Crash Course for Travel

It’s nice to always have a few key phrases ready to go when you’re visiting somewhere you don’t speak the language. Here’s a dozen-ish Japanese phrases which might come in handy. We’ll break down the pronunciation on each one.

We’ll present each phrase in the following order:

漢字　(kanji)

This is the “grown up” version of writing where you have to know what sound the Chinese-derived ideogram makes in this sentence and with the characters around it. Some phrases don’t have kanji.

かな (kana)

This is the “basic” version which uses the phonetic Japanse syllabary (kana), and is what kids use until they learn the Kanji.

English pronunciation

This is an approximation of how you can say it using English letters. I exclude some silent letters and make slight changes from the “normal” transliterations since we’re taking it easy here.

Audio samples

Two audio samples you can listen to and practice with. All voice samples were synthesized using Kokoro-Fast.

Greetings

Hello / good day

今日は (kanji)

こんにちは (kana)

kon ni chi wa (pronunciation)

You can somewhat literally translate this as “how’s today?” A nice, formal greeting you can use when passing people going up and down stairs to a temple or on a hike. If you’re out in the sticks it’s more common to have passers by greet you like this, and you can just say “konnichiwa” back.

Hello / good evening

今晩は

こんばんは

kon ban wa

Like “how’s today” but “how’s tonight?” Use this instead of konnichiwa after the sun has set.

Hello / good morning

おはよう ございます

o ha yoo go zai mas

This one is a little different. “Ohayou” is just a way to say “good morning.” “Gozaimas” is basically an extra word you add on to be polite. If you’re being casual, you can just say ohayo, but adding gozaimas makes it more formal.

Goodbye

さようなら

sa yoo na ra

“Sayonara!” We’re familiar with this one in English already, and you can use it in Japanese too with a slightly different pronunciation and emphasis. This one is a fairly good catch-all for saying goodbye, but it contains a challenge: an r

The Japanese R

For the most part, English uses more sounds than are in Japanese - we love stringing vowels and consonants together in a way that doesn’t happen in Japanese. However, one common sound in Japanese that isn’t in our usual repertoire is the “r/l” sound that’s used in Japanese (and is also similar in Korean).

Basically, to pronounce this sound, start making an “l” sound with the tongue at the top of your palate, then sweep it forward into an “r.” The Korean character ㄹ is actually a representation of your tongue doing this! To English speakers, the sound is somewhat halfway between an l and an r. Practice it a few times and you can get the hang of it pretty quickly. I can’t roll my rs, but I can do this!

Being Polite

Excuse me

すみません

su mi ma sen

It’s inevitable that while traveling you’ll accidentally do something rude. Get confused, not know how something works, sit in the wrong place on a train… the options are endless. In that case, just pull this one out. Sumimasen!

Sorry

ごめんなさい

go men na sai

This is good when we need to up our apology a little bit - it’s closer to sorry. You can bow with either sumimasen or gomennasai, with the depth (and number) of bows corresponding roughly to your degree of regret and sorrowfulness.

Thank you

ありがとうございます

a ri ga tou go zai mas

Thank you! This one is very frequent - buying something at a konbini, thanking a waiter, buying a ticket - arigatou gozaimas. You can challenge yourself by getting it to roll off the tongue quickly, or just shorten it down to arigatou.

Nice to meet you

よろしくお願いします

よろしくおねがいします

yo ro shi ku o ne gai shi mas

Meeting somebody for the first time? Yoroshiku onegaishimas! We’ll see this phrase “onegaishimas” repeated in a few places after this, so get used to it - it basically means “please.”

Ordering

This, please

これ、お願いします。

これ、おねがいします。

ko re, o ne gai shi mas

A lot of places have menus in English or displays which you can point at to order. Just point and add this phrase to complete an order. You can even add “and” (“と/to”) between different things to stack up an order!

これと…これ、おねがいします。

ko re to… ko re, o ne gai shi mas

Can I use a credit card?

カードでいいですか？

kaa do de ii des ka

Japan is supposed to be the land of the future, but it’s very selective in its adoption of the newfangled. Pray that you don’t have to ever fax a form or use a hanko seal during your time there - it’s still necessary for a lot of things! Similarly, a lot of smaller shops and stands will be cash-only. So, if you’re not sure, ask - “kaa do de ii des ka?” Is using a credit card ok?

Giving up

Sometimes, you need an exit strategy. These phrases should help out.

I don’t speak Japanese

日本語を話しません。

にほんごをはなしません。

ni hon go o ha na shi ma sen.

I don’t speak Japanese! You can, optionally, combine this with a sorry. Gomennasai! Nihongo o hanashimasen. Let’s combine this with two other options to form our conversational retreat strategy:

Do you speak English?

英語を話しますか？

えいごをはなしますか？

ay go o ha na shi mas ka?

A lot of people in cities will speak English to a varying degree, but farther out in the countryside - and with older people - many don’t. You can ask politely with this phrase!

I’ll translate on my phone

スマホで翻訳します。

スマホでほんやくします。

su ma ho day hon ya ku shi mas.

If you can’t bridge the linguistic divide from either side, this is your best option. Download Google translate on your phone and keep a spare battery at hand - between maps, translating, and taking photos, you’re going to need the spare charge.

Addendum

Yes

はい

hai!

No

いいえ

iie.

Congratulations

You’re now qualified to take the JLPT N5 travel to Japan!