Talking to Japanese tourists (for beginners)

[MichaelMcDonald]

As an American living in Helsinki, my most realistic chance of using my very beginner Japanese is with the many Japanese tourists visiting Finland. It would be great to get a lesson or 3 about this topic. Golden Week is coming...

Just this week I went into a local tourist shop run by two Japanese women, but I couldn't get up the courage to say anything - of all the lessons I've been listening to, none of them really offered much to use. (Didn't want to ask them what their blood type was!) I guess Japanese small talk, if it exists, could be useful for those of us living outside Japan.

Thanks for the great website and the lessons!

-Michael

[josiah]

Hi Michael,
welcome to
japanesepod101

let me give you an example,
proabably the easiest way is to simply say;

すいません。　あなた　は　にほんじん　ですか？
suimasen. anata ha nihonjin desuka?
excuse me, are you japanese?

at which point they will (probably) say;

あ！　にほんご　が　じょうず　です　ね！
a! nihongo ga jouzu desu ne!
ah! your japanese is good!

i was at burger king tonight and next to me
were three japanese girls,
i listened to them for about 10 minutes
(understood perhaps less than 40%)

i then said the above sentence opener and took it from there.

i think
just do your best and approach the situation as best you can
i usually try to get into
the mindset
that i may not see the person again
so just
go for it!

[Psy]

すいません。　あなた　は　にほんじん　ですか？
suimasen. anata ha nihonjin desuka?
excuse me, are you japanese?

For the benefit of beginners... mind you that 'ha' is said 'wa,' so phonetically:

suimasen, anata wa nihonjin desu ka?

Just go for it. There have been many times at stores where I've asked people such questions, and not once have they ever been offended by it-- even when they weren't in fact Japanese!

[josiah]

ah yes, sorry i forgot the magical wa!

there are many times when
my friends get mistaken for chinese when a
chinese person starts speaking to them in
chinese...
but thats a whole
different can of
worms!

[Javizy]

A couple of generic questions you could try:

[Your country/town] に来てどのぐらいですか。
[Your country/town] ni kite dono gurai desu ka?
How long has it been since you came to [country].

ご出身はどこですか。
Go-shusshin wa doko desu ka?
Where is your hometown?

ねえ彼女、よかったらコーヒーでもしない?
Nee kanojo, yokattara koohii demo shinai?
Hey baby, how about getting some coffee or something?

Since you're asking a question, the anata's aren't necessary. You're not going to be asking yourself if you're Japanese or where your own hometown is, so it will be understood that you're referring to the listener.

[MichaelMcDonald]

Hi! Thanks for your replies.

Wasn't there some set reply to this, something meaning, "No, my Japanese is terrible"? Peter said it in one of the lessons.

at which point they will (probably) say;

あ！　にほんご　が　じょうず　です　ね！
a! nihongo ga jouzu desu ne!
ah! your japanese is good!

We'll be meeting some Japanese friends this weekend, so I'll force myself to give it a try!

Thanks,
M.

[Javizy]

Hi! Thanks for your replies.

Wasn't there some set reply to this, something meaning, "No, my Japanese is terrible"? Peter said it in one of the lessons.

そんなことはありません。
Sonna koto wa arimasen.
That's not true/no I'm not (lit: there's no such thing).

まだまだです。
Mada mada desu.
I've still got a long way to go.

The first one is the usual way to politely decline a compliment, and you can add the second one afterwards to jazz it up a bit.

[kc8ufv]

Hi! Thanks for your replies.

Wasn't there some set reply to this, something meaning, "No, my Japanese is terrible"? Peter said it in one of the lessons.

at which point they will (probably) say;

あ！　にほんご　が　じょうず　です　ね！
a! nihongo ga jouzu desu ne!
ah! your japanese is good!

We'll be meeting some Japanese friends this weekend, so I'll force myself to give it a try!

Thanks,
M.

I forget the wording Peter used, but there's always 「いいえまだじょすじゃありません」 possibly combined with a nice thick 外人弁 accent.

[kc8ufv]

Hi! Thanks for your replies.

Wasn't there some set reply to this, something meaning, "No, my Japanese is terrible"? Peter said it in one of the lessons.

at which point they will (probably) say;

あ！　にほんご　が　じょうず　です　ね！
a! nihongo ga jouzu desu ne!
ah! your japanese is good!

We'll be meeting some Japanese friends this weekend, so I'll force myself to give it a try!

Thanks,
M.

I forget the wording Peter used, but there's always 「いいえまだじょすじゃありません」

[markystar]

i think peter usually hams it up with そちらこそお上手ですね "your japanese is pretty good too!"

lol

[Psy]

i think peter usually hams it up with そちらこそお上手ですね "your japanese is pretty good too!"

lol

I love it! This reminds me of another answer to 「どのくらい日本にいますか？」(how long will you be in Japan? [ambiguous])　「１８０センチくらいです」 (About 180cm. [talking about height])