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Environmental Issues

The core Japanese words for talking about the environment and looking after it, from nature and the sea to recycling and reducing rubbish. Recognise the script, then write about an environmental issue in English.

⏱️ 15 min 🎯 13 activities Teachers Not yet rated Students Not yet rated

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What you'll cover

Talking about the planet 🌍

Japanese is written with **kanji**, **hiragana** and **katakana**, and this module gives you core words to talk about **the environment** and looking after it. You will learn words like **かんきょう / 環境 (kankyou)**, the environment, and **リサイクル (risaikuru)**, recycling, then practise recognising them before writing about an environmental issue in English.

The words you need 🔑

Learn each word. Where a word has kanji, the hiragana and the kanji are both shown, then the romaji and the meaning:

Match each word to its meaning 🔗

  • かんきょう / 環境 (kankyou)
  • しぜん / 自然 (shizen)
  • リサイクル (risaikuru)
  • ごみ (gomi)
  • the environment
  • nature
  • recycling
  • rubbish

What does it mean? 🎯

What does the Japanese word リサイクル (risaikuru) mean in English?

  • Recycling
  • The environment
  • Nature
  • Rubbish

Kanji and katakana 🔤

Notice how these words are written. **環境 (kankyou)**, the environment, and **自然 (shizen)**, nature, use **kanji**, the characters borrowed long ago from Chinese. But **リサイクル (risaikuru)**, recycling, is written in **katakana**, the script Japanese uses for words borrowed from other languages, here from the English 'recycle'. Spotting katakana is a clue that a word is a loanword.

Which are about the environment? ✅

Select the TWO Japanese words that are about the environment.

  • リサイクル (risaikuru)
  • かんきょう / 環境 (kankyou)
  • ほん / 本 (hon)
  • きっぷ / 切符 (kippu)

Nature and looking after it ♻️

Some words name the natural world; others name how we look after it.

Complete the sentences 🧱

The world of plants, animals, seas and mountains is _____. Everything around us that we must look after is the _____. Sorting waste so it can be used again is _____. The waste we throw away is _____. Two beautiful parts of the natural world are the sea and the _____.

nature environment recycling rubbish mountains pollution transport family holiday ticket

Spot the environment words 🖍️

An interactive activity.

Choose the right word 🌱

Which Japanese word means 'recycling'?

  • リサイクル (risaikuru)
  • かんきょう / 環境 (kankyou)
  • しぜん / 自然 (shizen)
  • ほん / 本 (hon)

Writing about the environment 📝

You can now recognise the key words. In the exam you might **write about an environmental issue**, and you can weave these terms in. A strong answer names something to **protect** (such as the しぜん / 自然, nature, or the かんきょう / 環境, environment) and an **action** (such as リサイクル, recycling, or reducing ごみ, rubbish).

Help the environment 🤝

An interactive activity.

Write about an issue ✍️

An interactive activity.