With its three alphabets, Japanese is notoriously difficult. However, don’t let this put you off trying to master a few words. As a spoken language, Japanese is simple, and when used will often be greeted by locals with joy. Japan is pouring billions of dollars into English ahead of the 2020 Olympics, but Japanese is still spoken almost exclusively. Signs are generally written with Roman letters, increasingly with English, Chinese and Korean translations.
Excellent translation tools now exist online, in the form of Google Translate and other applications such as the browser add-on Rikaichan. A superior Japanese translation app for the phone is imiwa? for iOS. Equipping yourself with one or all of these will expand your communication potential immensely.
Japanese characters are hard to read but beautiful to look at
Chris Stowers/Apa Publications
Japanese uses three different forms of writing: two homegrown phonetic scripts hiragana and katakana, each of which consists of 46 basic characters; plus Chinese characters (kanji). The most important words to remember are the simple kanji for ‘man’ and ‘woman’—useful at hot-spring resorts and public toilets.
With its small number of simple and unvarying vowel sounds, the pronunciation of Japanese should be easy for those who speak Western languages, which are rich in vowel sounds, and Japanese has nothing like the tonal system of Chinese.
Vowels have only one sound. Don’t be sloppy with their pronunciations.
a – between fat and the u in but
e – like the e in egg
i – like the i in ink
o – like the o in orange
u – like the u in butcher
When they occur in the middle of words between voiceless consonants (ch, f, h, k, p, s, sh, t and ts), i and u are often almost silent. For example, Takeshita is really pronounced Takesh’ta while sukiyaki sounds more like s’kiyaki.
Useful words and phrases
Hello Konnichiwa
Goodbye Sayonara
Please Onegaishimasu
Thank you Domo arigato
Yes Hai
No Iie
Excuse me Sumimasen
I’m sorry Gomennasai
Do you speak English? Eigo o hanasemasuka?
I don’t understand Wakarimasen
Help! Tasukete!
My name is … Watashi wa … desu
What is your name? Anata no namae wa nan desu ka?
Where is the toilet? Toire wa doko desu ka?
Woman Onna
Man Otoko
Child Kodomo
Getting around
Where is the …? … wa doko desu ka?
What time is it? Nanji desu ka?
What time is the…? …wa nanji desu ka?
Airport Kuukou
Station Eki
Bank Ginko
Eating out
Food Tabemono
Drink Nomimono
Water Omizu
How much does this cost? Ikura desu ka?
Is there an English menu? Eigo no menyu wa arimasu ka?
Delicious Oishi
The bill, please
Okanjo kudasai
Thank you for the meal Gochiso sama deshita
Rice gohan (cooked),
kome (raw)
Noodles Men
Bread Pan
Fish Sakana
Beef Gyuniku
Pork Butaniku
Chicken Toriniku
Vegetables Yasai
Water Omizu
Black Tea Kocha
Green Tea Ocha
Coffee Kohi
Sukiyaki Simmered meat (usually beef) hotpot, served with raw egg
Shabushabu Thinly sliced meat (usually beef) and vegetable hotpot, served with sauce
Gyudon Beef on rice
Kare curry, but much sweeter
Tempura Batter-fried seafood and vegetables
Teppanyaki Grilled food
Tonkatsu Breaded, deep-fried pork
Yakosoba Fried noodles
Number
1 ichi
2 ni
3 san
4 shi
5 go
6 roku
7 nana
8 hachi
9 kyu
10 ju
Days of the week
Monday Getsuyoubi
Tuesday Kayoubi
Wednesday Suiyoubi
Thursday Mokuyoubi
Friday Kinyoubi
Saturday Doyoubi
Technology
Internet Intahnetto
Wifi Waifai
Mobile phone Kaytai Denwa
Computer Konpyuhtah
Laptop Rapputoppu
Electricity Denki