All three of these words \u2013 totemo, chou and meccha, mean \u201cvery\u201d in English. As in \u2013 \u201cIt is very confusing trying to figure out when to use which word\u201d. In order to truly master a language, it\u2019s important to understand in what context to use a word, and what connotation it holds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Japanese is just like English, there are so many ways to say very. In English we say things like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This cake is sooooo good”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You are extremely late to work today”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“That movie was totally awesome”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do we use these three words in Japanese?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Meccha \u3081\u3063\u3061\u3083<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Meccha originated in the Kansai area and became known through Kansai-born entertainers spreading it on television. It’s casual slang, often used be younger people to express “very” in a more casual way. You would not use this in a business scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example usage of meccha:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3081\u3063\u3061\u3083\u5b09\u3057\u3044 You might say something like “Wow, I love the present, I’m so happy!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3053\u306e\u3000\u30b1\u30fc\u30ad\u306f\u3000\u3081\u3063\u3061\u3083\u3000\u304a\u3044\u3057\u3044\u3067\u3059\u3002 Chou \u8d85<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chou is used in pretty much the same way as meccha. It is a casual word used amongst friends to place emphasis on something. For example, a friend may exclaim that her friend\u2019s new baby is \u201cchou kawaii\u201d (super cute). In general, chou is often used more by females than males, especially those under 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example usage of chou:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3042\u306e\u3000\u5973\u306e\u5b50\u306f\u3000\u3061\u3087\u3046\u304b\u308f\u3044\u3044\uff01 Totemo \u3068\u3066\u3082<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Totemo is what beginner Japanese learners are often taught first to use to say “very”. But just like we don’t actually use “very” all that often in English, Japanese people find totemo to be too basic and lacking emphasis. If in doubt, or in a more business-like situation, you should stick with totemo as it is less casual than chou or meccha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Example usage of totemo:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3042\u306e\u82b1\u306f\u3001\u3068\u3066\u3082\u7dba\u9e97\u3067\u3059\u3088\u306d\u3002 Or<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u3053\u306e\u3000\u30b1\u30fc\u30ad\u306f\u3000\u3068\u3066\u3082\u3000\u304a\u3044\u3057\u3044\u3067\u3059\u3002 This cake is very delicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have been playing it safe and sticking to totemo, why not try using chou or meccha instead? If you\u2019re taking classes at Toranomon Language School, our teachers will be glad to practice with you, or check any example sentences you might want to write for practice.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Learn three different ways to say “very” in Japanese – chou, totemo, meccha<\/p>","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":10742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[93,67,21,92,68,91,90,24,94,95],"class_list":["post-10741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learn-japanese","tag-chou","tag-japanese","tag-japanese-basics","tag-japanese-very","tag-jlpt","tag-jlpt-n4","tag-jlpt-n5","tag-learn-japanese","tag-meccha","tag-totemo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10743,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10741\/revisions\/10743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toranomon-ls.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Meccha ureshii
So happy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kono keeki wa meccha oishii des.
This cake is so yummy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ano onnonoko wa meccha kawaii!
That girl is super cute!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ano hana wa totemo kirei des yo ne.
That flower is very pretty isn’t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kono keeki wa totemo oishii des.<\/p>\n\n\n\n