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keigo and japanese culture

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purmondiswas
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Joined: April 18th, 2007 5:19 am

keigo and japanese culture

Postby purmondiswas » April 18th, 2007 5:55 am

皆様へ、

はじめまして.  purmondiswasと申します。 よろしくお願いいたします。
お急がしところで申し訳ありませんけど、日本の敬語の文化についてちょっと変わった質問があります。

実は、私は日本に行ったことがあるけど、その時、私はいつも敬語を使っておりました。 コンビニにも使っておりました。
例えばコンビニで何かを買った後で、店員さんにお礼を伝いたい時に私は「ありがとうございました」と言いました。

普通はそう言うべきですか?
それとも「どうも」でも言えますか?この場合は普通の日本人の方何をおっしゃいますか?

長い質問、そして下手な日本語で、申し訳ありませんでした。
お返事をお待ちしております!

Hello Everyone,

Sorry to bother you, but I have kind of a strange question. Actually, I've been to Japan before, and when I was there I would always use keigo, even in convenience stores.

For example, after buying something, I would say arigatou gozaimashita to the employee to express my thanks.
Is it necessary to say thanks this way? Or is "doumo" good enough? What would a normal Japanese person say?

Sorry for the long message written in poor Japanese (and English :) ).
Thank you very much!

Bueller_007
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Posts: 960
Joined: April 24th, 2006 8:29 am

Re: keigo and japanese culture

Postby Bueller_007 » April 18th, 2007 6:10 am

purmondiswas wrote:What would a normal Japanese person say?

Nothing.

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purmondiswas
New in Town
Posts: 3
Joined: April 18th, 2007 5:19 am

Re: keigo and japanese culture

Postby purmondiswas » April 18th, 2007 6:14 am

Bueller_007 wrote:
purmondiswas wrote:What would a normal Japanese person say?

Nothing.


Ah. Thank you!

Sorry to ask another question: how about in a restaurant, when the waiter or waitress brings the food or something that I requested? Would "doumo" work?

It's these kinds of everyday cultural things that I didn't learn in a formal Japanese class.

Thanks again!
:D

dmr214
Established Presence
Posts: 58
Joined: February 2nd, 2007 5:12 am

Postby dmr214 » April 18th, 2007 8:25 am

You can say domo or arigatou, or a little eshaku style (bow/nod your head), but why are you using so much keigo?

Actually come to think of it, is Arigatou gozaimashita even considered keigo?

Bueller_007
Expert on Something
Posts: 960
Joined: April 24th, 2006 8:29 am

Postby Bueller_007 » April 18th, 2007 10:38 am

dmr214 wrote:You can say domo or arigatou, or a little eshaku style (bow/nod your head), but why are you using so much keigo?

Actually come to think of it, is Arigatou gozaimashita even considered keigo?

Yes. Gozaimasu here is the polite (teineigo) form of arimasu. Teineigo = keigo.

purmondiswas
New in Town
Posts: 3
Joined: April 18th, 2007 5:19 am

Postby purmondiswas » April 18th, 2007 12:12 pm

dmr214 wrote:You can say domo or arigatou, or a little eshaku style (bow/nod your head), but why are you using so much keigo?

Actually come to think of it, is Arigatou gozaimashita even considered keigo?


Actually, we really we're taught much else in Japanese class. It was all ~です/~ます, 尊敬語, and 謙譲語. We were not taught much "normal" speech and I found it difficult when I was talking to acquaintances my age group or even people that were younger than me.

They were always saying: "普通でいい," and at best (i.e. using the least formal speech I knew) I was always like: "敬語とかしかわかりませんので、すみません!"

So if I have a recommendation to college level Japanese course, it is to teach normal speech as part of the curriculum.

By the way, thanks for the feed back everyone :D
Qwerty, the person who invented the modern keyboard layout, placed his name and a typewriter in the top row of the keyboard :o

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