Questions tagged [greetings]
挨拶. Reciprocal verbal exchanges like "hello". Includes slang, colloquial, dialectal, and differing politeness levels.
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When did 「ヤッホー」 become a popular greeting?
The etymology of the very casual greeting 「ヤッホー」 appears disputed and undecided. Various theories and hypotheses have been suggested. This site lists German, Hebrew, and 山伏 as possible sources. A lot ...
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When is it appropriate to use ごくろうさま?
I've seen お疲れさま and ご[苦労]{くろう}さま used to say "Thank you" after some had done work of some type. After reading the お疲れさま thread, I realize that the two are not interchangeable. So when do you use ご[苦労]{...
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When addressing an audience at night, is it generally popular to say konnichiwa?
I've heard some Japanese singers use konnichiwa in the evenings when greeting an audience. Ordinarily I've been taught to use konbanwa at night.
As a performer myself, I will be addressing a small ...
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How would you say "I love you" as a goodbye? [closed]
In English, if you are saying goodbye to or ending a call with a loved one, you would usually say "I love you," and the listener responds with "I love you too."
Is there an ...
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Is お needed before 誕生日おめでとう (Happy birthday)?
お誕生日おめでとう vs 誕生日おめでとう
What's the difference? And is it needed?
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Why does 「...ことと思います」mean "I hope that ..."?
In this Hinative question about the best way to translate the simple small-talk phrase "I hope you had a good weekend", two native Japanese speakers both reply with a "...ことと思います" ...
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what's the difference
*I just started learning these and they really confused me whats the difference between (Douzo yoroshiku) and Hajimemashite.
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Writing a birthday letter to a friend
Okay here is my dilemma, I am going to a write to a Japanese friend a birthday letter but I don't know how should I construct it; I've tried to search around the net and I found both formal and ...
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Which is correct: こんばんわ or こんばんは?
I've seen both こんばんわ and こんばんは used; which is correct here? If we interpret the は as the topic particle, は would seem correct, but it seems that わ is used quite frequently anyway...
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How to say hello and goodbye in shops?
I am currently staying in Japan for four weeks. I learned to read & write kana and some basic Japanese (basic particles and sentence structure and some vocabulary), but as you can imagine I’m ...
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Shortened Greeting? [duplicate]
I would like to know of what term "ちゃーす" is the abbreviated version. It appears to be a greeting. Translation software and my closest dictionary were of no help.
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"Good day" as "良い一日": Yoi ichi-nichi vs Yoi tsuitachi?
Do Japanese say "Good day" as the conventional way of their greetings (?):
良い一日。(?)
Furthermore, it seems that:
Google pronounced this as
Yoi ichi-nichi.
But the Google translator shows:...
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Is はじめまして only suitable for the first contact?
When I'm contacting a colleague for the first time and we're communicating online, I can use はじめまして as part of my greeting. Likewise, if I'm meeting someone for the first time and it is an in-person ...
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What is the correct way of saying "see you"?
I've started learning japanese not long ago, from what I've learned the correct way to say "see you" is じゃ【ja】、また【mata】.
But I've just seen a show and a character said じゃね【ja ne】.
So I searched a ...
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Does 左様なら (sayōnara) have Chinese roots?
A related question: What does さようなら (左様なら) have to do with "left"?
The English-language A.Word.A.Day list this week is doing a "Words borrowed from Japanese" theme; today's word was ...
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What's the difference between じゃあね and またね?
My teacher told me years ago about またね, but recently I've heard じゃあね used similarly. What's the difference between じゃあね and またね? Which one is preferable?
Is there other phrases, that can be used to ...
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What is the recommended timing for あけおめ ことよろ?
Contrarily to the abbreviated informal (if not rude) version I used in the title, the usual greeting for the New Year is quite long:
明けましておめでとうございます。今年もよろしくお願いします。
Those are two sentences, and it ...
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Email signature detection - what are some common phrases to sign off emails? [closed]
I am a developer on Speaking Email, an app that reads out email in any language.
I am working on our email signature detector and I'm looking for some examples of Japanese phrases that would be ...
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How may I express concern without asking if the person is 'OK' but wanting them to be 'OK'?
How may I express concern without asking if the person is 'OK' but wanting them to be 'OK'?
It's not obvious how to do so in English. In English you might say something like "get well soon", but that'...
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Can "yee ka ka desu ka" mean "how are you?"
I was learning Japanese a few years ago and a phrase I picked up (I think from the Pimsleur program) was "Yee ka ka desu ka" (or maybe the "Yee" was written as "ii" to pronounce as a short form of "ee"...
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Other than はじめまして, what can we say in our introduction?
Other than はじめまして, what else can we say at the beginning of our introduction when meeting someone for the first time? Also, what else do we need to say when introducing ourselves other than our name ...
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Congratulating someone on the new Era/Emperor
As Japan moves into the Reiwa (令和) era, I was wondering if any traditional greetings exist to congratulate someone on the new Era, Emperor or Year of the Japanese calendar?
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How common is こちらこそ used? Is it considered very formal?
If i meet a friend's friend and he/she says よろしくお願いします, would people usually say こちらこそ?
I saw this in the NHK japanese lesson page and was wondering if this is considered very formal and weird if i ...
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How to address a company in an email? [duplicate]
When writing an email to a person I would add 様 or "sama" at the end of the name in the email opening. However if I'm writing to a company and don't know the recipient's name would I add "sama" as ...
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Meaning of ちはース
Context: a boy shouts 「ちはース」 after seeing that a fan club for a boxer has only female members. He is happy to discover this since he is the kind of guy that always tries to flirt with pretty girls.
I ...
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What are valid responses to the expressions 「はじめまして」 and 「よろしくおねがいします」 used in introductions?
I came across a learn-Japanese book from the 1980s and wanted to know what you guys think. The book gave a general formula for introduction and here is how it goes:
Someone says their name with any ...
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How do I greet a group of people in different time zones?
Let's say a group of friends from different countries are in a Skype call. For me, perhaps it's morning, while others are in midday or nighttime hours in their respective countries.
When in a one-on-...
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How to reply to 「いま、すごく幸せです？」
I have a colleague who is blessed with a girl child and I posted a greeting saying
おめでとうございます
In reply to this, he said
ありがとう。いま、すごく幸せです？
I guess he is asking me about my well being. How ...
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Generic Japanese greeting new people?
The most commonly cited one is Konnichiwa, but knowing that is time specific, can it be used generically in all hours of the day as a "hello" instead of a specific "good afternoon"? Ohayou and ...
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Is おはようです just weird
I'm watching the anime ひぐらしのなく頃に. There's a character in it who greets people with おはようです. At first I thought it was just a cute affectation, but then I wondered, if おはようございます is okay then why not ...
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What is the full expression of hajimemashite / 始めまして?
I've read that はじめました or 〜まして is a shortened form of an expression originally meaning “I meet you for the first time”.
If that's true, then what is the full expression?
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Online versus face to face [duplicate]
Is it ok to still say はじめまして to a Japanese person when you have been talking online prior to meeting face to face? Or would that be weird?
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How to situationally respond to 「お元気ですか」?
I'm curious about how native speakers actually respond to the simple question of 「お元気ですか。」 I'm currently going into my third year of studying Japanese. My first-year Japanese professor impressed upon ...
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Help with translation of 今後ともよろしくお願い致します
こちらこそありがとうございます！
今後ともよろしくお願い致します🙇♂️
First sentence is fine.
Second is tricky, I don't know exactly meaning.
But my guess is, From now on we can be friends. is it correct and what is this male ...
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Is 「お元気ですか」 an acceptable/common greeting?
English (and other languages) speakers often use "How are you?", "What's up?", "How's it going?" and similar phrases as greetings. Other language speakers and cultures will refrain from asking such a ...
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Casual wedding greetings for friends
I wanted to greet my friends for their wedding. I suppose it would go something like this:
“Wishing you a lifetime of love and happiness!”
How would the japanese translation go? “... ご結婚お幸せに！”
...
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What is the correct response to "Osoreirimasu"?
If someone were to say that to me, what would I say in response? Do I thank them as well, for their service? Do I say "Sumimasen"?
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What's the difference between 謹賀新年, 明けましておめでとうございます, and 新年おめでとうございます, as New Year's greetings?
Aside from translation differences, I was never sure of what distinguishes them from each other. Anyone else know?
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How to greet your workmates casually in Japanese IT field office?
How 30-50 year old Japanese male would say hello to another male colleague in same age in same organisational level in IT company? I'm looking for everyday based not formal way to communicate.
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When you introduce yourself to someone, do you say your first name first, or your last name first?
title says all basically
if someone (i'll use the name bob smith as an example) were to introduce themselves, would they call themselves "smith bob" or just "bob smith"
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Respect for the Aged Greeting
Sorry if this is off topic, but today is respect for the aged day in Japan, and I'm unsure how to greet elderly individuals, if at all. What would be the proper greeting? Would one greet individuals ...
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Can "mata itsuka" be used in casual conversation?
Recently I came across this exchange:
Person A: Ja ne.
Person B: Mata aou.
Person C: Ja ne. Mata itsuka.
Real casual till that last line. I've been told that "itsuka" is a way to express uncertainty....
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Is こんにちは a question?
I came across a cartoon of a Japanese lesson with
こんにちは？
On a blackboard. Is the greeting actually a question? The impression I have (eg from https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/今日は ) is that ...
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Which is a Better Introduction?
If I were to introduce myself, which would be better?
はじめまして、あかみです。どうぞよろしく。
はじめまして、あかみです。よろしくお願いします。
How would you introduce yourself? Any better recommendations instead of 1 & 2 ?!
Thanks :D
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Is it appropriate (and friendly) to say こんにちは to random people?
For example, if I pass a random person on the sidewalk in Japan, would it be appropriate to say こんにちは? I've had people do that to me. Is it considered friendly? Polite? Rude? Does it depend on ...
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Meaning of はにゃせ or はにやせ
Context: two people are walking on a street and a tramp says to them:
はにゃせー、バカヤロー
I'm not sure if it's はにゃせ or はにやせ, because it is written in small fonts, I am attaching an image so you can tell. ...
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The uses of おはよう, こんばんわ and おやすみ
How should I use ohayō, konbanwa and oyasumi? As a greeting or as a goodbye?
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how to make clear that your japanese is bad?
When I travelled Japan I always started off talking to Japanese people with the following sentence:
すいません、私の日本語は下手です。。。
This would always get the typical "oh" and nodding heads in answer and then ...
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Saying goodbye to a store clerk
Many times I find myself saying thanks to a store clerk, flowed by their saying thank you very much. I am used to walking away saying bye or have a nice day, but am not sure what the equivalent is. ...
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"お休みなさい" not appropriate between male neighbours?
In a japanese マンション I noticed that after sharing the common elevator when going back home at night, most of the female residents would greet by "お休みなさい" before leaving, while it seemed that male ...
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