ネイマール’s transfer in Japanese news

Neymar’s transfer to PSG didn’t go unnoticed in Japan, even if the article that I found on Asahi website is concise and factual. But, short articles are accessible to me, who is still struggling to read the news in Japanese.

Read the article

We can learn interesting expressions through this article. For example, if you want to say that something is the most / best / etc. in history, you can say 史上・しじょう.

As much as you can say 退職・たいしょく for retirement, 退院・たいいん to leave the hospital or 退学・たいがく when you leave (or have to leave) school, you can say 退団・たいだん when you leave your club. 退団 means “to leave a group”, and I guess that it can be used in different contexts.

The news of Neymar’s transfer was announced on the “Official Twitter” of Barcelona which is 公式・こうしき ツイッター. Neymar’s agent, who is called a 代理人・だいりにん, announced Neymar’s transfer 移籍・いせき to France’s PSG.

The article then reminds us that Neymar is an outstanding 屈指の・くっしの player and that he is one of the “corner” of the trio formed with Messi and Suarez: トリオの一角・いっかく. Is a trio thought of like a triangle in Japanese 🤔 ?or is it just because Messi, Suarez and Neymar form a triangle on the field? 🤔

Then comes an interesting word: 新天地・しんてんち. This word means “a new world”, “a new environment”, “a new field of activity” and is used for example to bid someone farewell and wish him good luck in his new life. In our context, the 新天地 is the PSG, Neymar’s new club. The article says that Neymar will become the symbol 象徴・しょうちょうof a club that aims for 図る・はかる more popularity 知名度・ちめいど at an international level 世界的・せかいてき.

That’s it for this article. I hope that I understood it correctly and that I will be able to read the news in Japanese someday!


I’m learning Japanese, Korean and Chinese to read mystery novels and play video games in these languages.

Learning languages has always been one of my favourite hobbies, but I’m not a social person, I don’t like to meet new people and make friends, this is just not me. I keep hearing that languages are meant for communication, that we have to actively use them, talk with natives, etc. and for a long time, I thought it was weird to learn languages just to read books, with zero interest in communication.

Now I don’t really care what people think, and this blog helped me a lot to stop doubting myself and just do what I enjoy doing.