A question for those of you who know/are learning Japanese–what are some useful phrases besides the basics like “sumimasen” or even “chuumon shite mo ii desu ka” that you found yourself using a lot when traveling in Japan? Here are some of mine:
1. “moushiwake arimasen もうしわけありません” – I’m very sorry (formal) – this is super useful as a foreigner who doesn’t know all of Japans customs. Of course you can say “sumimasen” or “gomennasai” to just say sorry, but what if you really mess up? When I want to vehemently apologize for being an inconvenience or making a mistake, I use this phrase.
2. “meiwaku wo kakete sumimasen めいわくをかけてすみません” – I’m sorry for being a bother – Similar to the last phrase, I use this when I’m being an inconvenience. I use this when I ask a lot of questions or make a bothersome request.
3. “betsu betsu daijoubu べつべつだいじょうぶ” – separately is ok – this isn’t really a full phrase, but Japanese people will understand what you’re saying especially if you use hand gestures as well. At small restaurants they may not be able to fit your whole party at one table, so if you tell them this they’ll know that it’s ok to split your party. Much better than waiting!
4. “kaado de ii desu ka? カードでいいですか” – Is using card ok? – lets cashier know that you’re using a card, whether it’s a credit card or an IC pass. (You can even just say “kaado de ii?” as long as you use a rising intonation to make it sound like a question. “kaado daijoubu?” works as well.)
5. “tsumaranai mono desu ga, hai, douzo! つまらないものですが、はい、どうぞ!” – this is a boring thing (gift), but here! – this is very situational, but if you are ever giving a gift to a Japanese person this is a phrase you can use to be polite about it, humbly stating that your gift is nothing at all. I gave little boxes of candies and snacks to the staff working at the hotels we stayed at during our last trip, and this phrase came in handy.
Another tip–if you don’t know any Japanese but are willing to learn one of the alphabet systems for your trip, I’d actually highly recommend prioritizing katakana first, as it is used for foreign words–often English words (like koohii for coffee, suupaa for supermarket, etc). Meaning, if you know English and can sound out the katakana, you’ll probably understand most katakana words.
by Late-Lingonberry