Do we ever really say the word delicious? Yeah, sometimes but not like the Japanese do, so a direct or literal translation is not always the best way to go when translating. You must take the translation in the spirit of the law not the letter of the law in all things... amen...
ahem...
"But I thought oishii was the word for delicious, I mean good." IT IS! Use your intuition and instinct to an extent but learning vocabulary is all about opening wide all our senses and developing sensitivity in them to words. You need to smell words, taste words, feel the words, not just see or hear the words; how words are spoken, from a given context, whether or not a man or a woman is speaking them, whether or not they are royal or sacred words, it all can be noted, observed, heard, tasted, touched it all matters as to the meaning of the communication. Like in the movie, TOTAL RECALL - "Open your mind", and although broad is the gate open to you know where umm ... I still repeat, "Open your mind" because you will learn a lot more by being a very very receptive individual. Not gullible just open to all possibles. So in short, oishii is the usual word to say to someone when you want to say it is good, but if you want to say umm umm good then say UMAI! Which is also the adjective for excellent or skilled, very good etc.
