These days, Rei and I are trying to speak English as much as possible, mostly so that she can get lots of speaking practice.

But there's just one problem with this arrangement, which is that we've been speaking Japanese together for so long, it's become the default.

I wake up in the morning, and in my half-awake state, I start speaking Japanese to her.

Oops.

I've reached a level where I think too much in Japanese. So when I want to say something in English, I have to translate it from Japanese... and usually that's a disaster.

Have you ever heard one of those language experts talk about how you "mustthink in the target language?"

Great advice... if you have the foundation to actually do that. For the first stages of learning a language, though, this is more or less impossible. And thinking in the target language starts to happen naturally with ridiculous amounts of practice. Well, it did for me, at least.

Annnnnnnd, I'm getting distracted.

I bring this up to point out that you can think in Japanese... while still making a ton of mistakes in Japanese.

Specifically, this will happen anytime that Japanese uses a completely different sentence structure for something... but you're not aware of it.

I have a great example:

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Don't be embarrassed.

For the longest time, I would say whack things like:

↓ Incorrect ↓
✕　恥ずかしいなんか必要ないよ。
✕　はずかしい　なんか　ひつよう　ない　よ。
✕　You don't need to be embarrassed.
✕　Literally: "shy / embarrassed + なんか + not needed + よ."
↑ Incorrect ↑

Yeah, a Japanese person might understand that sentence. And I cringe in recalling that I've used sentences like that many times in the past.

But a Japanese person wouldn't say anything like that. Because they have a much simpler sentence formation available to them:

If you want to say: Don't be embarrassed.
Then you can say: Not embarrassed.

For instance:

恥ずかしくないよ。
はずかしくない　よ。
Don't be embarrassed.
Literally: "not embarrassed / shy + よ."

Japanese, you simple beast. I love thee.

Let's add some context to that sentence:

恥ずかしくないよ、誰だってミスはするんだから。
はずかしくない　よ、 だれ　だって　ミス　は　する　んだ　から。
Don't be embarrassed. Everybody makes mistakes.
Literally: "not embarrassed / shy + よ, + everybody / anybody + mistake + は + do + んだ + because."

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Don't be scared.

Let's say you come across a cute little dog while walking in the park. It's so cute that you simply must pet it.

But it's scared of you!

So you might say:

怖くないよ、おいで。
こわくない　よ、 おいで。
Don't be scared. Come here (girl/boy).
Literally: "not scared + よ, + come here."

Interestingly, depending on the context, 怖くない could also mean "not scary."

The difference between adjectives like these are quite difficult for many Japanese students of English:
- boring VS bored
- scary VS scared
- interesting VS interested

They're difficult, because we don't need to separate them into two different words in Japanese.

怖い (こわい) can be "scared" or "scary."

We just use context when deciding how to translate it.

Oh, also, おいで means "come here," but only say it to animals, or to friends that you are very familiar with, as the nuance is that you're talking down to the listener.

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Or maybe you're a super tough guy with your girlfriend, and she's scared of something.

Then you could say:

俺がいるから怖くないよ。
おれ　が　いる　から　こわくない　よ。
I'm right here, so there's nothing to be afraid of.
Literally: "I + が + am + because + not scared + よ."

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It doesn't hurt, now, does it?

Ready to level up?

I'm sure you are, fellow language lover.

In the last example we had, the nuance is that 怖くない is not so much "don't be scared." Instead, it's a bit closer to "it's not scary."

Keeping that in mind, consider the following:

You're with a little kid, and he's running around like a madman. Not too surprisingly, he then trips, falls, and bangs his head on the ground.

It wasn't a serious fall. Maybe a bit jarring, but he's clearly fine. Still, he wasn't ready for life to betray him so brutally, so he starts crying.

You decide to comfort him, saying, "It doesn't hurt."

That would be?

痛くない、痛くない。
いたくない、 いたくない。
It doesn't hurt, now, does it?
Literally: "not painful, + not painful."

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Double Level-Up Action

If you want to emphasize that there is nothing to be embarrassed about, afraid of, etc., then you can insert なんか between the ～く and the ～ない. Like this:

恥ずかしくなんかないよ。
はずかしく　なんか　ない　よ。
There's nothing to be embarrassed about.
Literally: "embarrassed + なんか + is not + よ."

なんか can mean "things like..." or "or something like that..." It's not an easy word to translate into English.

You could also use でしょ instead of よ at the end of the sentence. This would sound a little less friendly, as the nuance is that the speaker thinks it's obvious that's there's nothing to be scared of, embarrassed about, etc. Let's look at a possible translation:

怖くなんかないでしょ。
こわく　なんか　ない　でしょ。
You're not afraid of that, are you?
Literally: "scared + なんか + is not + でしょ."

If you're not comfortable with でしょ yet, you might want to check out the series I did on でしょう／だろう:

[NDL #85] - This beat is fire, right? - Part I
[NDL #86] - This beat is fire, right? - Part II
[NDL #87] - This beat is fire, right? - Part III
[NDL #88] - This beat is fire, right? - Part III-b (detour)
[NDL #89] - This beat is fire, right? - Part IV
[NDL #90] - This beat is fire, right? - Part V

Don't worry if you haven't quite mastered these slight differences in nuances yet.

Personally, I have no idea how I figured this stuff out. Language exposure, I guess.