So, you want to encourage someone in Japanese. How would you say “Good Luck! ” or “You can do it! ” in Japanese? Well,  in this blog post, I would like to cover some of the words of encouragement in Japanese. When you are cheering someone, these are the expressions you can use. Read on!

You can do it!  

is expressed as ~

君なら出来るよ！（きみなら　できるよ！）Kimi nara dekiruyo!

Kimi  is often used for someone who is at the same social level or age. Between friends, “kimi” is often used as well.

You can also say the person’s name such as

ひろしなら出来るよ！（ひろしなら　できるよ！）Hiroshi nara dekiruyo!

ひろこなら出来るよ！（ひろこなら　できるよ！）Hiroko nara dekiruyo!

 

Good Luck! 

In Japanese, we often say:

頑張れ！（がんばれ）- Ganbare! or

頑張ってね！（がんばってね）- Ganbattene!

when you want to wish someone good luck.  You can also use the expression such as

頑張ってこい！（がんばってこい！）- Ganbatte koi! (This expression is often used by men)

頑張っておいで！（がんばっておいで！）- Ganbatte oide! (This expression is often used by parents to children or teachers to students)

 

Don’t give up!  is expressed as ~

諦めないで！（あきらめないで）-Akiramenaide! (soft spoken, sounds almost like you are saying “Please don’t give up!” Often used by girls or women.)

諦めるな！（あきらめるな！）-Akirameruna! (often used by boys or men)

 

Never too Late! is expressed as ~

遅すぎることはない！（おそすぎることはない！）-Ososugiru kotowa nai!

 

Don’t think too hard! is expressed as ~

考えすぎないで！（かんがえすぎないで！）-Kangaesuginaide (soft spoken, sounds almost like you are saying “Please don’t think too hard!” Often used by girls or women.)

考えすぎるな！（かんがえすぎるな！）- Kangaesugiruna (often used by boys or men)

 

It will be ok! is expressed as ~

きっとうまくいくよ！-Kitto umaku ikuyo!

きっとうまくいくぞ！- Kitto umaku ikuzo!(Often used by men, mainly from father to children or male teacher to students.)

 

That’s so cool! is expressed as ~

素敵！（すてき）Suteki! – (often used by women.)

凄いな！（すごいな）Sugoina! (used by everyone)

 

You are the best! is expressed as ~

あなた最高！（あなたさいこう！）-Anata saiko! (often used by women)

おまえは最高だ！（おまえはさいこうだ！）-Omaewa saikoda! (often used by men, often from father to children)

 

As you can see above, sometimes the way we say certain words of encouragement differs depending on if you are male or female.  Some sentences are more feminine than the other.