すごいじゃん。

English Translation

Brilliant!

What exactly is the connotation of じゃん? My understanding is that it’s used as a negative to ask for confirmation (じゃない), just as “isn’t it,” is used in English, as in, “it’s awesome, isn’t it.”

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@ericaw
In a linguistic term, じゃん is for a “tag question” (that is …, isn’t it?).

The standard formal form is 〜ではありませんか?, ではありませんか!! or ではありませんか… So, じゃん isn’t always a pure question to seek an answer or confirmation.

じゃん used to be a dialect around Nagoya area but already widely spread to the East part of Japan including Tokyo metropolitan areas. So, it’s quite common.

There are several connotations and I don’t think I can fully cover all of them.

Surprise

頑張ったじゃん! (= 私はあなたが頑張ったと思いますが、あなたもそう思いませんか?) = Wow, you worked very hard, didn’t you? I’m amazed!

これ、いいじゃん。(= これは良いものですね。あなたもそう思いませんか?) = That’s dumb good!

Upset

嫌だって言ったじゃん! (= 私は嫌だと言ったではありませんか! ) = Didn’t you hear that I said “no”, did you?

Persuasive

これからじゃん。( = これからではありませんか?) = That’s not the end but just a beginning. You still have a chance from now on, don’t you?

Disappointment

あーあ、台無しじゃん… (= あぁ、これでは台無しではありませんか…) = Oh my gosh. It’s a complete disaster…

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