Japanese listening diary · Day 184

A Few Words of Thai Changed Everything

タイ語が聞こえて距離が縮まった
July 9, 2026
About a minuteSlow, natural Japanese
Real JapaneseN5–N3 friendly
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Today’s story きょうの あらすじ

There is a man I work with a few times a month, and in a month and a half we had never once talked. Yesterday I spotted him at my usual Thai restaurant speaking what sounded like Thai, so back in the meeting room I asked him about it — and we ended up deep in conversation about trips to Thailand and the best Thai food in Tokyo. One small thing closed the distance completely; now I am actually looking forward to that dreary meeting.

From the diary にっきから

Excerpt
No. 184Tokyo · morning
日本語 — Japanese
ひらがな — Hiragana
さいきん、つきにすうかい、しごとでいっしょになるおとこのひとがいます。かいわをすることもなく、もういっかげつはんがすぎました。きのう、おひるごはんのときに、いつものたいりょうりやさんでそのだんせいをみかけたんですが、かれはおみせのひととたいごではなしているようなきがしたんです。
· · · continues · · ·

Vocabulary ことば

見かけるみかけるto happen to see
聞き間違いききまちがいmishearing
盛り上がるもりあがるto get lively (in conversation)
距離が近づくきょりがちかづくto grow closer
憂鬱ゆううつgloomy; depressing

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