just for Japanese speakers — pronunciation and common errors
Pronunciation
Japanese phonology lacks the /dʒ/ sound followed by /ʌ/; the katakana transcription ジャスト (jasuto) uses the /dʒa/ mora. This leads speakers to produce the low central /a/ instead of the wedge /ʌ/.
Grammar
Japanese does not distinguish between the present perfect and the past tense via auxiliary verbs. Learners often use 'just' with a simple past tense ('I just arrived') where British English requires the present perfect ('I have just arrived') to indicate recent completion.
Collocations
The Japanese phrase ちょうどいい (chōdo ii) translates as 'just right'. Because 'just' acts as an intensifier here, speakers often over-apply it to other adjectives to mean 'exactly', producing 'just delicious' for 'really delicious'.