatever you’re comfortable with! I find that telling people your plans holds you accountable and helps you to actually achieve them! Let’s look back on this post this time next year and see if we could achieve what we wanted in the new year. Vocabulary・単語・たんご： Do you have a New Year’s Resolution?・新年の抱負はありますか？・しんねんのほうふはありますか？ My New Year’s Resolution・私の新年の抱負は…・わたしのしんねんのほうふは… Become more polite・礼儀正しくなる・れいぎただしくなる Eat healthier・健康的な食生活をする・けんこうてきなしょくせいかつをする Exercise regularly・運動の習慣を身につける・うんどうのしゅうかんをみにつける Forget my ex・元カレ／元カノを忘れる・もとカレ／もとカノをわすれる Go on a diet・ダイエットする Go to the gym・ジムに通う・ジムにかよう I want to do something that I couldn’t do last year・去年出来なかったことに挑戦したい。・きょうねんできなかったことにちょうせんしたい。 Keep my room clean・お部屋のきれいを保つ・おへやのきれいをたもつ Learn a new language・新しい言語を学ぶ・あたらしいげんごをまなぶ Learn Japanese・日本語学習をする・にほんごがくしゅうをする Learn to cook・料理を学ぶ・りょうりをまなぶ Lose weight・痩せる・やせる Meet new people・新しい人に出会う・あたらしいひとにであう Read more・もっと本を読む・もっとほんをよむ Reduce stress・ストレスを減らす・ストレスをへらす Run everyday・毎日走る・まいにちはしる Save money・お金を貯める・おかねをためる Spend less time on social media・ソーシャルメディアに時間を費やしすぎない・ソーシャルメディアにじかんをついやしすぎない Spend more time with family・家族ともっと多くの時間を過ごす・かぞくともっとおおくのじかんをすごす Stop eating junk food・ジャンクフードを食べるのをやめる・ジャンクフードをたべるのをやめる Stop procrastinating・ぐずぐずしない Study abroad・留学する・りゅうがくする Work on my Japanese・日本語力を磨く・にほんごちからをみがく My New Year’s Resolution・私の新年の抱負：

Complete my Graduate Certificate in TESOL・TESOLのコースを全部終わらせること。

Get a teaching job・教師の仕事を手に入れること。

Move out of my sharehouse into my own place・今のシェアハウスから、自分たちだけの家に引っ越すこと。

Go to somewhere new at least once a month・月に一回は、行ったことがないところに行くこと。

Reach 20,000 followers on this blog・ブログのフォロワーが2万人を超えること。

Start learning Korean・韓国語の勉強を始めること。

Lose 5kgs・5キロ痩せる！

「声かけてもらえると助かる」”I’d appreciate it if you could call me.”

〜てもらえると助かる (~てもらえるとたすかる) “I’d appreciate it if you could ~/it’d be helpful if you could ~”

This grammar point is a really polite way to ask someone to do something for you.

The 〜てもらえる part is from the potential form of one of the grammar points for receiving favors 〜てもらう  So basically もらう (to receive) –> もらえる (to be able to receive) 〜てくれる can be used too but 〜てもらう has a more thankful feel to it and the verb 助かる means “to be saved” or “to be helped”

Alright, I had a post on Instagram displaying my treasure trove of Japanese language learning books. I wanted to show off a few of them and talk about all of them. The first photo displays them all (tumblr limited me to 10 photos only, so I’ll discuss some of them without photos, sorry!). Starting from the bottom of the pile:

1. Kanji Power by Tuttle. It’s what you think it is, a kanji workbook. It has a kanji, a mnemonic, some space to practice writing, on'yomi, kun'yomi, stroke order, and some vocabulary/phrases. It has some kanji not covered in my other kanji books.

2. If You Teach Me Japanese, I’ll Teach You English. It’s a strange little book and it’s taking me a while to get the hang of it, but this book was written specifically for language exchanges. Each lesson is done first in Japanese, then again in English. You and your partner serve as the “teacher” in your native language, while you practice that language. So I would read through as the instructor in the English lesson and guide my partner with the scripted dialogues, helping them along the way so that they learn English. They would do vice versa for me with the Japanese. I got this one specifically to aid me in exchanging my language with my partners. They do great with the Japanese and I needed guidance on how to help them with English. So this one isn’t really to learn Japanese, it’s to help me exchange with my Japanese friends.

3. Japanese Step by Step. This is one of the few books that focuses on teaching you SPEAKING Japanese. Most of my books help in reading, writing and I’m having to supplement with Memrise and YouTube for listening and speaking. This book has very easy to understand lessons, starting with syllables not syllabaries. Shows you in English what they’re trying to teach you in Japanese. So it’s almost like learning in parallel, I’m not explaining it well. It’s a really good book, you should just check it out.

4. Beginning Japanese by Yale University Press. This was originally my Dad’s book that he used to teach himself Japanese since he was being stationed there (way back in ye olden days). He very kindly gave it to me. This book also focuses on SPEAKING Japanese, not reading or writing in it. As such, it’s entirely in romaji! Not ideal, but if you just want to focus on speaking the language, this is a good place to start. Very thorough.

5. Reading Japanese by Yale University Press. Same authors as book #4, but not originally my Dad’s. Since this one is focused on READING (hence the title of the book), it is not in entirely in romaji. Whew! What a relief. I just got it today, so I have no feedback other than, I wanted both of these books together. It’s kind of like an entire course at your fingertips.

6. Japanese Kanji for Beginners by Tuttle. Covers JLPT N5 & N4. This is my primary Kanji workbook. I LOVE it. It’s set up pretty much the same as Kanji Power, it has exercises after each lesson so you can practice what you learned. The Kanji Power has the same things, but after a certain number of kanji have been introduced, instead of after each individual lesson. So they differ that way and in that they have different kanji. This book is specifically for JLPT N5/4 whereas Kanji Power is about expanding your kanji.

7. A Japanese Reader by Tuttle (notice the theme?). Pictures 2-4 are about this book. I cannot say enough nice things about this book! The book is split in two; open it like we open all books in the Western Hemisphere and it’s lessons starting with hiragana, open the book the other way and it’s all the reading lessons: from top to bottom and right to left! It’s so cool! The first few elementary readings aren’t actual sentences. They’re just to get you accustomed to the style of reading and the syllabaries (this is where I’m at). The readings get way more advanced though and are excerpts from Japanese literature, some fictional and some non-fictional.

8. A History of Japan. This is another one of Dad’s book that he is lending to me (sadly I don’t get to keep it). I haven’t read it yet but I’m looking forward to it. Granted, it has nothing to do with the language itself, but who here has learned a language without learning anything about the culture, history, and society of the country that speaks the language? Half the point of learning a language is to learn the history and culture of the target language’s country. So I have a book on Japan’s history to supplement the language learning.

9. A Dictionary of Japanese Food by Tuttle. Pictures 5 & 6 are of this book. Just as I stated in the above book, it’s important to know the culture and history of the place whose language you are learning. The “Japanese Kanji for Beginners” book had an exercise in the first lesson involving food. One of the dishes stood out to me because I had no clue what it was “shabu-shabu.” I still don’t know what it is, but now I have a dictionary so I can look it up! If ever I learn how to cook Japanese food, shabu-shabu will be very near the top of the list of things to make and try. The back of the book has some appendices on chopsticks, some ingredients of Japanese food, and food etiquette.

10. The Handbook of Japanese Verbs (picture 7). Verbs seem to be the guts of a sentence in Japanese so I figured it’d be important to learn them a little more in depth than my grammar book goes into. Besides explaining verbs, it has exercises to practice!

11. All About Particles (picture 8). Much like the verb book above, this is all about particles (another very important part of the Japanese language) and also has exercises to help you grasp the concepts. Goes in depth about the particles and actually has sentences in Japanese, literal translations, and English translations. It’s very thorough.

12. Japanese Coursebook by Living Language. Akin to the Yale University Press books that I covered earlier, this book is a complete course for learning how to SPEAK Japanese. As such, it is entirely in romaji but is set up different than the Yale books and has different vocabulary. I use them in conjunction with each other, so that I get the most vocabulary overall.

13. Japanese Grammar by Barron. Pictures 9 & 10 are of this book. This is my absolute favorite book out of them all. Besides being pocket-sized so I can take it just about anywhere with me, it’s a grammar book. I’m not a Grammar Nazi, I’m a Grammarian (one who studies grammar [on purpose]). I read grammar books for my native English and I greatly enjoy grammar for Ancient Greek too (my first foreign language and first true love). All the other books focus on a particular portion of grammar, or the writing system, or speaking. I wanted a book that focused entirely on grammar since I’ve heard it’s so vastly different from English (it’s not THAT different guys). As you can see in the very last picture, the book is printed in two colors. I cannot begin to express how wonderful this is for me. I have Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome (SSS or 3S) and basically what that means is, my eyes don’t work right (duh). They don’t pick up all the wavelengths of light that they’re supposed to. So some colors (and light sources) are harder for me to see and make me very sick trying to look at them. It seems like I have dyslexia but it’s not my brain, it’s just my eyes suck. The added color is much easier on my eyes than all black print on white pages (college was nightmare, in case you wondered).

Last book,

14. Kanji Starter 1. Not a lesson book at all! It has 200 kanji and is essentially a book of mnemonics for them. I use it as a catalog and mark the kanji I’ve mastered from other sources in this book. I also use it as a quick reference when I get suddenly forget a kanji I’ve already learned. That way I don’t have to find the right lesson book and track it down. I got this kanji book before any of the others and it served as the introduction to what i was getting myself into. It made the kanji seem so not scary that by the time I picked up a workbook, kanji was beautiful, logical, and fun. No fear!

Sorry this was so long. I’m on a mobile device so I can’t do the nice “keep reading” breaks or formatting. So it’s just a really long, darn post. But now you know of 14 books you can use for Japanese learning! Also, quick note, all of the books with bar code stickers on them were all purchased form the same site.

Dialects can be fun and offer cultural insight. They may be useful to learn, though usually only if you have geographical links to a specific area of Japan- perhaps you have family there, personal heritage there, you live there, or are going to do a language exchange in a specific area. Linguists may also be interested just because they are really interesting.

In almost all instances for non-Japanese people learning to understand a dialect when it’s spoken/written (rather than produce it in your own speech) would suffice for communication. As far as I can see the best reason to learn to actually speak a dialect is because you want to communicate with elderly people from that region specifically; most young people have had far more media exposure so they can easily use ‘standard Japanese’/ Tokyo dialect.

If a non-native Japanese speaker learns a dialect and can’t speak standard Japanese, they may find they are seriously limited in conversations and people will inevitably find it weird. They might just find they are incomprehensible:

’I spent three years living in Nemuro, the easternmost town in Hokkaido. […]  Hokkaido-ben is often misunderstood outside Hokkaido, Nemuro-ben can’t be understood even in the next town over. So it’s basically useless unless you’re planning a trip to Nemuro (which I would recommend.) However, it does show how many variations there are in dialect, even within one island.’ [Tofugu, my emphasis]

Someone with a low communicative ability in English who could only speak using Cockney rhyming slang, but didn’t know standard English unfortunately would sound ridiculous to natives of that area. It would seem crazy to know ‘You’re ‘aving a bubble mate!’, but not ’You must be joking!’. They’d sound odd and in many instances their language would sound antiquated. Be aware that you may well get a similar reaction if you pepper your speech with regional dialect as a non-Japanese person without being conversationally fluent in standard Japanese. I’m not saying don’t learn dialects, please do if they interest you, learning to understand them when you hear them, rather than necessarily use them in your own speech, is a great idea. If you want to speak in them, please try to do it all in good time and in a respectful way that is not accessorizing the language and culture.

For beginners:

Many of the resources here will be only in Japanese, as this post is aimed at higher intermediate and advanced learners. The section below is in mostly English and will give you a general overview if you’re interested:

lingualift article (scroll down past their email sign up stuff to read)

FluentU will teach you a few basic phrases in a variety of dialects

Wikibooks has links to a few examples of phrases in different dialects

The wikipedia article will give you an informative introduction

Tofugu has a few articles on dialects:  Hokkaido |  Tohoku |  Kansai

Japan Times article on dialects

For intermediate and Advanced learners:

I’ve organised this by prefecture, but it’s worth noting that some prefectures contain several dialects and I’m by no means an expert, I hope the Tumblr Japanese learning community can contribute to and help improve this post. General:

Dictionary for dialects in EVERY prefecture

Short animations about various dialects　

Women from every prefecture saying I love you in their regional dialect

Japanese dialect Wiki

There tend to be Line stickers on sale for dialects, as people think they’re cute and want to show local pride, try searching the Line sticker store for the dialect you want and you can use them in conversations, which will give you a little practise.

Big Weblio guide to all prefectures’ dialects

方言で話そう on Twitter will show you phrases in a variety of regional dialects from around the country

Project Guttenburg article which gets more into the linguistics of Kansai ben

I made a post on Kansai ben a while back and @similarjapanesewords made a post about it before too

video comparing local variations of the same phrase spoken by native speakers 1 2

This Youtube channel has a lot of different dialect tutorials (all Japanese)

There’s another Youtube channel here too (all Japanese)

hougen-japan

ALC dialect quizzes

The Japanese Wikipedia page has a lot more detailed information than the English page, naturally.

Kansaibenkyou

Maps of where some dialects are spoken

Wikipedia has a lot of basic introductory information on dialects, there are almost certainly dialects I’ve missed from this list, if you search for the prefecture or geographical location and the word 弁 or 方言 then you’re likely to find a dialect, even if it isn’t simply called [place name]弁.

Hokkaidō |  Hokkaidō ben dictionary |  Hougen.u-biq |  Tofugu introducation to Hokkaido ben

Aomori |  Goo Aomori ben dictionary |  Japanesepod101 1 2 3 4 5 |  animation about Aomori ben  |  Kindle book written in Aomori ben

Iwate |  Phrase guide  |  dialect dictionary

Miyagi |  Hougen.u-biq | Vocabulary | Introduction to Miyagi ben | Sendai ben

Akita |  Akita ben course  |  How to use け in Akita ben  |  How to use こ in Akita ben

Yamagata |  A few introductory phrases  | Yamagata ben phrases  |  Yamagata ben dajare  |  Yamagata ben grammar

Fukushima |  Fukushima ben Dictionary  |  Usage guide

Ibaraki |  Ibaraki ben dictionary |  Learn Ibaraki ben phrases

Tochigi | Tochigi ben guide to pronunciation and expressions | Tochigi ben dictionary |

Gunma | Five page vocabulary guide | 7 lesson course in speaking Gunma ben

Saitama | North Saitama dialect vocabulary | Phrases | More vocabulary | Saitama ben dictionary on Goo

Chiba | East Chiba dialect | Learn Bōsō dialect | Another Bōsō website | Bōsō dialect quiz | Sotobō dialect guide

Tokyo | dictionary |  Tokyo dialect on Jlect | Tokyo ben on Chaku wiki | About Tokyo ben | vocabulary

Kanagawa | 10 phrases | Yokohama and Kanagawa dialect dictionary | Kanagawa ben on chaku wiki

Niigata |  Niigata ben dictionary  |  Japanesepod101 1 2 3

Toyama | Vocabulary | Toyama ben on Wikibooks | Simple phrases | About Toyama ben | Basic introduction to Toyama ben | Toyama dialect competition

Ishikawa |  Ishikawa ben Dictionary on Goo | Wikibooks Ishikawa dialect guide | Kanazawa ben guide | English book on Kanazawa ben

Fukui | Fukuiben.com | Hokuriku dialect (spoken in several prefectures)

Yamanashi |  Koshu Dialect Laboratory | Koshu ben dictionary | Yamanashi ben on Goo | There are a couple of posts here in English

Nagano |  Goo Nagano ben dictionary  |  Nagano prefecture guide to Nagano dialect  |  Matsumoto dialect page

Gifu |  Large vocabulary list  |  Mino ben guide |  PDF guide with accent information etc  |  another vocabulary list  |  Short video in Mino Ben

Shizuoka |  Page with links to several local dialects found in Shizuoka  | Shizuoka ben version of a commerical  | 10 funny phrases

Aichi |  Hougen.u-biq |  Nagoya ben website

Mie |  phrase guide |  features of Mie ben

Shiga |  large word and phrase list  |  vocabulary list

Kyoto |  Hougen.u-biq |  vocabulary list  |  More vocabulary

Osaka |  Hougen.u-biq |  video tutorial |  Kansai ben/Osaka ben word list

Hyōgo |  vocabulary list |  Hyogo ben on chaku Wiki |  

Nara |  Nara dialect on Chaku Wiki  |  Video discussing the subtelties of Nara dialect within Kansai ben  | vocabulary list

Wakayama |  Word list |  Some honorific expressions in Wakayama dialect PDF | Wakayama ben article |   Wakayama Kansai ben vocabulary |  Apparently there’ll be a radio show about Wakayama dialect soon so maybe they’ll have a podcast

Tottori |  dictionary |  large word and phrase list |  another vocabulary and phrase list

Shimane |  Izumo-ben 出雲弁 | Izumo ben in detail

Okayama |  large word and phrase list | Okayama ben corner | Interesting Okayama ben

Hiroshima |  Hougen.u-biq |  Hiroshima dialect

Yamaguchi |  Yamaguchi ben |  Vocabulary | quiz

Tokushima |  Awa ben video tutorial  |  vocabulary list  |  large phrase and vocabulary list

Kagawa |  vocabulary and phrase list  |  phrase list

Ehime |  Some Iyo vocabulary  |  Iyo dialect guide

Kochi |  Origins of Tosa ben and Hata ben PDF (bilingual)  |  Tosa ben introduction  |  Hata dialect introduction  |  The Lexicon of Kochi Japanese PDF (academic paper)  |  Kochi funpage on Youtube

Fukuoka |  series of videos on how to use Hakata ben |  video tutoiral |  verb conjugations

Saga |  Saga ben dictionary | Goo Saga ben dictionary

Nagasaki |  Nagasaki ben resource with recordings of sample dialogues |  Goo Nagasaki ben dictionary |  A story book written in Nagasaki ben (available on Kindle)

Kumamoto |  How to use Kumamoto ben  | Kumamoto ken vocabulary, a lot of these seem rough/rude

Ōita |  video |  Goo Ōita ben dictionary

Miyazaki |  Miyazaki ben explanation |  vocabulary and explanation

Kagoshima |  Vocabulary |  big word list  |  More vocabulary and phrases 

Okinawa |  Traveller’s guide to Okinawan dialects  | Huge list of Ryukyuan vocabulary  |  Uchinaguchi dictionary

There are books on dialects, typically designed for native speakers, such as this dialect dictionary, or this Tosa ben guide available in Japan, but you’d need some very advanced Japanese to be able to access them, in which case I doubt you’d be following my blog.

Beyond regional dialects there are also many languages that are native to Japan that are not Japanese. If you’re interested in learning Ainu, one of the Ryukyuan languages, Japanese sign language, or another language from Japan that is not standard spoken Japanese then this Tofugu article may interest you. Many of these languages are endangered. Thanks to these bloggers who helped contribute to this post:

ごめん、私はバカだからゆっくり話してください (gomen, watashi wa baka da kara yukkuri hanashite kudasai)

sorry, i’m a fool so please speak slowly

その靴。。。どこに買ったか (sono kutsu… doko ni katta ka)

where did you buy those shoes

私が死ぬなら、コンピュータを破壊してください (watashi ga shinu nara, konpyuta o hakaishite kudasai)

if i die, please destroy my computer

はい。そうです。ダメな人間です。 (hai. sou desu. dame na ningen desu.)

yes. that is correct. i am a loser.

毎日ハンバーガを食べてばいい (mai nichi hanbaga o tabeteba ii)

it would be good to eat a hambuger every day

タンブラー？何それ？聞た事ない。 (tanbura? nani sore? kiita koto nai.)

tumblr? what’s that? never heard of it.

私が死ぬなら、すぐにブロッグを消してください (watashi ga shinu nara, sugu ni buroggu o keshite kudasai)

if i die, please immediately delete my blog

そこのかわいこちゃん。。。デスノートが好きか。。。 (soko no kawaikochan… desu nooto ga suki ka…)

hey cutie over there…… do you like death note…….

声を聞ているけど全然分からない (koe o kiiteiru kedo zenzen wakaranai)

Notes from today’s class. Sorry for the mess (先生は速いですよ！）and the blurriness (tumblr??—but you can click on them).

The lesson was mostly on counters and how to use them:

つ：things (generic, 3D objects of smallish size, like fruit, eggs, etc.) readings: ひとつ、ふたつ、みっつ、よっつ、いつつ、むっつ、ななつ、やっつ、ここのつ、とお　 question word: いくつ

人（にん）：persons ひとり、ふたり、さんにん、よにん、etc. (regular readings after that) question word: 何人（なんにん）

番（ばん）：rank, number (first, second, etc.) readings: いちばん、にばん、さんばん、etc. (regular) question word: 何番（なんばん）

枚（まい）：thin, flat objects (like sheets of paper, shirts, tickets, etc.) readings: いちまい、にまい、さんまい、etc. (regular) question word: 何枚（なんまい）

杯（はい）：liquids contained in glasses, cups, etc. readings: いっぱい、にはい、さんばい、よんはい、ごはい、ろっぱい、ななはい、はっぱい、きゅうはい、じゅっぱい question word: 何杯（なんばい）

本（ほん）：thin, long objects (pens, bottles, bananas, etc.) readings: いっぽん、にほん、さんぼん、よんほん、ごほん、ろっぽん、ななほん、はっぽん、きゅうほん、じゅっぽん question word: 何本（なんぼん）

How to use them:

ペンがいくつありますか。How many pen are there? (ペンが)5本あります。There are 5 (pens).

学生が何人いますか。How many students are there? (学生が)12人います。There are 12 (students).

写真を何枚撮りましたか。How many pictures did you take? (写真を)5枚撮りました。I took 5 (pictures).

To order: サンドイッチを２つください。Two sandwiches, please.

諦めないで｜あきらめないで｜don’t give up

sooo i watched way too much Detective Conan lately - which lead me to make this vocabulary list haha - please tell me if you think i forgot anything or if i made any mistake!

探偵　たんてい - detective

探偵小説　たんていしょうせつ - detective novel

私立探偵　しりつたんてい - private detective

探偵事務所　たんていじむしょ - detective agency

推理　すいり - (deductive) reasoning

推理小説　すいりしょうせつ - mystery novel

謎　なぞ - mystery

謎を解ける（とける） - to solve a mystery

犯行　はんこう - crime

犯行を認める（みとめる） - admit one’s crime

犯行現場　はんこうげんば - crime scene

犯行予告　はんこうよこく - advance notice of a crime

殺人　さつじん - murder

殺人を犯す（おかす） - to commit a murder

殺人犯　さつじんはん - murderer

殺人鬼　さつじんき - serial killer

殺人未遂　さつじんみすい - attempted murder

密室殺人　みっしつさつじん - locked-room murder

殺す　ころす - to kill

刺す　さす - to stab

刺し殺す - to stab to death

遺体　いたい - corpse

自殺　じさつ - suicide

殺害　さつがい - murder

殺害予告　さつがいよこく - death treat

事件　じけん - case

警察　けいさつ - police

刑事　けいじ - (police) detective

警部　けいぶ - police inspector

捜査　そうさ - investigation

捜査官　そうさかん - agent

逮捕する　たいほする - to arrest

アリバイ - alibi

血痕　けっこん - bloodstain

指紋　しもん - fingerprint

足跡　あしあと - footprint

証拠　しょうこ - proof

容疑者　ようぎしゃ - suspect

犯人　はんにん - criminal

犯罪　はんざい - crime

罪　つみ - crime/sin

共犯者　きょうはんしゃ - accomplice

被害者　ひがいしゃ - victim

目撃者　もくげきしゃ - eyewitness

強盗　ごうとう - robery

武装強盗　ぶそうごうとう - armed robery

泥棒　どろぼう - thief