2005-12-11

Greetings in Japanese in the office

There are a sizable number of non native Japanese speakers working in Japan. When it comes to greetings in Japanese in the office, they rarely do it right. Very few native Japanese speakers correct them because that's considered impolite and non native Japanese speakers making mistakes in Japanese is acceptable.

Never the less, it's better to do it right. And for native Japanese speakers, hearing incorrect greetings everyday is a bit annoying. So I'd give you some advices.

1. There is no Japanese equivallent of "How are you?"
Native English speakers tend to simply assume there is a Japanese equivalent of "How are you?". So they tend to say "どうですか(Dou desuka)" or "お元気ですか(Ogenki desuka)", etc. after saying Japanese equivalent of "Good morning", "Good afternoon", etc. But that's not a right assumption. There is NO Japanese equivalent. The proper morning greeting in Japanese in the office is "おはようございます(Ohayou gozaimasu)". That's it!

If a person shows up after a sick leave, it's natural to ask the person's condition by saying e.g. "もうすっかりいいのですか(Mou sukkari ii no desuka)" (Are you all right now?). But that's not a greeting but a real question.

2. Saying "see you tomorrow" in Japanese is not simple
Native English speakers tend to memorize one phrase as THE equivalent of "see you tomorrow/next week". But there are several in Japanese depending on the situation.

When you leave office before others do or somebody else leaves office before you do, the standard way is:
Leaving worker A: おさきに失礼します(Osakini shitsurei shimasu)
Staying worker B: おつかれさま(Otsukaresama)
There are colloquial ways used commonly between colleagues. But I'd recommend to stick to the above until you are really sure it's right to be colloquial. For example, you are supposed to be formal and polite to an elder or longer serving person even if that person is at the same or lower rank as you.

A staying worker can always say "おつかれさま". A CEO may say so to a lowest ranked worker and there is nothing wrong with that. And a lowest ranked worker may say so to a CEO. But if a leaving worker is a lot higher ranked as a staying worker, the leaving worker saying "おさきに失礼します" sounds odd. It sounds lacking self-esteem. So in that case, "おさきに(Osakini)" is the right form.

You may leave office together with somebody else. When you part from the person down the road, there are two ways to greet depending on the situation. If the person is senior to you, you are supposed to say "失礼します"(Shitsurei shimazu)". Here, "senior" means that the person is at a higher rank in the office OR elder than you. If the person is equal or junior to you, you are supposed to say "おつかれさま(Otsukaresama)".

In all of these cases, in English, you can say "see you tomorrow". But in Japanese, there are four ways (at least):
"おさきに失礼します"
"おさきに"
"おつかれさま"
"失礼します"
Using a wrong one sounds impolite and/or odd.

4 comments:

學習 said...

I am learning Japanese on my own so I found your post very useful.

Thanks a lot!

Hideyo Imazu said...

I'm so glad my posting is of use for you!

Anonymous said...

Hi

I am working for a Japanese company, learning Japanese now. Thank you very much for this note
ありがとうございました :)

Regards

Ashok

三月うさぎ said...

Hi. I am a Japanese working for an Indian boss. Although he is very fluent in Japanese, I was wondering how can I say お先に失礼します in English.

Found out "See you tommorrow" is no problem.