If I wanted to say “I am busy today” I would say 今日忙しい .
But can I say the same thing about places? Like if I wanted to say “The store is not busy right now” would it still make sense to say 今お店は忙しくない . Or should I use the adjective 賑やか ?
Which one is more commonly used and what is the main difference between them?
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AFAIK, 忙しい is an adjective that means to be busy with an activity, so you’re busy cause you have stuff to do. That sentence you made 今お店は忙しくない would mean the store is busy in the sense of not being able to service you right now, for many possible reasons.
賑やか however, means busy in the sense of crowd. It means to be full of something, to be lively, crowded in a sense, bustling. A store can be crowded **and** busy, or could be crowded **and** providing services just fine, thus not busy in that sense.
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Feel free to correct me if it’s incorrect tho
忙しい is busy people or times.
賑やか is busy places.
クリスマスは忙しくて、賑やかな場所へ行って人を見るのが好きです。Christmas is a busy time, so i like to go to busy places and watch the crowds.
maybe some example sentences would help?
https://massif.la/ja/search?q=%E8%B3%91%E3%82%84%E3%81%8B
https://massif.la/ja/search?q=%E5%BF%99%E3%81%97%E3%81%84
Yes, it makes sense. 忙しい is more commonly used. 賑やか is also used but i think it sounds closer to “flourish” or “lively”. 賑やか sounds more positive than 忙しい.
This kind of depends on the nuance you are trying to convey.
If you are telling someone a store is busy/not busy to let them know if there are a lot of people there or a long wait we would usually use 今お店は混んでいる・混んでいない or conversely お店は空いている・空いていない. In the context of a store 忙しい means that the store and those that work there are busy but the nuance is directed inward and doesn’t necessarily mean that the experience of the customer would be that the store is busy. That being said, the following sentences are common:
A: 今から行こうと思っているんだけど、お店忙しい？(We’re thinking of going- is the store busy?)（is also commonly said 入れるかな？)
B: 全然忙しくないよ！(Not at all!) (暇だよ！）
A: 最近お店が忙しくてさ。(The store has been so busy lately.)
B: 忙しいのはいいことじゃん。(Being busy is a good thing.)
賑やか is a word that has more or less exclusively a positive nuance which in the Japanese language means you do not use it in reference to yourself or your own place of work- but it is appropriate in some instances as a compliment to others. 賑やか doesn’t mean busy so much as lively.
A: 賑やかな街だね。(What a lively town.)
B: 最近流行ってるからね。(It’s been really popular lately.)
A: お店すごい賑わってるじゃん！(The shop is so busy/lively!)
B: 本当にありがたいです。(We’re very grateful.)
A note about 忙しい：we are taught to be sparing using this word because it is inelegant and can come off as either braggy or ungrateful. In most instances it would be best/most polite to avoid using this word to talk about yourself and carefully when talking about others. A couple examples of ways to substitute when speaking about your own plans:
「今日は忙しい」I’m busy today. → 今日は予定があります
「クリスマスはやっぱり仕事が忙しくて…」Work is really busy around Christmas time → クリスマスはやっぱり繁忙期で…
There are also ways that busy is used in English that it would not be in Japanese.
A: Are you going to James’ birthday party?
B: I’m busy that day. (We would not say その日は忙しくて but rather 予定がある or 先約があって)
忙しい is a vague word so when you decline invitations with it, it sounds like you didn’t think about what your actual plans are and just declined because you didn’t want to go.
These are all general ‘rules’ so you may find Japanese people who are very willy-nilly with the word 忙しい even in mixed company but it is a commonly taught manner in Japan to be cautions with this word. It is however completely okay and common to use between family/friends or people you have a close relationship with in general.
TL;DR
忙しい is far more common than 賑やか and the main difference between them is that 忙しい has a negative-neutral nuance and 賑やか has a strictly positive-nuance.