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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Essential Japanese greetings


Daily greetings

おはよう - good morning
ohayou
o ha yo u

polite way
おはようございます
ohayougozaimasu
o ha yo u go za i masu
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こんにちは - good afternoon
konnichiwa
ko n ni chi wa
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こんばんは good evening
konbanwa
ko n ba n wa
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おやすみ - good night
oyasumi
o ya su mi

polite way
おやすみなさい
oyasuminasai
o ya su mi na sa i
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Greetings When you meet someone for the first time

はじめまして - nice to meet you
hajimemashite
ha ji me ma shi te

よろしく - umm no translation in English
This word gives the feeling that you would like to get along with the person/people you greeting to. Very nice word to know and use when you meet someone and greet.

polite way
よろしくおねがいします
yoroshikuonegaishimasu
yo ro shi ku o ne ga i shi ma su

Good words that come with this greeting (but you don't need to say it. Keep it short!)

これから - from now on
korekara
ko re ka ra

これからも 
korekaramo
ko re ka ra mo

Example

これから よろしく おねがいします
korekara yoroshiku onegaishimasu

Use this when you hope to start making good relationship with the person/people you greeting to.
This gives the feeling that you are longing to 'make' good relationship to the person/people you are greeting to.

Example
You are going to homestay at someone's house for college or something, and you introduce yourself and to end your introduction, say korekara yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

Your introduction would be like 'hello My name is bla bla bla and I'm from bla bla bla, korekara yoroshiku onegai shimasu.

これからも - korekaramo
Use it after you worked on something together with the person/people who you've greeted to. This gives the feeling that you are longing to 'keep' good relationship with the person/people who you greeted to.

Example
you go to a company to make a deal with them, and when you leave you probably say some greetings, say korekaramo yoroshiku onegai shimasu to end your greetings.

Memo - if somebody greeted to you like above
just say back the sentence below

こちらこそ よろしく おねがいします
kochirakoso yoroshiku onegaishimasu
ko chi ra ko so yo ro shi ku o ne ga i shi ma su
ko chi ra ko so means me/us too.
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Expressing thanks

ありがとう thank you
arigatou
a ri ga to u

polite way
ありがとう ございます
arigatou gozaimasu
a ri ga to u go za i ma su

---------------------------
When someone thanks you
just say
どういたしまして - you are welcome
Other way to say 'you're welcome'.
Maybe in English you say something like
it's ok, it's not big deal, it's just nothing, don't worry, when people are really really thanking you for what you've done for them.

いいよ - it's ok
iiyo
i i yo

気にしないで - don't worry.
kinishinaide
ki ni shi na i de

たいしたことないから - it's not big deal, it's nothing.
taishitakotonaikara
ta i shi ta ko to na i ka ra
Example
Person A thanks you
ありがとうございます argatou gozaimasu

and You reply something like
it's ok it's nothing, don't worry about that
いいよ  たいしたことないから  きにしないで ください
iiyo taishitakotonaikara kinishinaide kudasai

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Words you should say before and after you eat food

before you eat,
say
いただきます
itadakimasu
i ta da ki ma su
It means that you are thankful for whoever prepared the food

after you finish eating,
say
ごちそうさまでした
gochisousamadeshita
go chi so u sa ma de shi ta
It means like the food was delicious and you enjoyed it and you are thankful as well.

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Expressions when you leave home and come home

when leaving home,
いってきます 
ittekimasu
i tte ki ma su
It means that you leaving.

Example
when you leave home or office heading to somewhere else for some reason,
you say ittekimasu


and maybe people who heard you said will reply saying,

いってらっしゃい
itterasshai
i tte ra ssha i

This is the word used to reply いってきます ittekimasu.

When you come back home or office from outside,
say
ただいま
tadaima
ta da i ma
It means you are back

and people will reply saying
おかえり
It means welcome back

Well, I think I tried to explain too much so maybe it's got confusing a little,
so...I guess you can take it like
いってきます ittekimasu is for when you leave the place you are in
and
ただいま tadaima is for when you come back to the place you were in

How simple is that?

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The last and most common greeting word

おつかれ - umm It means ummmm absolutely no translation for this one!
otsukare
o tsu ka re
(This is too casual to say to older people than you so stick to the polite way.)

If I needed to translate this word into English 'forcefully',
I would say it means like 'thank you for your hard work'
well,,, it doens't mean completely right but it has the feeling of the word 'otsukare' has at least, I guess.
It could be used in many situations like when you leave your work, school, class and people use this word 'おつかれ o tsu ka re', instead of saying good bye.

polite way
おつかれさまです(でした) 
otsukaresamadesu (deshita)
o tsu ka re sa ma de su (de shi ta)


Example
1, after finishing school or class and when leaving your friends or teachers, say it instead of good bye.

2, before you go home after work, say it to people at work instead of good bye.

3, when someone did hard work and it was good job, say it to him/her to show your appreciation.

well this is it for today.
Hope this helped and see you later.

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