Nihongo to English

Send us Fan Mail Learn Japanese with Michael Allen CPA and Michelle MaliZaki on Nihongo to English. This week there’s an after-work drink and a necktie worn as a headband. The Genki lesson covers past tense verbs (〜ました / 〜ませんでした) and the particle も (“also”), including にも and でも, plus 先週 (last week) and 来週 (next week). Michael shares stories from teaching English in Tokamachi, J...

Send us Fan Mail Learn Japanese with Michael Allen CPA and Michelle MaliZaki on Nihongo to English, and celebrate with us! It's our one-year anniversary (一年記念), with 37 episodes and 2,500 downloads so far. This episode's Genki lesson covers how to say where things are, using koko, soko and asoko plus the location words mae (in front of), tonari (next to), ue (on top of), shita (under...

Send us Fan Mail Learn Japanese with Michael Allen CPA and Michelle MaliZaki on Nihongo to English! This episode tackles the Genki grammar behind あります and います — the existence verbs for non-living vs. living things — plus location words like migi, hidari, and tonari. Along the way: a snack-fueled tangent through goldfish crackers, imo kenpi, and a rice cracker shaped like a persimmon seed; t...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 35 of Nihongo to English , Michelle MaliZaki and Michael Allen CPA dive into the confusing—and sometimes hilarious—world of Japanese vocabulary and language differences. Michael talks about her experience staying overnight at a Buddhist monastery in Japan, including meditation, temple rituals, vegetarian meals, and the very important practice of temple cleaning. This le...

Send us Fan Mail Learn Japanese with Michael Allen CPA and Michelle MaliZaki on Nihongo to English! Fan-favorite guest Chris Crooks is back for round two, and things get delightfully weird. The gang unpacks the proverb ただより高いものはない ("nothing costs more than free") after Michael scores a wobbly free chair off the Buy Nothing app, drills Japanese verb conjugations and the word 新...

Send us Fan Mail Learn Japanese with Michael Allen CPA and Michelle MaliZaki on Nihongo to English's first-ever guest episode! Michael's longtime friend Chris Crooks joins for Genki house vocabulary (toire, ofuro, genkan, fusuma vs. shouji) and the aku/akeru transitive-intransitive pair — plus wasabi bean souvenirs, a monkey breaking into a Kyoto house, Keiro no Hi (Respect for the Aged...

Send us Fan Mail Michael Allen (CPA — Comedic Performance Actor) and Michelle MaliZaki are back with Episode 32 of Nihongo to English, the bilingual Japanese-English podcast that pairs real Genki grammar with real conversation. This episode kicks off with Michael's new 12-string guitar (used, $600, and worth every yen) and a detour into why so few comedians play guitar. From there the co-host...

Send us Fan Mail Learn Japanese with Genki on episode 31 of Nihongo to English! This episode dives into Japanese grammar with the ますか negative invitation form — masen ka, "won't you...?" — straight from Genki Lesson 3, covering verb conjugation, ni vs. de particles, and the iku vs. kuru distinction (why "come to my house" and "go to Kyoto" need different verbs...

Send us Fan Mail Learn Japanese with Genki on this episode of Nihongo to English! Hosts Michael Allen, CPA and Michelle MaliZaki tackle one of Japanese grammar's sneakiest mix-ups: tsukeru (to pickle), tsukau (to use), and tsukuru (to make) — three verbs that sound almost identical but mean very different things (ask Michael about his slightly vulgar mnemonic device). Along the way they make...

Send us Fan Mail Learn Japanese with Genki Chapter 3! In EP 29, Michelle MaliZaki and Michael Allen (CPA) tackle 〜ますか questions with verb practice straight from page 95 — 読みます, 飲みます, 見ます, します — and turn a textbook "guessing game" into a full-blown points competition. (Michael loses. There's a scoreboard now. Things are getting serious.) Before the Japanese grammar...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 28 – Iku vs. Kuru, Barcelona Croquettes & The Daruma Gets an Eye Learn Japanese and discover Japanese culture with hosts Michael Allen (CPA) and Michelle MaliZaki in Episode 28 of Nihongo to English — the bilingual podcast where somehow, you always walk away knowing more Japanese than when you started. This week, Michelle is back from a family trip to Europe — Dublin,...

Send us Fan Mail Want to learn Japanese while laughing? Welcome to Nihongo to English — the bilingual Japanese-English podcast where Japanese culture, language, and pure chaos collide. In Episode 27, hosts Michael Allen (CPA) and Michelle MaliZaki take a break from the Genki book and go full Japan travel mode. Michael is calling in live from Arizona, and Michelle is fresh off a golf tournament, Ca...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 26 of Nihongo to English , hosts Michael Allen (CPA) and Michelle MaliZaki are back with more bilingual chaos — and somehow, you're going to learn Japanese. This week, they crack open Genki page 95 and dive into ませんか (masen ka) — the surprisingly polite (and surprisingly negative) way to invite someone to do something. Won't you listen? (See what we did th...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 25 of Nihongo to English , hosts Michael Allen (CPA) and Michelle MaliZaki dive into one of the most essential — and most confusing — parts of Japanese grammar: particles. They break down を、で、に、and へ in the most un-boring way possible, with real examples, laughs, and zero judgment. Along the way, they recap Michelle's wildly successful Stationery Park festiv...

Send us Fan Mail Learn Japanese verb conjugation the fun way with Michael Allen CPA and Michelle MaliZaki! We break down ru-verbs, u-verbs, and irregular verbs (suru & kuru) from the Genki textbook — plus bilingual small talk about mochi, scams, and Golden Week. New episodes every 2nd, 12th & 22nd.    Michael Allen CPAとMichelle MaliZakiと一緒に楽しく日本語の動詞活用を学ぼう！Genki教科書か...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 23 of Nihongo To English, Michelle and Michael somehow turn a Japanese lesson into a deep discussion about multiplication tables, tatami mats, biscuit songs, and the dangers of sticking your whole body out of a moving car in Genki textbook illustrations. This episode covers: ✨ Japanese math vocabulary and “kuku” multiplication tables ✨ Differences between Japanese and...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 22 of Nihongo To English , Michelle MaliZaki and Michael Allen CPA dive into one of the most confusing Japanese pronunciation sounds and why it’s somewhere in between. If you’ve ever wondered how to actually say ふ (fu), this is your episode. We also flip the script on our usual format with a fun reverse vocabulary quiz—English to Japanese—covering everyday words like f...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 21 of Nihongo To English , Michelle MaliZaki and Michael Allen talk about Japanese trains, Shinkansen names, “Thing Japan,” The Little Engine That Could, and why Genki’s “making a date” chapter may be more dramatic than expected. This episode includes: Japanese words like nozomi , hikari , kodama , and tetsudou a conversation about Shinkansen, hope traveling faster than...

Send us Fan Mail Michelle MaliZaki and Michael Allen (GoatVsFish) talk about viral Japanese meme culture, Momotaro, Japanese folktales, and funny restaurant roleplay in Episode 20 of Nihongo To English No Show . This bilingual comedy podcast episode wanders through Michelle’s songwriting homework, her song “Nap Time by nap8sta” becoming the official song of National Napping Day, the Momotaro meme...

Send us Fan Mail 🎟️ Stationery Park tickets + info (May 16–17 • Santa Monica): More info 🛍️ More than 60 vendors! 🎖️ Each ticket comes with a Stamp Rally Bingo and everybody wins a surprise prize! If you love pens, paper, stickers, stamps, notebooks, fountain pens, and ink , this bonus episode is for you. Michelle MaliZaki and Michael Allen (GoatVsFish) talk about Stationery Park , a whimsical sta...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 19 of Nihongo to English , Michael Allen CPA and Michelle MaliZaki talk about tobacco festivals, sister cities, heavy metal, mosh pits, ducks, and college majors before working through more Genki Japanese practice.  This episode includes: beginner Japanese practice with simple yes/no questions Genki vocabulary about school, majors, years in college, and belongings a liv...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 18 of Nihongo to English , Michael Allen and Michelle MaliZaki talk about California teeth, Hammurabi, Dragon Ball Z, fake Vegeta figures, Japanese straw hats, and vegetables before getting back into Genki Japanese practice . This episode includes: beginner Japanese practice with koko / soko / asoko learning how to describe where things are in more natural Japanese no-p...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 17 of Nihongo to English , Michael Allen and Michelle MaliZaki talk about Japanese sake, aliens, Earthlings, newspapers, baseball, and Dodgers parking prices before circling back to Genki Japanese practice . This episode includes: beginner Japanese practice with kono / sono / ano price questions and shopping-style vocabulary from Genki a fun conversation about sake , sn...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 16 of Nihongo to English , Michael Allen and Michelle MaliZaki fall into a “ki” spiral— kitte (stamp), kite (to cut / “cut and…”), and somehow kitty —which turns into a chaotic pitch for a Hello Kitty x Garfield crossover (and the question nobody asked: what if they dated?). Then we jump into Genki Lesson 6 practice: Shopping + prices vocabulary (hat, shoes, bag, wallet...

Send us Fan Mail In Episode 15 of Nihongo to English , we dive into Japanese Valentine’s Day culture —from giri choco (obligation chocolate) to the panic of White Day reciprocity. Comedians Michelle MaliZaki and Michael Allen (Goat VS Fish) also bounce from “nee / Knights who say Ni!” into a surprisingly deep (and very funny) cultural breakdown. Then it’s Genki time : we crack open Genki (pp. 66–6...