Japan Announces 30 Candidates for 2024 Buzzword Award
Listen to the story
Japan has a yearly award for new and popular words. It is called the Buzzword Award. Each year, people choose words that were very popular. This year, organizers picked 30 candidate words. One of the words is "metsu," which means "love something so much you feel destroyed." Another word is "Chiikawa." This is the name of a popular cute character.
A writer named Nakanishi Masao talked about this year's list. He said comedy catchphrases are not as common as before. In the past, many winning words came from TV comedians. Now, other types of words are more popular. People get new words from social media, sports, and TV shows. The final winner will be announced later this year. Many people in Japan wait for this news every year. It shows what was popular and important during the year.
Vocabulary5 words
- Buzzword Award
- a yearly prize for popular new words
- candidate
- a person or thing that might be chosen
- metsu
- a Japanese word meaning to love something so much you feel overwhelmed
- Chiikawa
- the name of a popular small cute cartoon character
- catchphrases
- short funny phrases that people repeat
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Quiz
Answer key
1. New and popular words 2. 30 3. They are less common now
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Fill-in-the-blank listening
Play the audio again and fill in the missing words as you listen.
Japan has a yearly award for new and popular _____. It is called the Buzzword _____. Each year, people choose words that were very popular. This year, organizers picked _____ candidate words. One of the words is "metsu," which means "love something so much you feel _____." Another word is "_____." This is the name of a popular cute character.
A writer named Nakanishi Masao talked about this year's list. He said comedy _____ are not as common as before. In the past, many winning words came from TV _____. Now, other types of words are more popular. People get new words from social media, sports, and TV shows. The final _____ will be announced later this year.
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