6 docs tagged with "pragmatics"

Aizuchi are the はい, ええ, へえ, and なるほど sounds Japanese listeners make to show they are tracking you. Learn the inventory by register and how often to use them.

Chotto (ちょっと) means far more than "a little." Decode its softened refusals, attention-getters, and hedges by context and intonation, with clear examples.

Indirect refusals in Japanese rarely use いいえ. Learn the preface, softener, and trail-off that signal a polite no, and how to read one when you hear it.

Senpai and kōhai is Japan's year-of-entry seniority relation. Learn how it marks speech asymmetrically, where dōki breaks the pattern, and who owes whom.

Tatemae and honne explained: what 建前 and 本音 mean, why this public-vs-private split is universal, and how to hear honne through hedges and omissions.

Uchi vs. soto is the in-group/out-group axis behind Japanese grammar. Learn how it drives くれる/あげる, keigo, and humbling your own boss to clients.