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A photo Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan by Morio –

10 very useful Phrases you should know before traveling to Japan

Japanese is an East Asian language spoken natively by about 128 million people in Japan. Japanese is the national language in Japan. Japanese belongs to the Japonic language family. The classification of Japanese with other language families is unclear.

Take note that the Japanese language has no demonstrable genealogical relationship with the Chinese Mandarin language. However, a large portion of its vocabulary is borrowed from Chinese. Loanwords have become frequent in modern Japanese, and words from English roots have proliferated.

Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with relatively simple phonotactics. It has a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch accent. Word order is normally subject鈥搊bject鈥搗erb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure is a topic鈥揷omment.

Nouns have no grammatical number or gender, and there are no articles. Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. . Verbs and adjectives are conjugated, primarily for tense and voice.

Our page, therefore, gives you as a traveler the best tips on Japanese phrases to change your view that Japanese is hard to learn and master. However, as a team, we don’t believe that it’s a must you learn Japanese so as you make a successful trip to Japan as long it’s useful to learn some Japanese language to try to fit in during the happy journey to Japan.

We are going to provide you with great starting points for the Japanese language. If you get to master and comprehend the phrases, then you at most know these basic Japanese phrases. In the article are ten very useful phrases you should know before traveling to Japan.

1. O-namae wa nan desu ka

A photo of Nagoya, Japan by Nryate –

O-name wa nan desu ka means “What is your name?” If you want to know someone鈥檚 name, you have to ask. It鈥檚 a normal question to ask for one’s name. You鈥檙e more likely to be considered rude if you 诲辞苍鈥檛 ask for someone鈥檚 name upon meeting.

Names are treated as facts. In everyday conversations, people tend to ask, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 your name? So, when you visit Japan, you can say O-name wa nan desu ka to ask for any person you get to meet such as your guide. Other Japanese natives can also ask your name in Japanese.

2. Eigo o hanasemasu ka?

Eigo o hanasemasu ka? means “Do you speak English?” It is rude to expect people to know English even though it鈥檚 not their native language. It is rude if you expect them to be familiar with it. So, you must be humble while asking the people in Japan if they know English. Being humble won鈥檛 make you seem snobbish.

3. Watashi wa nihongo ga sukoshi shika hanasemasen. I only speak a little Japanese.

Watashi wa nihongo ga sukoshi shika hanasemasen means “I only speak a little Japanese. It may chance that you succeeded to know all the Japanese phrases that we provided you with. Or you mastered ours and decided to go an inch further to an extent that a Japanese native can think that you are a pro, in Japanese.

This is possible that the guide will speak to your in Japanese non-stop because you created a pro impression at first. Of course, you won’t ignore and so, you can excuse yourself and explain that you only speak a little Japanese so he can be lenient with you.

4. Itadakimasu

A photo of Kobe port by 663highland –

Itadakimasu means “Let鈥檚 dig in”. Let’s dig in is a phrasal veb that means to start eating. If someone digs in or digs into some food, they start eating eagerly. If you tell someone to dig in, you are inviting them to start eating and encouraging them to eat as much as they want.

5. Gochisousama deshita

A photo of Osaka, Japan by Zairon –

Gochisousama deshita means “That was delicious” Japan’s Tokyo was ranked first with the best restaurants and food. China’s Hong Kong took place two. This data is applied in all of Asia. So expect to compliment complement their food because they have among the best chefs in the world.

Delicious meals are tasty, scrumptious, appetizing, yummy, luscious, delectable, mouth-watering, delightful, lovely, wonderful, pleasant, enjoyable, appealing, enchanting, and charming.

6. Eigo te in no wa鈥�

Eigo te in no wa鈥� means  “And in English, that鈥檚鈥�?” This phrase is used exclusively by visitors to Japan. It’s one way i.s The Japanese native who happens to be around during your visit to Japan cannot ask you to give an English word in Japanese.

When you don’t understand some words you’ll only ask your guide to say them in English so as understand them better.

7. Mou ichido kudasai

A photo of Yokohama City, Japan by Nryate –

Mou ichido kudasai means “Could you say that one more time?” This phrase is used to pardon someone to repeat what he said but you did not hear well. Some Japanese phrases may be very fast that you can get a Japanese native to say to you. Hence, you could say “Mou ichido kudasai” to pardon him or her.

8. Ima nanji desu ka? 

Ima nanji desu ka? means “What time is it right now?” Sometimes traveling in Japan can be interesting and you want to create or prolong your time as expected in your diary.  So, you can use the phrase to ask for the time.

9. Ikura desu ka?

A photo of Fukuoka Port City, Japan by 銇濄倝銇裤伩 –

Ikura desu ka? means “How much does that cost?” When you visit the Japanese market you would want to do some shopping. Also, you can ask about the cost o visiting secluedesecluded areas like amusement parks, national parks, and museums.

So, you’ll need to know the cost of the goods in the markets. ikura desu ka? is used for asking about the price of something

10. Oaidekite uresh墨 desu

A photo of Sendai City, Japan by Nryate –

Oaidekite uresh墨 desu means “I am very glad to meet you.” Of, course you have to show gratuity to your tour guide after the end of your visit. If you want to express how helping your guide was you will say
Oaidekite uresh墨 desu “I am very glad to meet you.”

As you have seen, it is not quite hard to learn Japanese. It only needed you to have a good mastery and also it requires you to practice Japanese every time to get used to speaking Japanese. Remember like Chinese Mandarin, also Japanese is a tonal language.