Being Polite

6/26/2021

Speaking Politely

It’s always a good idea to act and speak politely.

The Japanese 🇯🇵 language is a very polite language. Similar to French 🇫🇷 how you speak to an adult is sometimes different from how you speak to a friend. If in doubt, it’s always best to use
polite (formal) speech.

Speaking politely in Japanese can take on many forms.

Here are just a few:

🍥 Add “gozaimasu” to certain greetings to show respect
Gozaimasu = ございます

🍥 Formal verbs use the “masu” form
Masu = ます

🍥 Handshakes 🤝 are not as common in Japan as they are in North America and other countries. When meeting someone, you often bow 🙏🏽 instead of shaking hands.

You have already learnt that there is informal and formal speech in Japanese.

Do you remember the difference between the two?

That’s right!

Informal speech = how you would speak to friends

Formal speech = how you speak to adults and strangers

Here are some examples:

Japanese Verbs

Japanese children are taught the informal forms of verbs. They later learn the formal forms.

I am only going to teach you the formal forms.

This is important since you are a visitor to Japan.