■ “Go ahead.” or “After you.” in an elevator, at a door of a building, and so on.
■ “Please help yourself.” for meal sharing/ dining/ social eating, and etc.
■ “This is for you.” when you give a gift to someone.
■ “Here it is.” when you give someone something that the person was looking for or wanted.
■ Often, the phrase means “please” in English. For example, “This way, please.”,  “Have a seat, please.” and so on.
 
In situations above, you just simply say, “どうぞ: Do-u-zo.” This sounds like a combination “dough” and short “zo” from “zone.”  So, pronounce only bold letters in “dough zo[ne].”
 

I’m going to give you some examples.
 
(1)  Imagine that you are in an elevator with a beautiful lady. The lady and you are trying to get out of the elevator at the same time. Then, you would say, “osaki-ni-dou-zo (dough zo[ne]).” Which means “go ahead” or “after you.” “Osaki-ni” is “ahead” in this case.
 
(2) Let’s say that your meeting with a client is almost over, and he put his gift for you on the table and said, “dou-zo (dough zo[ne]).” That is “this is for you.”
 
(3) When you go to a noodle restaurant in Japan, you noticed that there’re no chopsticks on the tray of your food. You may ask a server, “o-ha-shi, ku-da-sa-i (Could you give me chopsticks?).”  Then, the server come back and give it to you saying, “dou-zo (dough zo[ne]).” This means “here it is.”
 
Then, you need to say, “a-ri-ga-to (thank you).”
 
Are you kind of getting to know the meaning of the word “dou-zo”?
 
This is a very convenient word and we often use this. This is a little bit formal word. So, maybe you don’t use it among friends.
 
When you are in Japan, pay attention to what service providers say in department stores, restaurants, and shops, and you will hear “dou-zo” everywhere.
 
Thanks for reading!
 

That is “Ku-da-sa-i.”
 
■ The meaning is “give me … “ or “I’ll take … .”
 
■ When you want to ask someone, “please give me △△△.” in English, you can say, “△△△, ku-da-sa-i.” in Japanese.
 
Let’s say you want to drink water, say this: “mi-zu, ku-da-sa-i.”  “mi-zu” is water in Japanese.
 
★ [Could you give me some water?] = [mi-zu, ku-da-sa-i.]
 
If you want to ask someone to hand something to you, you can say “so-re, ku-da-sa-i.”  “so-re” is “it” or “that” in Japanese.
 
★ [Please give it to me.] [Please hand it to me.] = [so-re, ku-da-sa-i.]
 
When you order a meal in a restaurant, you can ask the server, “ko-re, ku-da-sa-i” pointing the food that you want to order.  “ko-re” means “this.”

 
★ [I’ll take this.] [Could I have this?] = [ko-re, ku-da-sa-i.]
 
So, anyway, you want something, you just ask “△△△△, ku-da-sa-i.” This is an easy phrase, but you can say “ku-da-sa-i” in many situations such as souvenir shops, coffee shops, convenient stores, restaurants, and in a conversation with friends.
 
Today, remember this: “please give me … .” & “I’ll take … .” = “ku-da-sa-i” in Japanese.
 
Thanks for reading!

 
As I mentioned before, in Japan, we are expected to show respect to seniors.  Therefore, we usually use formal and casual lines depending on situations.
 
Sounds difficult, doesn’t it?  But you’ll get used to that. Don’t worry.
 
(1) Formal “Yes”: ha-i
 
This is “Ha-i” as pronounced similar to “Hi” in English.  So, if you want to say, “yes,” you just simply remember “hi” in English.  It’s easy, isn’t it?
 
This word, ‘ha-i’ also has the meaning of “I see,” “all right,” and “uh-huh” as well as “yes.”  When Japanese people listen to your story and nod saying, ‘ha-i’, it doesn’t mean “yes” but “uh-huh” in Japanese.
 
(2) Formal “No”: i-i-e
 
This is “i-i-e.”  I thought about how you can pronounce this word simply and got an idea. You need to combine the “ee” sound from “eel” and the first “e” sound from “elephant.”  Please pronounce only bold letters, “eel+elephant.” 
 
The words described above are simple, but I think they are the most important words you should learn in Japanese.

 
(3) Informal “Yes”: um-n
 
It is very simple and pronounced similar to “um-n.” But you need to resonate it.
 
(4) Informal “No”: um-um-n
 
You just simply repeat the first sound of informal “yes.”  So, it is like “um-um-n.” Simple, isn’t it?
 
Oh! I almost forgot to tell you one thing in Japanese that is totally opposite to English. That is an answer of a negative question.
 
When you are asked, “Didn’t you go there?,” maybe you will answer, “No, I didn’t.” in English. But Japanese people say, “Yes, I didn’t.” in Japanese.
 
Can you tell the difference?
 
I think English speakers focus on the fact that you didn’t go there; that’s why you answer “No, I didn’t.” But Japanese speaker think that the question is right because I didn’t go there. That’s why they answer “yes, I didn’t.”
 
Japanese people struggle to understand this, so I guess maybe you, too.
 
I know this is confusing, but again, you’ll get used to it. I was confused by this, too, when I started to learn English. To understand this, I used to moved my head with answers. Now, I’m O.K. with this. So, just practice.
 
 So, when you are asked something with a negative form, give attention to your answer. But don’t get too nervous because this is only for a negative question.
 
Today’s expressions are very simple, but you need to know.
 
Thanks for reading!
 
 

(S=students; T=a teacher):
 
T: How are you?
S: I’m fine, thank you. And you?
T: I’m fine, thank you.
 
So, those phrases were inputted into our brain no matter what. But, later, I noticed that, after I attended UCLA in California, people usually say “good” instead of “fine.”  Sometimes I hear “I’m fine,” though.
 
Anyway, most of Japanese have experienced the repetition for three years. So, if you go to Japan and ask anyone around you “how are you?” you would get an automatic reply, “I’m fine, thank you.”
 
“How are you?” is hard to translate because the Japanese language doesn’t have an equivalent expression. The phrase is often interpreted “Gen-ki?” But I think that is a little bit different.
 
Originally, “gen-ki” is a word that describes a state of being healthy or having a lot of energy or spirits, so, I understand “how are you?” can be translated into “gen-ki?.”
 
But when I worked in Tokyo with an American team, I always felt a little bit strange whenever I was asked, “Gen-ki-de-su-ka?”  That is a polite way of saying “gen-ki?”
 
At that time, I was not fluent in English, so I just wondered why they were asking me if I was “gen-ki” every day and thought like this. Did I look sick or depressed yesterday? That’s why they were asking me if I felt better?
 
Now I know that’s just a misunderstanding. They just wanted to say “how are you?” in Japanese to me as a greeting.
 
Sometimes, direct translation doesn’t work well because, in other cultures, people don’t have the same custom that you have. I have learned this a lot while I’ve been learning English and Spanish.

 
Then, when do we use “gen-ki?” to a person?
 
When I say “gen-ki?” to a friend in Japanese, the question implies that I haven’t seen the friend for a while. In this context, the meaning of “gen-ki?” is “how have you been?”
 
How long depends on a person. Maybe at least a month or so. 
 
However, in California, a person at the casher in any supermarkets and a sales staff at any shops say “how are you?’ when they see a customer. It is just a greeting.
 
Japanese people don’t ask strangers “gen-ki?” So, sales staff will never say “gen-ki?’ as Californians say “how are you?”
 
So, I think that the translation of “How are you?” might be “Gen-ki?” in Japanese, but we usually don’t ask “gen-ki?” to others without any reasons.
 
The question using “gen-ki” might be limited like the following situations:
 
(1) When you haven’t seen a friend or an acquaintance for a while and you see him/her on the day, or when you have a chance to talk to him/her over the phone.
 
So, when you want to know how the person has been doing, you can use,”Gen-ki?” In this case, the past tense is often used, which is “gen-ki-da-ta?’  This means, “How have you been?”
 
(2) When you want to ask “feel better?”
 
You want to know if a person feels better because you know the person wasn’t in a good condition such as sickness, depression, and so on.  In this case, another type of past tense “gen-ki-ni-na-ta?” is used, which means “became gen-ki.” (=Feel better?)
 
Now I know American culture, so I finally came to understand why English speakers, my coworkers, often asked me in the morning if I was “gen-ki” in the office.
 
So, please remember that “How are you?” cannot be directly translated in a simple word.
 
So, anyway, please learn this word, “gen-ki” today. If somebody asks you, “Gen-ki?,” you can simply answer,”gen-ki.”
 
Thanks for reading!

 
(1) Sa-yo(u)-na-ra (Good-bye)
 
This is a formal expression of “goodbye.” Again, we use this to acquaintances, teachers, friends’ parents, and senior people.
 
In Japan, showing respect to seniors is important, so even though students are one-year apart, younger people tend to change their attitudes and expressions to their senior schoolmates.
 
For example, when I was a first-grade at junior high school, I had to say “sa-yo-na-ra” to people who were one year older than me. That applies in a working environment, too. 
 
(※ In Japan, there’s no grade above 6th grade. Once you get into middle school, you will be 1^st grade of the school.)
 
* School Grades in Japan *
Age 6 -12 : elementary school (6 years); 1^st grade through 6^th grade
Age 12-15: junior high school (3 years); 1^st grade through 3^rd grade
Age 15-18: high school (3 years); 1^st grade through 3^rd grade

 
(2) Bye-bye. (Bye.)
 
Among friends, I think, “bye-bye” is most used. Of course, it came from an English word, “goodbye” and then changed to “bye-bye.” I don’t know how long we’ve been using this word, but we don’t have an informal “goodbye” in Japanese. Instead, we use the “English word.”
 
The Japanese “bye-bye” might sound childish to you, but even adults sometimes say “bye-bye” in Japan.

 
(3) Ja-ne. (See you.)
 
“Ja-ne” is also often used. I usually don’t use “bye-bye,” instead I use “ja-ne.” 
 
“Ja” can be translated into English as “then” or “around” in this context. So, “ja-ne” means “see you”, “see you then,” or “see you around.”
 
(4) Mata (ne.) (See you again.)
 
The word “mata” means “again.”  So, “mata(ne)”is “see you again,” “see you later,” or “talk to you later.”
 
◆ (3) ja-ne, and (4) mata(ne)  have variations as follows:

・Ja! (See you around.)
・Ja-ne. (Females prefer this to Ja.)
・Ja-mata. (See you again. Talk to you later.)
・Ja-matane. (Females prefer this to Ja-mata.)
・Matane. (See you again. Talk to you later.)
 
All of them work among men and women.  Either one is fine.  But these are informal ways of “goodbye,” so use them only among friends.
 
I personally recommend to use “Sa-yo-na-ra” in a formal situation and to say “ja-ne” or “ja-mata” to your friends. 
 
Now, I’ve got to go. I’m going to stop writing here.
 
Ja-ne.
 
Thanks for reading!
 
 

 There are two greetings in the evening; both are used after the sun goes down.

(1) Kon-ban-wa (Good evening)
 
“Good evening” in Japanese language is “Kon-ban-wa.”  It sounds similar to “Kon-ni-chi-wa”.
Both words end with “wa”. 
 
I don’t know the meaning of “wa”, but I know what “Kon-ban” and “Kon-ni-chi” mean.
 
・“Kon-ban” means tonight, and
・“Kon-ni-chi” is today.
They are general nouns, but when we add “wa” to those words, they change to greetings. 
 
“Kon-ban-wa” is formal as well as “Kon-ni-chi-wa”, and Japanese people use it only when you see acquaintances or seniors.  Among friends, we usually don’t say “kon-ban-wa”.
 
So, “Kon-ban-wa” is a formal greeting.  Then, what should we say when we see friends at night? 
 
Well, I don’t know an answer.  As well as “Kon-ni-chi-wa,” that depends on people. I usually call my friend’s name and start a conversation with “How have you been?” or something.
 
 
(2) O-ya-su-mi (Good night)
 
The second phrase for night is “good night.”  It is “o-ya-su-mi” or “o-ya-su-mi-na-sai.” The latter is a formal form. These are used only when you say “goodbye” to someone.
 
In southern California, people sometimes say “good night” instead of “goodbye,” when they get off work at 5p.m., but in Japan, we don’t say “o-ya-su-mi” in the situation. It sounds strange if I hear “o-ya-su-mi” in the office. Obviously, we don’t sleep at work.
 
“O-ya-su-mi” is used when we are going to bed. But, sometimes, some people use “o-ya-su-mi-na-sai” instead of “good-bye” when it is late at night.
 
It is 11p.m. now, so in this case, I will say to you, “o-ya-su-mi.”
 
Thanks for reading!
 
 

 
It is “O-ha-yoh”.  While “hello” is not used among close friends, “O-ha-yoh” is used for anyone.
 
When you wake up in the morning and see your mom, you say “O-ha-yoh”.  At school, when you are getting into a classroom, you say “O-ha-yoh” to your classmates.
 
The way of saying the word is exactly the same as “good morning” in English.

There is one thing you need to know in Japanese language.  In Japan, we have to change a way of talking to senior people.  Polite expressions are preferable to them all the time. 
 
A polite way of saying “O-ha-yoh” is “O-ha-yoh-go-zai-ma-su.”  You simply add “go-zai-ma-su” to “o-ha-yoh.”
 
You will say this formal version of “good morning” when you see teachers, seniors, your friend’s parents and your boss.  At the same time, don’t forget to bow.
 
You don’t have to bow bending your entire upper body for greetings, but at least, you need to move your head as you nod. 
 
This word is usually written Hiragana alone.  However, sometimes you might see the letter: “早” in the word, “O-ha-yoh”.  The meaning of the Chinese character “早” is “early”.  
 
It seems that Japanese people originally used the letter, but nowadays, people don’t use the letter often.  So, hiragana itsels is fine. 
 
Anyway, morning in Japan starts with “O-ha-yoh.”
Why don’t you say “O-ha-yoh” to Japanese people in the morning instead of “Kon-ni-chi-wa”?
 
Thanks for reading!
 

  
You have already learned “thank you.” in Japanese, so I am going to teach you how to say “I’m sorry” in a formal situation. Then, I will talk about the confusion that I experienced.
 
Japanese people use this word:「すみません」[Su-mi-ma-sen]  when they apologize. (Often, we pronounce it 「すいません」[Sui-ma-sen].) because it is easier.  This word is written Hiragana alone.
 
As I mentioned above, this is formal “I’m sorry.” ; however, the word has a couple of meanings depending on situations. I’ll explain.
 
１．[Excuse me.]
We say “Sui-ma-sen” to others, when we start to talk to a stranger.  It is like “Excuse me.” in English.
 
 (1) For example, when you want to know if a bus/train already left or not at the bus stop/the station, you can ask a question by starting with “Sui-ma-sen”. 
 
[Sui-ma-sen], but do you know if a bus has already left?
 
Here is another example.
 (2)  When a person who is walking in front of you dropped something, you maybe pick it up and talk to the person.
 
[Sui-ma-sen], but you dropped this.

 
２．[Thank you.]
The second meaning of [Sui-ma-sen] is “Thank you.”  The person who dropped something would say this to you:
 
(3) [Sui-ma-sen], [a-ri-ga-tou-go-zai-ma-su]. 

[a-ri-ga-tou-go-zai-ma-su] is a formal form of  [a-ri-ga-tou “thank you”]. 
 
If the person whom you talked doesn’t know you, I would say that 99% of Japanese answer as above.
 
I will share another example with you.  Imagine that you received a gift from your acquaintance (but not a friend).
 
(4) This type of [sui-ma-sen] is used when you want to say, “You shouldn’t have.”
 
[Sui-ma-sen] alone  or  [Sui-ma-sen], [a-ri-ga-tou-go-zai-ma-su]. 
 
Since [sui-ma-sen] is a formal word, it can express your feelings of gratitude before saying “thank you.”  Only “Thank you” itself is fine, but if a person whom you talk to is senior or an acquiantance, I would say both [sui-ma-sen] and [a-ri-ga-tou-go-zai-ma-su].
 
Both words convey “your gratitude”, so if you say both, you can show your feelings very well.
 
３．[I’m sorry.]
The last meaning is “I’m sorry.”  Please remember that [Sui-ma-sen] in this context is used only in a formal situation.  Among friends, we will use a different word. I’ll teach it to you sometime later.
 
(5) For example, you made a mistake at work, and your customer is not happy about that.  Then, you have to apologize.
 
[Sui-ma-sen]  or [sui-ma-sen-de-si-ta].
 
This is a formal apology. 
 
The second one, [sui-ma-sen-de-si-ta] is past tense.  Either way is “I’m sorry” in English. If you want to aplogize for what you have just done, you might say, “Sui-ma-sen” only.  For something that happened in the past, “Sui-ma-sen-de-si-ta.”is preferrable.  But there is no distinctive difference.  So, it’s up to you.
 
 
Now I am explaining why I mentioned there was a difference.
 
What surprised me was that I heard “Thank you for waiting.” by a customer service staff while I was waiting.  I was puzzled by “Thank you.” 
 
“I’ve been waiting. Why did she say thank you in this situation?  She should’ve said “I’m sorry. [Sui-ma-sen], not saying thank you.”
 
In Japan, sales staff definitely says, “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.” at first.  But in the U.S. they say, “I’ll be right with you.”   No apology.  This is the difference.
 
Wow, people in the U.S. use “thank you.” when Japanese people say “I’m sorry.”
 
That is a very interesting find.  Then, I started to consider meanings of [Sui-ma-sen] deeply and found out that there were meanings of both “I’m sorry” and “thank you”.  I had just never paid attention.
 
Until I came to the U.S., I had never given a deep thought about Japanese words. By living in a foreign country, I have been learning English, and at the same time, I understand my mother tongue much better than before.
 
Language: there is always more to learn, and I love that.
 
I want to share my language experiences and cultural differences with you more.
 
Thank you for reading!

 
But I’m sure nobody wants to know such an old history.  So, I will make a long story short.
 
Japan has been influenced by Chinese culture.  In ancient history, China was the most important country in Asia.  Maybe today, too.  China developed earlier than other regions and one of the oldest civilizations in the world.
 
China invented compass, gun power, paper, and printing technology, and its culture has had enormous impact on other Asian countries. For example, Japan followed Chinese ways such as writing, infrastructure of cities, a religion, government systems, and many other customs. 
 
I personally think one of the greatest influence by China is the writing system, “漢字 (=かんじ)” “Kan – ji”.  “Kan-ji” means Chinese characters as the letters explains themselves.
 
You may know this.  Japanese use three writing systems:
(1)「ひらがな」 “Hi – ra – ga – na”,
(2)「カタカナ」”Ka – ta – ka – na”, and
(3)「漢字 = かんじ」”Kan – ji”. 
 
We use a combination of those three types of characters. The first two are similar and based on the sound like alphabets. Both kana (hiragana & katakana) are the same set of sounds and are consist of 46 letters; hiragana is used for native Japanese words; katakana is used for words for non-Japanese words.
 
Chinese orthography became assimilated into Japanese writing around the 5 or 6^th century. I don’t know exactly how many Chinese characters Japanese usually use.  But it is said that Japanese standard Kanji (Kanji = Chinese characters) are around 2000 letters, and at school, students learn about 1000 Chinese characters. 
 
So, it seems that I know 1000 letters at least, but I have never counted how many letters I can write and read.  
 
Anyway, an interesting about Kanji is that some countries share the same letters and same (or similar) pronunciation.
 
For example, the word of “乾杯”  is used in China, Korea, and Japan as far as I know.  In Japanese, the word “乾杯（= かんぱい）” is read as  “Kan- pai”.  The meaning is “Cheers!” in English.
 
“Kan-pai” sounds so similar to that of Chinese and Korean.   I met people from China and Korea in California and learned that we use the same word and very close pronunciation.
 
「漢字（かんじ）」”Kan-ji”  is phonographic writing.  All of them are based on their own meanings.  I think this is great because people get an idea at a glance of letters. 
 
We have covered 「漢字」& 「乾杯」today so far, so I want to share those meanings with you.

 
★ 漢字（かんじ）”Kan-ji”
The first letter 「漢」means “the Chinese people or Chinese language”.  It is also a name of one dynasty in ancient China.
 
The second letter「字」means “a word”.
 
Therefore, the meaning of  「漢字」 is Chinese character(s).  By the way, Japanese don’t distinguish between plural and singular nouns.
 
★ 乾杯（かんぱい） “Kan-pai”
The first letter 「乾」 means “dry”.
 
The second letter 「杯」 means “a cup”, “a glass”, or “alcholic drink”.
 
Therefore, the literal meaning of  「乾杯」 is “to drink up”.  But its true meaning is “Cheers!” in English.  It is interesting, isn’t it? 
 
 
You will see this word「漢字」[kan-ji] ”Chinese Characters”  in this app many times in future, so please learn this word.   Also, practice 「乾杯」 [kan-pai] ”Cheers.”
 
You can listen to my pronunciation by tapping a microphone image. 
 
I think 「乾杯（かんぱい）kan-pai」”Cheers.”  is useful if you have a party with Asian people. Lol
It seems that it is pronounced “Gan-bei” in China.

Thanks for reading!

The meaning is “Hello.”   I believe many people know this word if they are interested in Japan.

  
This is a good word to know, but Japanese usually don’t say it to friends.  This word is often used among acquaintances, for example, when you see a teacher, a friend’s mother, a person whom you know but don’t know well, or when you need to talk to a stranger.
 
Maybe, a salesperson might say “ こんにちは: Kon – ni -chi – wa”  knocking at your door.
 
In a daily conversation among close friends, we don’t use “ こんにちは: Kon – ni -chi – wa.” If you say it, you show that you have a distance between you and the person who you talk to.  So, don’t use among close friends. 

Literally, the translated word of “hello” is “ こんにちは: Kon – ni -chi – wa,” but the way of use is a little bit different.
 
I am also teaching English to Japanese, so I know that people tend to translate their own language to other languages directly.  That is something like this; at first, Japanese people make a sentence in Japanese and try to translate it. But in most cases, that doesn’t work. So don’t think languages can be one-to-one exchangeable.
 
So, same thing in here.  “Hello” cannot be simply exchanged to  “ こんにちは: Kon – ni -chi – wa.”   

 
For example, people in California often say “Hello.” when they just have eye contact with somebody, and even though they don’t know each other.  But that will never happen in Japan.  If you say “こんにちは。” to a stranger, you will be treated as a strange person.  Beware. lol
 
“ こんにちは: Kon – ni -chi – wa.” is used among only acquaintances, or when you want to have a conversation with a person whom you don’t know.  Or maybe it is a greeting with smile from shop staff to customers.
 
Now you may be thinking about what to say when you see your friends. 
 
That’s a question.
 
I think there are many varieties of saying but no concrete answers for that.  If I haven’t seen my friend for a while, I would say, “Long time no see.” or “How have you been?”
 
But if I see my friend every day at school or work, my word depends on the time.  If I see him/her in the morning, I definitely say, Japanese “Good morning.”, but in the afternoon or at night, I would call my friend’s name, then start to talk something like this, “Did you watch One Piece yesterday?” or “Have you heard the news about …?” etc.
 
(※ One-piece is the best-selling comic and anime in Japan.)
 
When my friend and I meet somewhere, I might say, “Have you been waiting long?” if she shows up before I get there.
 
So, how to say the first word to a person depends on people and the time.
 
But no matter what, “ こんにちは: Kon – ni -chi – wa.” is a word that you should know.  So pracetice “kon-ni-chi-wa” with me.

Keep in mind to pronounce it without any strong accent.
 
Thanks for reading!