What's the most common way to say you are bad at something?


Would I just use わるい？ Or is there a more specific word for being unskilled at
something?

私の日本語は悪いです。< Would something like this suffice?




You have several ways to say "I'm bad at Japanese". The most common (and
direct) ways to say it would be:

>   * 私は日本語が[下手]{へた}です。( _lit._ As for me, Japanese is poor.)
>   * 私の日本語は下手です。( _lit._ My Japanese is poor.)
>

悪い is a literal translation of the English "bad". In Japanese, you don't use
悪い to say you're bad/unskillful at something.

You could also express it as "I'm not good at Japanese":

>   * 私は日本語が[上手]{じょうず}ではありません。( _lit._ As for me, Japanese is not
> good/skillful.)
>   * 私は日本語が[上手]{うま}くありません。( _lit_. As for me, Japanese is not good.)
>

Depending on what you're bad at, you could also use [苦手]{にがて}, which is closer
to "weak":

>   * 私は[料理]{りょうり}が苦手です。(≂ 私は料理が下手です。)  
>  I'm bad at cooking.
>   * 私は[泳]{およ}ぎが(or[水泳]{すいえい}が)苦手です。(≂ 私は泳ぎが/水泳が下手です。)  
>  I'm bad at swimming.
>   * 私は数学が苦手です。(but not 私は数学が下手です。)  
>  I'm weak at maths.
>   * 私は英語が苦手です。(When talking about English as a school subject, use 苦手. You
> don't use 下手 for school subjects.)  
>  I'm weak at English.
>

This time you can rephrase them as "not good/strong at~~" using [得意]{とくい}:

>   * 私は料理が得意ではありません。  
>  I'm not good at cooking.
>   * 私は数学が得意ではありません。(but not 私は数学が上手ではありません。)  
>  I'm not strong at maths.
>




You have several ways to say "I'm bad at Japanese". The most common (and
direct) ways to say it would be:

>   * 私は日本語が[下手]{へた}です。( _lit._ As for me, Japanese is poor.)
>   * 私の日本語は下手です。( _lit._ My Japanese is poor.)
>

悪い is a literal translation of the English "bad". In Japanese, you don't use
悪い to say you're bad/unskillful at something.

You could also express it as "I'm not good at Japanese":

>   * 私は日本語が[上手]{じょうず}ではありません。( _lit._ As for me, Japanese is not
> good/skillful.)
>   * 私は日本語が[上手]{うま}くありません。( _lit_. As for me, Japanese is not good.)
>

Depending on what you're bad at, you could also use [苦手]{にがて}, which is closer
to "weak":

>   * 私は[料理]{りょうり}が苦手です。(≂ 私は料理が下手です。)  
>  I'm bad at cooking.
>   * 私は[泳]{およ}ぎが(or[水泳]{すいえい}が)苦手です。(≂ 私は泳ぎが/水泳が下手です。)  
>  I'm bad at swimming.
>   * 私は数学が苦手です。(but not 私は数学が下手です。)  
>  I'm weak at maths.
>   * 私は英語が苦手です。(When talking about English as a school subject, use 苦手. You
> don't use 下手 for school subjects.)  
>  I'm weak at English.
>

This time you can rephrase them as "not good/strong at~~" using [得意]{とくい}:

>   * 私は料理が得意ではありません。  
>  I'm not good at cooking.
>   * 私は数学が得意ではありません。(but not 私は数学が上手ではありません。)  
>  I'm not strong at maths.
>

