Do you have yoko meshi?*

Japanese is a language with a lot of words which are unique and have no equivalent meaning in English. Here’s our top 5.

• koi no yokan  – the sense you get when meeting someone that the two of you will fall in love
• bakku-shan – a woman who looks pretty but only from the back
• boketto – to gaze into the distance without thinking
• arigata-meiwaku – when someone does something for you that you didn’t want them to do, and having to express gratitude for the act
• tatemae & honne – what you pretend to believe & what you actually believe

* yoko meshi (literally, a meal eaten sideways) refers to the stress induced by speaking a foreign language!

Can you think of any English words which don’t translate into the language you’re learning?