Hello Japanese learners! I’m currently on my first trip to Japan after studying daily for two years. While the trip has certainly been a humbling experience in helping me realize which areas still need a lot of work, overall it’s been great and I feel like I’ve learned a ton in the short time I’ve been here.
One of the things that threw me off since I’ve been here though is how often signs and people will use ご◯いただけます when talking about something the customer can do. Example from a sign in my hotel room – 「飲料水として、ご使用いただけます」”(The tap water) can be used as drinking water.” This seemed odd to me since いただく is a humble verb – wouldn’t that be insulting to use when talking about something a customer can do?
Searching around on English Google didn’t give me much help, but with some Japanese searching I was able to find a very helpful article from NHK (also in Japanese): [https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/research/kotoba/20210601\_9.html](https://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/research/kotoba/20210601_9.html)
To summarize what’s written there, the choice of ご◯になれます vs ご◯いただけます depends on the context, word choice, and the unspoken part. Using an example from the article:
* ご利用になれます is meaning (あなたが）利用できる – you, the customer, can use it.
* ご利用いただけます is meaning （私が、あなたに）利用してもらえます – I, the establishment, can have you, the customer, use it (to my benefit).
The article also points out that which one sounds more polite/better depends not only on the situation and words being used, but also on the opinion of the listener! Looking at the figures at the bottom of the article:
* For the example sentence 「夜間は西玄関が（ご利用いただけます・ご利用になれます）」(You can use the west entrance at night), most respondents think 「ご利用いただけます」 sounds better, though not an overwhelming majority.
* For the example sentence 「いつでも（ご応募いただけます・ご応募になれます）」(You can apply at any time), an overwhelming majority of respondents think 「ご応募いただけます」 sounds better.
* For the example sentence「窓から富士山が（ご覧いただけます・ご覧になれます）」(You can see Mt. Fuji from the window), it’s roughly 50/50 split on which people prefer.
I would also love to hear the opinions of any native speakers on this, as it was hard finding any information on this outside of the NHK article linked above.
Hope this post helps anyone else confused like I was!
5 comments
> since いただく is a humble verb – wouldn’t that be insulting to use when talking about something a customer can do?
do you know what humble means?
In my opinion as a native speaker, “ご◯になれます” style is more authentic and some people “incorrectly” started to use “ご◯いただけます” style but it becomes popular now.
Generally. one cannot master etiquette or manner (including k*eigo)* without training. Frankly speaking, many Japanese people lack sufficient training for using *sonkei-go*, respectful language, while they often use *kenjo-go*, humble language because *kenjo-go* appears to be easy to use (“just add いただく”). As they cannot fluently use *sonkei-go*, they incorrectly use “いただく” into sonkei-go position, resulting in “ご◯いただけます” style.
It is not strange that this happened as you can easily enter and graduate top-tier universities in Japan without capability of correctly and fluently using *keigo*.
Personally, I NEVER use the latter style.
This kind of thing is super interesting to me, I do find it fascinating and 敬語 to be one of the hardest points of the language and culture (along with Kanji). Thanks.
The form ご◯になれます implies that the person being spoken to (who is placed “above” the speaker) can see/look at something, without reference to the speaker themselves.
The form ご◯いただけます subtly implies that looking on the part of the listener is at the behest/for the benefit of the speaker. However, as with 〜させていただきます with respect to 〜いたします, it is coming to be used more and more indiscriminately as traditional social structures and polite registers fall away.
how to read circle?