What is the difference between こんにちは and もしもし?

Question

I will be in Japan in a few weeks and I am trying to learn the basic to be as polite as possible.

One of the first things I did was try some basic stuff with Google Translate but I feel lost already.

When I try to translate hello from english to japanese I get: こんにちは

When I try Hello I get: もしもし

Why is there a difference, is this a Google issue or there is a real difference between both? Which one should I use to say: Hello

Thanks!

Answer 1

こんにちは is "Hello!" or "Good day!", a greeting for meeting someone in any sort of circumstance.

もしもし is how you answer a phone. Usually both parties say もしもし in turn, before the caller identifies himself ("Hi, it's John"). Outside phone conversations, it is also used to get someone's attention, but I feel it is quite direct, more like "Hey!". (To get someone's attention, the better alternative would be to clear your throat, say え～っと, or すみません, or any combination of these three options.)

To summarize, use こんにちは when you mean "Hello!" and もしもし only when answering the phone.