This article will give you all of the knowledge you need on the Japanese word jin, including its Japanese definition and translation, example sentences, related expressions and more!
What does jin mean?
Jin (人, じん) is a non-standalone word that means person or people in Japanese. More specifically, jin is used to denote a person’s nationality or race.
To state someone’s nationality, you simply add the country name to jin.
As you probably know, the word for Japan is nihon (日本、にほん). Accordingly, nihonjin (日本人) stands for a Japanese person. This rule works for all nationalities.
Country name + Jin = Nationality
Below, let’s take a look at some example sentences.
To make it easier for you, I have written each sentence in full Japanese kanji on the first line, followed by roman letters (romaji), and hiragana, with the English meaning coming last.
ジョンは何人なの?
John wa nanijin nano?
じょんはなにじんなの?
Where is John from? (lit: what person is John?)
彼はアメリカ人です。
Kare wa amerika jin desu.
かれはあめりかじんです。
He’s American.
僕の父は韓国人です。
Boku no chichi wa kankoku jin desu.
ぼくのちちはかんこくじんです。
My father is Korean.
スペイン人は話しやすい印象がある。
Spein jin wa hanashiyasui inshou ga aru.
すぺいんじんははなしやすいいんしょうがある。
I get the impression that Spanish people are easy to talk to.
Jin: Can also refer to race
Japanese also use jin to describe a person’s race. It’s worth nothing that, unlike English, there is little sensitivity over such terms. Perhaps the reason is that Japan remains a largely homogenous country.
日本にはあまり黒人がいない。
Nihon ni wa amari kokujin ga inai.
にほんにはあまりこくじんがいない。
There are not many black people in Japan.
白人だからといって必ずしも英語ができる訳ではないよ！
Hakujin dakara to itte kanarazushimo eigo ga dekiru wake de wa nai yo!
はくじんだからといってかならずしもえいごができるわけではないよ。
Just because someone is white, it doesn’t necessarily mean they can speak English!
アジア人は眼鏡をかけている人が多い
Note: The “人” kanji above is read as “hito”, which refers to people in the more general sense.
Ajia jin wa megane wo kaketeiru hito ga ooi.
あじあじんはめがねをかけているひとがおおい。
Many Asian people wear glasses.
Rohan's favorite resource for learning Japanese is JapanesePod101, one of the best tools for getting started with the language. Sign up for a free lifetime account here.
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