Hello Readers!

It is with excitement and sadness that I’ve made it through SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese and JapanesePod101.com survival phrases! I’m excited that I’ve completed all of the lessons and have learned a ton of Japanese in the process, yet I’m sad that this is the end of the line for my survival phrase blogs. It’s been a rapid pace, perhaps faster than what I would have done otherwise, but I was excited to get these blogs out to you, the readers, so I worked hard to learn and reflect, to help you out and keep you more informed. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading along as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing my experience with you. If nothing else, hopefully you learned something about Japanese culture that you hadn’t known before.

Jumping for joy, SurvivalPhrases.com Japanese and JapanesePod101.com survival phrases helped me navigate as a regular here in Tokyo! [Photo by Alex Montalvo]

Today, I completed lessons 51-60 in SurvivalPhrases.com and lesson 50 in JapanesePod101.com. The topics covered included talking about what you like and don’t like, a list of adjectives, talking about time for the opening and closing of businesses each day, saying congratulations, or “omedeto gozaimasu“, and more!

Instead of writing in response to these categories as I usually do, I thought I would instead address some of the key phrases and words taken from the lessons as a whole. In other words, these are the ones, in my opinion, that you absolutely must know before you get here! Hopefully this will be of good assistance to you.

So now, I present to you, Emily’s Top 25 Survival Phrases! (In no particular order… )

1) Ohayou Gozaimasu – Good Morning, and in some cases, good day (when meeting someone for the first time).
2) Konichwa – Good Afternoon
3) Konbanwa – Good Evening
4) Irasshaimase – A polite welcome, heard when entering a store or restaurant.
5) Sumimasen – Excuse me, pardon me, I’m sorry
6) Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu – Literally means “Please be kind to me”, but is said after being introduced to someone, similar to…
7) Hajimemashite – Nice to meet you
8 ) Eigo o hanasemasuka? – Do you speak English?
9) Eigo no menyu wa arimasu ka? – Do you have an English menu?
10) Wakarimasen – I don’t understand. Can be made more polite if paired with “sumimasen”.
11) Kanpai! – Cheers!
12) Itadakimasu – Said before you start eating. It is a receiving nuance, like a prayer saying, “I’m about to have a good meal”
13) Osusume o onegai shimasu – Your recommendation please.
14) O-kaikei onegai shimasu – Check, please.
15) Betsu betsu – separately, commonly used when saying you’d like to pay a check separately.
16) O-tearai wa? – Polite form of “Where is the bathroom?”
17) O-mizu onegai shimasu – Water, please.
18 ) Shashin o totte kuremasu ka? – Can you take my/our picture?
19) Number + “mei” – A person counter to tell how many people are in your party for example. “Ni-Mei” – two people.
20) Kin en – non-smoking (used commonly when choosing which section of a restaurant to sit in)
21) Kitsu en – smoking (used commonly when choosing which section of a restaurant to sit in)
22) Kado wa daijobu desu ka? – Is using a credit card alright?
23) ATM doko desuka? – Where is the ATM? ATM is pronounced “eitiiemu”.
24) Terehon-kado wa arimasu ka? – Do you have telephone cards?
25) Arigato Gozaimasu – Thank you!

Thank you for following along with my blogs the past couple weeks! I’ve loved learning and sharing my experiences with you!
Ja-ne, Bye!