Japanese - English Language Basics

Basic Japanese

Around 130 million people speak Japanese, the ninth most widely spoken language in the world. Outside Japan itself, there are approximately 5 million people who speak Japanese with some degree of fluency - predominantly descendants of Japanese emigrants in Hawaii, Brazil and other parts of the Americas.

Japanese has 3 alphabets
kanji - Chinese ideograms imported from the sixth century onwards.
hiragana and katakana - both 45 character alphabets. katakana is used mainly for foreign loanwords.

Japanese has an extensive grammatical system to express politeness and formality. There are three main levels of politeness in spoken Japanese:
the plain form (kudaketa)
the simple polite form (teinei)
the advanced polite form (keigo)

Useful Phrases

Useful Japanese phrases for the business traveller or visitor, including basic Japanese words and phrases for travel, emergencies, sports events, dining out and meeting people.

	Lonely Planet Japanese Phrasebook Buy this book from Amazon UK or US
The Basics
eigo hai iie doko? ikura? kippu (domo) arigato toire tabemono nomimono o-mizu sumimasen gomen nasai	English language Yes No Where? How much? Ticket Thank you (very much) Toilet food drink water Excuse me/Sorry I'm sorry
Meeting People
konnichiwa sayonara ja ne watashi wa ........... desu anatano namae wa nan desu ka? yoroshiku onegaishimasu genki desu ka genki desu igirisu jin desu furansu jin desu amerika jin desu eigo wa wakarimasu ka? shashin o totte ii desu ka? nihon ga daisuki aishite-iru takusan sukoshi	Hello Goodbye Bye My name is ................. What is your name? Pleased to meet you How are you? Fine I'm English I'm French I'm American Do you understand English? Can I take your photograph? Japan's great! I love you Lots A little
General
sumimasen, chikatetsu wa doko desu ka eki wa doko desu ka aiteiru heya wa arimasu ka kore wa ikura desu ka nama biiru futatsu kudasai nama biiru oishii eigo no menyu wa arimasu ka ohkii chiisai ne?	Excuse me, where is the subway/underground? Where is the train station? Do you have any vacancies? How much is this? Two draught beers, please draught beer Delicious Is there an English menu? Big Small Isn't it?
Taxi Talk
kuukou kudasai Miyako Hoteru kudasai ryoshusho kudasai	Take me to the airport please To the Miyako Hotel, please Please give me a receipt
Emergencies	Click here for embassies in Japan
keisatsu wo yonde kudasai! kyuukyuusha wo yonde kudasai! taishikan ni renraku shitai desu bengoshi to sodan shitai desu	Call the police! Call an ambulance! I want to contact the embassy I want to consult a lawyer
Stadium Stuff
sumimasen, sutajiamu wa doko desu ka	Excuse me, where's the stadium?
iriguchi deguchi sakkaa waarudokappu go-ru shu-to pee-kay (PK) ko-na-kikku suro inu taijou ganbare, nippon! shinpan go-ru ki-paa bakayaro! Kekkyoku, Buraian-san, zenhan to kohan ga arimasu	Entrance Exit football/soccer World Cup Goal Shot Penalty Corner kick Throw-in Sent off Come on, Japan! Referee Goalkeeper F%ck off! (lit: f%cking idiot!) At the end of the day, Brian, it's a game of two halves...
Numbers Read more here about Japanese numbering
ichi	1
ni	2
san	3
shi	4
go	5
roku	6
nana	7
hachi	8
kyu	9
ju	10

ni-ju	20
go-ju	50

hyaku	100
ni-hyaku	200
go-hyaku	500

sen	1,000
ni-sen	2,000
go-sen	5,000

ichi-man	10,000
ni-man	20,000
go-man	50,000

Currency
en	Japanese Yen
roku-man ni-sen go-hyaku nana-ju yon en	62,574 yen