N2 · 41 words
Katakana words for work and the news
Borrowed words that look familiar and have often moved on.
Katakana words look easy because you can sound them out, and that is exactly the trap. Many shifted in meaning on the way: クレーム is a complaint, not a claim; ユニーク is quirky or original rather than one of a kind; ルーズ means sloppy, above all about time. At this level they are mostly the vocabulary of work and the media, and often stand next to a native word with the same meaning: メリット beside 利点, which is more formal in tone.
The words
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This list belongs to How Japanese builds its words — seven lists and 282 words that can also be practised as a whole.
Practise this list
Multiple choice and gaps, drawn from exactly these 41 words. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.