Hello
Hello is commonly translated to Konnichiwa (Kon-ee-chee-wa).This is basically correct. Although in Japan greetings are more strongly based on the time of day than say English. In the morning on meeting someone you know – a Japanese person is highly unlikely to say “konnicihwa”. Instead they will say the equivalent of good morning.
Hello said in the morning (like “good morning) is Ohaiyou Gozaimasu (O-hi-yo Go-za-eye-mass).
Hello said around noon is good old, Konnichiwa.
Hello said after noon (like “good afternoon”) is Konbanwa (Kon-ban-wa).
That’s pretty much all the greetings you’ll need. If you’re answering the phone, rather, than saying one of the above you say “Moshi, Moshi” (mosh-ee, mosh-ee).
It you haven’t seen each other in a long time then something a little like, “long time no see” is commonly said – Sashiburi (sa-she-bu-ree)
Goodbye
I’m sure most people are familiar with goodbye it’s Sayonara (Sa-yo-na-ra).If you’re a close friend the casual way of saying goodbye is Ja-ne (like jar-neigh!)
Japanese people will also say “bai – bai” can you imagine how this is pronounced? (Pro-tip: Bye bye)
If it’s very late then you will be more likely to say “Good Night” this is “Oyasuminasai” (Oi!-ya-sue-me-naa-sa-eye).
You are now are an expert greeter and can have that job as a door man that you’ve always secretly longed for.
Edit: There have been a few comments about さよなら having a う as in さようなら。Both spellings are used see (http://language.tiu.ac.jp/materials/jpn/yomi/yomi02.html). In this page I've tried to give the a spelling so that some coming from English would be more likely to pronounce it recognisably.
Want to learn more the Hello and Goodbye? Try JapanesePod101.
16 comments:
Konbanwa, that is a very helpful post!
Sayonara!
Sayonara is spelled "sayounara"
It can't be really, can it? Most Japanese words, when rendered in English, are spelled with a single-vowel/single-consonant combination equating to an approximation of the sound. Where there are two vowels together, they are pronounced as separate syllables.
There are, of course, exceptions.
The proper rendering of the word is, apparently, Sayōnara.
Hey.. I was just reading in Shojo Beat magazine that the casual way to say good bye is spelled "Jyaane"..
I've never seen that before, but I have seen "Ja-ne". Does this mean "ja-ne" is a fluke? I've seen people use "Jyaane" also.. so.. which is the right one?? o.o
Konbanwa is better translated for the evening or early night.
As far as the romanji or roman alphabet renderings of Japanese--there is NO standard method.
However, when saying good-bye or good-morning you will use an extra vowel in the word to emphasize formality.
Ohayo
or
Ohayou Gozaimasu
(Gozaimasu is a formality word that's something like "very much")
Sayonara
or
Sayounara
(You actually ADD an extra syllable when saying it)
"Most Japanese words, when rendered in English, are spelled with a single-vowel/single-consonant combination"
The Japanese language is quantized into a syllabary which is comprised of vowel and consonant/vowel combinations:
a i u e o and then almost every consonant attached to the front of those. The exception is the syllable N which when not accompanied by a vowel is more like... humming.
For example:
Ni-N-Te-N-Do
Please check out www.japanese999.com It has a list of "How to say...in Japanese" greeting posts.
In Japanese, "ja" is written in hiragana as a combination of the "ji" sound and the "ya" sound. In textbook romaji it should be written as "ja", but many make the mistake of writing it as "jya".
Other examples are:
syo and sho
cya and cha....
But, I have never seen or heard it as "jar"...
very useful. arigato i guess ;]
さよなら
さ よ な ら
sa yo na ra
- sayonara
thats the literal Romaji (english/roman alphabet) translation of the hirigana. It would be spelt like that - generally with japanese the trend is to directly convert the symbols into romaji, however the pronunciation varies - pronunciation that you may not necessarily write, depends (see Dan's comment above..)
here's some extras phrases:
Dewa Mata - See you later
ではまた。
Mata ashita. - see you tomorrow
また明日。
the accent on the o in sayonara is to represent that there is a u after the o
finally i can get that job as a doorman arigatō
i have rosetta stone and it's さようなら
I always love learning languages this way :P infographs help me a bunch like in this http://howtohacklife101.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-say-i-love-you-and-hello-in.html
Cool!
Really helpful :)
Ohayou gozaimasu! I'm 11 years old and studying Japanese myself. Not having a teacher is tough, but I'm learning lots on my own and can now communicate with Japanese students at my boarding school. I was adopted from China and studied Chinese for about 3 years at the age of 3 to 6. I read lots of manga and draw it too. I really am serious about getting this goal done. I tell all my friends that think I can't do this on my own that I will never give up.
Arigato! Sayonara! :D
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