Japanese Slang: ヤバイ

Daaang son, what's the matter???

This is really common nowadays as a slang used among teenagers to people in their 30's,40's and even 50's. 

The term ヤバイ. The interesting thing is that it contains various meanings and can be used in very different situations. The meaning also seems to differ among the various age groups. 

• According to the Asahi Newspaper, a recent national survey about the Japanese language found that 90% of teenagers related the word ヤバイto something positive and great. 

Let's take a look at an example. 

Maria: ねえ、最近できたお菓子屋さんに行ってみた？

　　Hey, have you been to the sweet shop that just opened? 

Naomi: うんうん、そこのクッキーは本当にヤバかった！！

　　Oh yeah, the cookies there were just amazing!! 

ヤバイ　ー　amazing, great, splendid, superb, wonderful,awesome 

It can carry such feelings and used in situations when one wants to express positive feelings. 

It's pretty much the same to American slangs such as " That's so sick!! " and " That's stupid!! "

ヤバイ can also be used to express excitement. 

Maria: 明日さ、AKB48の誰かが家の学校に来るらしいよ！！

　　　Someone from the AKB48 is going to visit our school tomorrow!!

Naomi: ええ！！ヤバ！！楽しみ！！

            What!? Seriously?? That's so awesome, I can't wait!!

Also notice that ヤバイ doesn't necessarily include the イ. In fact, reducing ヤバイ to ヤバ gives more emphasis on the certain emotion one wants to express. 

• In contrast to the first example, ヤバイ can also be used to express negative feelings although this may not be common among teens and young adults nowadays. 

Hiro : ねえ、顔色悪そうだけどどうかしたの？

      You don't look so good, did something happen?

Ren:   本屋で万引きしてしまったの。きっとカメラに移っていたから警察に逮捕される。

      I stole some books at the bookshop. I'm pretty sure I was caught on camera so the police will arrest me. 

Hiro: ええ！それ結構ヤバくねえか！？

      Oh damn!! That's pretty bad (isn't it) !!

It's used when one knows that something bad is happening, or going to happen in the future. 

It usually is used when someone hears something bad for the first time. And ususally whatever that's bad is quite seriously bad. 

Kuni: 彼女は彼と別れてから誰とも話してないの。とてもショックを受けているらしいの。

　　　She hasn't talked to anyone ever since she split up with her boyfriend. She seems to be very hurt. 

Hiro: ええ！！それヤバイね。

 What!! That's not good at all.  

Check this out for more info.