Japanese vocabulary list: language, reading, writing, and translation

In this vocabulary list I’d like to give some words related to language, reading, writing, and translation. A majority of these are words I have seen and/or used myself.

I purposefully left out technical grammatical terms (like 述語), but I may make another list for them someday.

Note: as usual, many of the verbs in 〜する (~suru) form can also be used in a noun form without the する. For example, 読書 from the verb 読書する) can be used as a noun.

• 言語 (gengo): language
• 言語学 (gengogaku): lingustics (‘the study of language’)
• 何語 (nanigo): what language (ex: 何語ですか？ “What language is that?”)
• 語源 (gogen): word origin
• 言葉 (kotoba): a word, words (sometimes used to refer to language in general)
• 単語 (tango): word(s)   (often used in context of vocabulary word(s) that are studied)
• 語 (go): word (a more formal term that can be seen in places like dictionaries)
• 文字 (moji): letter
• 〜字 (~ji): counter for letters (in Japanese letters are counted instead of words, ex: 百字 or １００字 = 100 letters)
• 文 (bun): sentence
• 文章 (bunshou): text (like a block of text on a page, etc.)
• 句（ku): a phrase (anything from a word to a sentence. I have seen those mostly used in formal contexts like wikipedia, etc.)
• 段落 (danraku): paragraph
• 行 (gyou): line (ex: 一行目  “first line”)
• 句読点 (kutouten): punctuation
• 文法 (bunpou): grammar
• 構文 (koubun): sentence structure
• 例文 (reibun): sample sentence (also 例, “example”)
• ページ (peeji) page  (can also be written 頁)
• 読む (yomu) read
• 読み直す (yominaosu): reread
• 拝読する (haidoku suru): read (humble)
• 読破する（dokuha suru): finish reading
• 読み進む (yomisusumu): make progress reading
• 必読 (hitsudoku): “must read” (a term that is used to say a book is really good)
• 朗読 (roudoku): read out loud (see this for more info)
• 購読 (koudoku): subscription (like for a magazine)
• 立ち読みする(tachiyomi suru): browse or read while standing up (often used in the context of reading in a bookstore before purchasing the product)
• パラ読みする (parayomi suru): peruse (read through something quickly)
• 未読 (midoku): unread (like an email)
• 積読 (tsundoku): buying books without reading them (積む is a verb that means something like ‘pile up’)
• 読書する (dokusho suru): reading books (often used to describe reading as a hobby)
• 読み手 (yomite): reader (the side of the person doing the reading, often used to contrast against the person doing the writing)
• 読者 (dokusha): reader(s) (often used in referring to the readers of a certain book or series, 対象読者 = target audience)
• 物語 (monogatari): story, plot
• ストーリー (sutoorii): story, plot  (also プロット）
• (登場)人物 (toujou jinbutsu): character(s)   (also キャラクター or キャラ)
• 突破 (toppa): breakthrough (often used to refer exceeding a number of copies of a book sold or sales figures)
• 語彙 (goi): vocabulary
• 語彙力 (goiryoku): vocabulary ability (ex: 語彙力が乏しい “Have a poor vocabulary”)
• 粗筋 (arasuji): plot summary, outline (like what you read on the back of a book)
• ジャンル (janru): genre
• 書く (kaku): write
• 書き直す (kakinaosu): rewrite
• 作者 (sakusha): writer or author (often used to refer to the writer of a specific book, ex: この本の作者)
• 著者 (chosha): writer or author (similar to 作者)
• 作家 (sakka): writer, novelist
• 小説 (shousetsu): novel, short story
• 短編 (tanpen): short work (短編小説 = short story)
• 長編 (chouhen): long work
• 時代小説 (jidai shousetsu): period/historical novel or short story
• 小説家 (shousetsuka): novelist
• 原稿 (genkou): manuscript (like when writing a novel, etc.)
• 執筆 する(shippitsu suru): write (more formal term)
• 執筆活動 (shippitsu katsudou): writing activities
• 作成する (sakusei suru): compose, make (a list, etc.)
• 読み書き (yomikaki): reading and writing
• 執筆者 (shippitsusha): writer (I don’t hear this word very often, but including it for completeness. Also 筆者)
• 編集する(henshuu suru): edit
• 編集者 (henshuusha): editor
• 校正する (kousei suru): edit, proofread
• 推敲する (suikou suru): to polish (a manuscript, etc.)
• 訂正する (teisei suru): correct
• 指摘する (shiteki suru): point out (a mistake, etc.)
• 下書き（shitagaki): draft
• 前書き (maegaki): preface (often written in hiragana)
• 後書き (atogaki): afterword (often written in hiragana)
• 公開する (koukai suru): release (publicly, like on a blog)
• 出版社 (shuppannsha): publisher
• 発行する (hakkou suru): publish
• 駄作 (dasaku): humble term for an author to refer to his or her work
• 拙作（sessaku): humble term for an author to refer to his or her work
• 名作 (meisaku): great or famous work
• 古文 (kobun): classic work (of literature)
• 作品 (sakuhin): work (of art, or literature, etc.)
• 文学 (bungaku): literature
• 評論家 (hyouronka): critic (often someone who does this professionally)
• 解説 (kaisetsu): explanation, comment
• 作文 (sakubun): essay, composition (like a school assignment)
• 感想 (kansou): opinion, impression (how one feels about a work)
• 感想文 (kansoubun): text describing how one feels about a work (ex: a review of a book)
• 卵 (tamago): literally “egg”, but can be used to refer to someone who is training to be a certain thing (like a novelist)
• 解釈する (kaishaku suru): interpret (make a guess at the meaning of something)
• 通訳する (tsuuyaku suru): interpret (translate in real time, as in a conversation between two people speaking different languages)
• 通訳者 (tsuuyakusha): interpreter
• 翻訳する (honyaku suru): translate
• 翻訳者 (honyakusha): translator
• 訳出する (yakushutsu suru): translate (sounds more formal, I have only seen this in an academic article)
• 直訳 (chokuyaku): direct/literal translation
• 意訳 (iyaku): a translation that does not focus on each word independently, but rather the overall meeting the passage tries to express
• 誤訳 (goyaku): mistranslation
• 名訳 (meiyaku): excellent/famous translation
• 原文 (genbun): original text
• 和訳 (wayaku): Japanese translation
• 英訳 (eiyaku): English translation
• 和文 (wabun): Japanese text
• 英文 (eibun): English text
• 和英翻訳 (waei honyaku): Japanese to English translation
• 英和翻訳 (eiwa honyaku): English to Japanese translation
• 完成させる (kansei saseru): complete
• 文脈 (bunmyaku): context
• 語順 (gojun): word order