A traveller's guide to Japanese

Japanese is full of surprises. This video is everything you need to know before you head to Japan or begin to learn the language. On my own trip I discovered that Japanese is trying its hardest to be easy for English speakers. I hope this video gets you off to a good start.

==FEATURED VOCAB==
arigatō - thank you
arigatō gozaimasu - thank you (formal)
kudasai - please
onegaishimasu - please
sumimasen - excuse me
kon'nichiwa - hello
ohayō - good morning
konbanwa - good evening
mata ne - see ya!
omakase - you choose for me
okaikei - the bill
checcu - the check
kādo - (credit) card
genkin - cash
oishī - delicious
sugoi - amazing!
īe - no (but it's complicated)
hai - yes

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==CHAPTERS==
0:00 Introduction
0:48 Why I made this
1:53 Japanese is unique
2:50 Three alphabets of Japanese
3:50 Japanese & English
4:36 Japan's problem saying L
5:29 Romaji
5:52 NordVPN
7:57 VOCAB
8:40 "thank you"
10:00 "please"
10:46 sumimasen (excuse me)
11:40 "hello"
12:29 the sayonara lie (goodbye)
13:49 omakase
14:36 paying the bill
15:38 "delicious" and "fantastic"
16:06 "yes" and "no"

#japanese #japan #language

[RobWords]

🇯🇵If you can add to (or correct) anything I’ve said, I’d love to hear from you below. I’m sure I didn’t nail everything first time. Let’s see if we can make this a place where people can learn even more about Japanese 🇯🇵

[mananself]

As a Chinese person, when I went to Japan for a very short time, I found it delightful that I could understand many of the signs because they are written in Chinese characters. However, Japanese pronounce them totally differently from the Chinese pronunciation. When I had to ask for directions, I wrote the place name down on a piece of paper in Chinese characters and someone pointed us to the right direction. Usually writing is more complicated than speaking, especially for Chinese characters. But in this case that’s the only way for me to communicate with Japanese locals. Funny experience.

[Dollightful]

Your enthusiasm for language is so addictive! Congratulations again on your marriage; I hope you and your wife have had a wonderful trip.

[oliverscratch]

I once gave a formal presentation (in English) to a group of about 200 scientists at a conference in Kyoto. After being introduced, I began my talk with "Kon'nichiwa." I was a bit startled when the entire room loudly responded "KON'NICHIWA" in unison. I agree with your view of Japan; it is an amazing place filled with wonderful people.

[yuzuruizumieggy]

As a Japanese person, I am very surprised and honored to have your opinions on the Japanese language

[tomokofujii]

Hi from Hiroshima! Congratulations on your marriage and as a Japanese fan of your videos, I’m very happy you chose Japan for your honeymoon! This is another great video of yours and I have no correction at all - but I’d like to add the two best Japanese phrases to say No politely when you’d like to refuse what you are offered. Although politeness may be the best virtue in Japan, there is nothing wrong to say No when necessary (we NEED to). There are 1 “Kekkodesu” (結構です）and 2 “Daijoubudesu” (大丈夫です). Phrase 1 means “No, thank you” and 2 “I’m fine (without what is offered).” In the end, politeness is not only a word but also a non-verbal expression that we can tell.

[nikobellic]

Love this guy's dedication to his craft. He doesn't stop on his honeymoon

[kashigata]

I learned twenty words before I went to Japan for 2 weeks and picked up many more whilst there. The Japanese fell over themselves in delight when I tried to use their language, no matter how badly. They helped me learn more and I was often given gifts for my efforts. I had an amazing time meeting these hospitable and kind people.

[perrywilliams]

Important note to help your Japanese friends understand you: learn the rhythm of Japanese pronunciation. Each kana (usually a consonant-vowel or a standalone vowel) takes the same amount of time to pronounce. But some vowels are long and take twice the time to say. Romanji signs will have "ou" for a long 'o' sound (not like the dipthong in the word "out"). In that case, hold the 'o' sound twice as long. If you see a consonant doubled in Romanji, it is pronounced with a glottal stop (think of the gap in "uh-oh") followed by the consonant itself, taking twice as long. Oh, and Japanese doesn't have glided vowels. Native English speakers pronounce "oh" as an 'o' sound gliding into an 'uh' sound. Pretend you are hoarse, and the 'o' sound got stuck in your throat. (American English speakers can also use our pronunciation of the word "note" as a guide, since we add a very slight glottal stop between the 'o' and 't' sounds, which keeps the 'o' from gliding.)

Pitch pattern is important, also. @ 11:55, "ohayo" is low -> high -> low, which is very easy for native English speakers since we tend to follow that pattern with those phonemes. Some pitch patterns may not come as naturally, but getting it right really helps Japanese listeners to comprehend our limited Japanese speaking skills.

[Jhud]

I've studied Japanese for years, the actual grammar and vocabulary is literally so easy to pick up, way easier than other langauges in my opinion. The two basic writing systems are also super easy to learn. Basically the most annoying part is learning kanji (wanikani is good for that though) and formal speech. I really recommend anyone to pick this language up, it's extremely rewarding and useful.

[drboolin]

A small correction to what you categorize Japanese's writing system as: the Kana are syllabaries, while Kanji is a logography. Alphabets are systems that use 1 symbol for 1 sound (obviously that's not true for most modern alphabets, but that's the general idea), while syllabaries use syllable blocks to represent their sounds. Chinese also uses a logography, which is a system that has a symbol represent a full word or even an idea.

[timothywisner]

As a long time resident of Japan, the one word I tell people to know when they come over is "Domo". The literal meaning is "very" but in daily use it's just used for positive feelings. Works great for "thank you" situations and most "excuse me" situations. Add a slight bow and everyone knows you're trying to be positive and polite.

[johannniebuhr]

Native Japanese here. Thanks for enjoying my country Rob, hearing about it makes me nostalgic. In addition to Sumimasen, I'd also add "Shitsurei" or 失礼. It roughly means the same thing, but is oddly both more rude and more polite at the same time.

It's hard to get into the intricacies of politeness on a basic video aimed at tourists, but in short, Japanese has three levels of politeness in its speech. The one you'll hear most is Teinei-Go or "polite speech" as opposed to Kenjogo or Sonkeigo. Teineigo is what Rob pointed out, with the suffixes ending in -desu -masu in the present tense or -deshita -mashita in the past. Prefixes and Infixes of -o or -go also make words sound polite. -O for words originating in Japanese (Onyomi) and -Go for words originating from Chinese (kunyomi). As for other originating words (Gairaigo) such as "elevator" that robe mentioned, there simply is no prefix.

Regarding konnichiwa and Ohayo, they got some interesting etymologies. Konnichiwa is actually the beginning of a sentence, meaning "today is....". In the before times, you were to follow it up by answering that, but over the ages konnichiwa simply became a greeting. As for ohayo, it has the -o prefix, followed by "isn't it early?"

In regards to pronunciation, believe me, Japanese people have a lot harder time pronouncing English due to the uniqueness of the "r" sound. As Rob points out, Japanese has a blend of the L and R sound, so japanese people pretty much always mispronounced the "R".

In regards to the Latin script used in Japan, something I've noticed Americans mess up on is the Japanese strictness on vowel sounds. A is identified with あ and so pronounced like the aw in "yawn". E is identified with え and so is always pronounced like the e in "net". I is identified with い so is always pronounced like the "ee" in "sweet". O is identified with お so always pronounced like the "o" in "know". U is identified with う so always pronounced like the "oo" in "too".

[carllafong]

I lived in Japan for quite a few years, and this fun, easy to follow video is probably one of the most accurate, realistic and useful tutorials for first time visitors I've ever seen. Damn, that was a long sentence. Anyway, 上手です。👍🏻

[janetzale]

Congratulations on your marriage! The fact that your new bride was filming you for this video on your honeymoon says that you married someone amazing.

Thank you for a great video which I found relevant since I just started studying Japanese less than two weeks ago on Duolingo.

[Werevampiwolf]

A note on "hai". Just because someone says "hai" to you, it does not always mean they're agreeing. It's also used as an acknowledgement of hearing/understanding you and indicating you to keep talking. So if you ask someone something and they say "hai" and then just look at you like they're expecting something from you, that's why. Especially if they do it while you're still speaking. That's a thing in Japanese, it's called aizuchi, and it's when you say a little phrase (there's a few you can use) to show that you're listening and understand what they're saying and it's considered polite.

[louieleung]

5:25 "The crow agrees." Japanese transcribes the crow's call as "a-ho" (ah-haw), which means stupid. That's why in many anime you get a crow flying past in the background as a deadpan commentator.

[jamesdulany]

That actually reminded me of a pro wrestling moment. When a pro wrestler from Ohio was competing in Japan, he once referenced that an opponent was receiving a message from Ohio. The Japanese crowd shouted "ohayo" in near unison after he said that. He probably had no idea why they did that.

[g-rated]

"Oh yeah, sue me!" (Oyasumi = goodnight) Was one of the first phrases I picked up in Japan

[JoeyPuopolo]

I know a native Japanese speaker who grew up in the US. She had only been to Japan a few times, and she said the hardest thing was understanding when a Japanese person was trying to say No. Apparently it can be pretty indirect, and like you said euphemistic.