6 Common Japanese Learner Mistakes: Vocabulary, Grammar, and Pronunciation
Today, let’s cover 6 common mistakes that Japanese language learners make. There are a variety of lists that cover this topic so I tried to choose ones that you may not have seen covered by other people. We’ll focus on 2 vocabulary mistakes, 2 grammar mistakes, and 2 pronunciation mistakes.
Although these 6 points that we’ll talk about will help any language learner, if you’re more of a serious learner and you have at least about an elementary level of knowledge already, you’re more likely to benefit.
Vocabulary: ごめんなさい (Gomennasai) and すみません (Sumimasen)
We have two common ways of apologising when you’re speaking in a standard level of politeness. They are ごめんなさい (gomennasai) and すみません (sumimasen). They’re similar but not the same, which can get a little confusing so let’s take a look at them.
ごめんなさい (gomennasai) and すみません (sumimasen) are often - but not always - interchangeable.
ごめんなさい (gomennasai) means ‘sorry’ and it expresses a desire to be forgiven. It is moderately formal. You can make it less formal by shortening it to ごめん (gomen) and then optionally adding ね (ne) to get ごめんね (gomenne).
すみません (sumimasen) means ‘excuse me’ and is used to apologise and move on. The only way to make it less formal is to pronounce it as すいません (suimasen).
In many cases, we’ll specify what we’re apologizing for by adding a phrase along with either ごめんなさい (gomennasai) or すみません (sumimasen).
For example, you could say
遅れてごめんなさい （おくれてごめんなさい/okurete gomennasai) or
遅れてすみません （おくれてすみません/okurete sumimasen)（でした）(deshita)
Both would be correct, but the nuance is a little different. In the first one, you’re asking more for forgiveness, and in the second you’re apologising but you’re also ready to move on to what needs to be done next. We’re more likely to use the second one with coworkers or people we may not know too well and we’re more likely to use the first one with people we know better. When talking to friends or close family, we may make it less formal by simply saying 遅れてごめん（おくれてごめん/okurete gomen)！
Vocabulary: ティッシュ (Tisshu) and ナプキン (Napukin)
The next common mistake is one that you’ll probably want to be careful with. In English, I feel like a tissue is made of paper and often used to dry tears, blow our noses, or clean our hands and faces when we eat. A napkin I think is usually fabric that we use to cover our laps and clean our hands and faces when we eat.
In Japanese, a ティッシュ (tisshu) is more or less the same thing as it is in English. It’s a dry facial tissue used to wipe your hands or face, but ナプキン (napukin) are sanitary pads used by people who menstruate.
So just be careful with your use of the word ナプキン (napukin) when you’re speaking with Japanese people!
Grammar: Location Particles に (ni), へ (he), and で (de)
We use the particles に (ni), へ (he), and で (de) when talking about places, but are you confident about when when to use each one?
Let’s go over each, and then look at an example.
に (ni) has a few different purposes. It marks a destination, but it also marks an indirect object in a sentence, a specific point in time, and a period of time that something repeats in
へ (e) can be used instead of に (ni) to mark a destination and it’s considered more formal. It doesn’t do much else.
で (de), like に (ni), has a few different purposes. It marks an area/place/duration of time, or a method/tool/circumstance when something happens. It also marks the material or substance of an item.
Let’s look at an example that uses all 3 particles.
土曜日に電車で公園に・へ行きませんか？（どようびにでんしゃでこうえんに・へいきませんか？/Doyōbi ni densha de kōen ni/e ikimasen ka?)
に (ni) is used twice - for the day (土曜日/どようび/doyōbi) and location (公園/こうえん/kōen). The only place that へ (e) is used is for the location, as an alternative to using に (ni). で (de) is used only once in this example sentence, to indicate the method of going to the park.
If we strictly have 公園に（こうえんに/kōen ni) vs 公園で（こうえんで/kōen de) we would know that the first refers to the park is simply the destination, but second refers to the park being a place in which an act occurs. So we can say 公園に行く（こうえんにいく/kōen ni iku) and 公園で走る（こうえんではしる/kōen de hashiru) but we cannot say 公園で行く（こうえんでいく/kōen de iku) or 公園に走る（こうえんにはしる/kōen ni hashiru).
Grammar: Formal Japanese (Keigo)
The next grammar point is about keigo or formal Japanese. For Japanese language learners working on improving their formal or business Japanese, it’s not uncommon to misuse 尊敬語（そんけいご/sonkeigo) and 謙譲語（けんじょうご/kenjōgo). I used to struggle with this too.
Let’s clarify the difference between these two categories of formality.
敬語（けいご/keigo) is the term we use for any and all polite or formal Japanese. Within this category we have both 尊敬語（そんけいご/sonkeigo) and 謙譲語（けんじょうご/kenjōgo). The main difference between the two is as follows:
尊敬語（そんけいご/sonkeigo) is used when talking about someone else’s actions. This includes people like your customers or clients, guests, bosses, and teachers.
謙譲語（けんじょうご/kenjōgo) on the other hand, is used to talk about your own actions, or the actions of your immediate family or coworkers who are considered to be on the same level as you.
As an example, let’s look at the verb 来る（くる/kuru).
来る（くる/kuru) is the dictionary form, いらっしゃいます (irasshaimasu) is the 尊敬語（そんけいご/sonkeigo) form and まいります (mairimasu) is the 謙譲語（けんじょうご/kenjōgo) form of this verb. So if we want to say “The teacher is coming” we would say 先生がいらっしゃいます（せんせいがいらっしゃいます/sensei ga irasshaimasu) and if I am coming, then I would say, （私が）まいります ((watashi ga) mairimasu).
We would never say （私が）いらっしゃいます ((watashi ga) irasshaimasu).
Pronunciation: Long/Double Vowels
Because spoken Japanese has a very different rhythm from languages like English for example, it’s not uncommon for learners to lengthen or shorten vowels when they shouldn’t be. Let’s look at one example:
おばさん (obasan), おばあさん (obāsan)
Japanese has something called a mora, and it’s kind of like a timed syllable. Basically, you want to think of one kana as one beat so おばさん (obasan) should be 4 beats long and おばあさん (obāsan) should be 5. These words should take you different amounts of time to say them.
Let’s look at a few more examples
おじさん (ijisan) - おじいさん (ojīsan)
地図 (chizu) - チーズ (chīzu)
琴（こと/koto) - コート (kōto)
Pronunciation: Pitch Accent
There are 4 different pitch accent patterns in Common Japanese. They care called 頭高（あたまだか/atamadaka), 中高（なかだか/nakadaka), 尾高（おだか/odaka)m and 平板（へいばん/heiban). There are a number of different resources online if you want to learn the basics, including a few videos here that I’ve done.
Let’s look at an example of how the pitch accent can change the meaning of a word.
We have 地震 LHHH（じしん/jishin), which is an earthquake, follows a pitch accent pattern of low-high-high-high or LHHH. Another word, 自身 HLLL（じしん/jishin), which means oneself, follows a pitch accent pattern of high-low-low-low or HLLL. Without the pitch accent pattern difference, we would be much more likely to confuse the two in conversation.
You may be aware of the debates that often seem to occur online about whether pitch accent is important to learn, and ultimately it’s your decision, but if you lean toward thinking it’s not important, I ask you this question - If you were learning Mandarin for example, would you say that learning the correct tones isn’t important?
Summary
Firstly, the 2 vocabulary mistakes.
The differences and similarities between ごめんなさい (gomennasa) and すみません (sumimasen). Hopefully you have a better idea now of when to use each one.
ティッシュ (tisshu) and ナプキン (napukin) - They’re fairly similar to English speakers, but they’re very different items in Japanese.
Next, 2 grammar mistakes.
How the に (ni), へ (e), and で (de) particles are used when referring to locations. They do have some overlap, but they’re also pretty different from one another.
The misuse of the 尊敬語（そんけいご/sonkeigo) and 謙譲語（けんじょうご/kenjōgo) categories of formality, and when to correctly use each one.
And last but not least, the 2 common pronunciation mistakes.
Long vs short vowels. Be conscious of how long your vowel sound should be.
Pitch accent, like vowel length, can change the meaning of the word you’re saying. If you’re not used to pitches and tones in spoken language, it can take some time to be able to hear and reproduce these sounds accurately so don’t worry if it takes time.
Learn More
If you want to learn more about improving your overall pronunciation, check out these videos here, or - if you’re really serious about it, consider joining my signature pronunciation course called Japanese Phonetics 101. We cover all aspects of a good Japanese pronunciation with easy-to-follow lessons and lots of practice exercises and quizzes.
And - if you want your work to take you to Japan, consider joining my one-of-a-kind Japanese for Flight Attendants course. It includes detailed lessons on service Japanese as well as vocabulary and phrases used by flight attendants when on the job and during layovers in Japan.
Thanks for sticking around until the end! If you enjoyed it, please leave a comment or question for me! I love hearing from you.
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