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Inappropriate ways for answering a phone

Posted on November 17th, 2017 by ajadmin

Keigo (敬語けいご) is difficult even for those who have been working in companies for a long time, in particular when answering a phone because it is not able to communicate by seeing each others’ face and body language. Undoubtedly, how people answer phone calls is very critical for the corporate image. Today, I will introduce some typical examples of the wrong ways for answering a phone.

1. Don’t use “そうなんですね” to chime in, especially for the first time to have a conversation with a customer, because it is a quite casual form of the phrase. Instead, you could use “さようでございますか”.

2. Using too much “～させていただきます” is also inappropriate. For example, you might think it is correct to say “確認させていただきます” “折り返しご連絡させていただきます”. Although it is one of the standard forms of Keigo in the textbook, it doesn’t mean that it is applicable to all scenarios. Sometimes you should use “～いたします” when necessary. Hence, “確認いたします” “折り返しご連絡いたします” is more appropriate.

3. It is not necessary to use “休暇を頂戴しております” when telling your customer that your colleague is on vacation. Although 頂戴する is the Keigo form of もらう, it can only be used when you are receiving something from the customer. However, as your colleague is taking a vacation from your own company, you don’t use Keigo.

I hope it could be helpful for you sometime. See you next week!

Since when did Japanese start emphasizing the punctuality?

Posted on November 10th, 2017 by ajadmin

Japanese is famous for their extremely strict punctuality because punctuality is regarded as a virtue in Japan. The most well-known example is the train (電車でんしゃ). The standard error of the train schedule is 1 minute. More amazingly, Shinkansen (新幹線しんかんせん), known as the bullet train, has the standard error of only 15 seconds. Japanese usually get confused and plagued with the “tolerance” and “slowness” of foreign countries’ life pace. For example, my friend told me a story that he contacted the air conditioner company to fix the broken air conditioner in his house, but was told that the technical support would go to his house “between Monday and Wednesday”. That kind of response is absolutely unbelievable and unacceptable in Japan. In contrast, the Japanese punctuality is kind of crazy to foreigners as well.

The question is since when did Japanese start emphasizing the punctuality? Some say Japanese was not punctual in the past. In 明治時代 (めいじじだい, Meiji period), it was normal that the train is late for 30 minutes. Factory workers were usually late as well. From the 1980s, the so-called 科学的管理法(かがくてきかんりほう, Scientific management) was adopted to improve the efficiency of the workplace. One of the main purposes of Scientific management is to quantify the workload by time. It said that since the introduction of the management method in the early part of the 昭和時代(しょうわじだい, Showa era), the delay in public institutions and enterprises and the late arrival of workers have been reduced. In addition, there is also arguments saying that the 武士(ぶし, warriors) would be considered stupid if they are late or absent in the 江戸時代(えどじだい, Edo period). From this residual notion, people are beginning to realize punctuality. I do not know whether it is with the Japanese strict time habits, there will always be a clock in the Japanese parks, shops, buildings and wherever possible.

Punctuality plays a very important role in having a good life in Japan. So please be punctual when you go to Japan.

See you next week.

Etiquette for using umbrellas in Japan

Posted on November 3rd, 2017 by ajadmin

Don’t be surprised. Yes, I’ll introduce the etiquette for using the umbrella today. Unlike Australia, Japan doesn’t have wide roads or spacious sidewalks but with a relatively large population. It is quite annoying walking on the congested streets particularly in rainy days where everyone uses an umbrella. Hence, people are usually careful about not bothering others by their umbrellas. By learning the tips below, I believe you won’t have any trouble when you walk on the street on a rainy day if you go to Japan sometime in the future.

1. Before you enter into a building, put your umbrella in the umbrella stand if there is one. In the case for no umbrella stand, you may need to prepare a plastic bag in advance.

2. Before you open your umbrella, make sure no one closely standing around you. Open an umbrella right in front of someone is very rude. In contrast, please be careful when you close your umbrella as well.

3. When you come across someone while both of you are using an umbrella, please move your umbrella to the opposite side of that person otherwise your umbrella will have a “road accident”.

4. Bringing a wet umbrella into a train will be very annoying. So make sure to get rid of the water as possible as you can (by shaking, wiping or other ways) before taking the train.

I hope these tips could be helpful sometime. Have a nice weekend.

The difference among “気持ち”, ”機嫌” and ”気分”.

Posted on October 27th, 2017 by ajadmin

Have you ever thought about the difference among “気持ち”, ”機嫌” and ”気分”? Do you fully understand which word is the appropriate one under what situation when you want to express “feeling”? Today, I’ll show you how to distinguish these 3 words.

With 3 words, “気持ち” is the word with the broadest meaning. In general, it describes a mental state such as happy or sad. Therefore, you can express people’s feeling using a phrase like “嬉しい気持ち” or ”悲しい気持ち”. Meanwhile, it also means mental preparation.

Comparing with”気持ち”, “機嫌” represents a temporary mood. Except “嬉しい” and ”悲しい”, “機嫌” covers a wide range of types of feelings. However, you can only use good or bad to describe “機嫌”. In contrast, “気分” is also the word to describe a temporary feeling as “機嫌”. However, comparing with “機嫌” which represents the mental feeling, “気分” is usually used to express the physical feeling.

Let’s go through a small practice. Please try to consider the difference among “気持ちが悪い”, ”機嫌が悪い” and ”気分が悪い”. It is not simply just adding 悪い on those words. 機嫌が悪い means that a person is temporarily in a bad mood such as anxiety. 気分が悪い need to be considered in two different situations. If the reason for 悪い is because of an external issue, then it means the bad feeling about that issue. If the reason for 悪いis because of an internal issue, then it means the bad physical condition such as feeling like vomiting. 気持ちが悪い can be used to describe the bad physical condition as well, though, it can also mean the disgust about something.

See you next week.

初めまして vs 始めまして

Posted on October 21st, 2017 by ajadmin

In general, one of the phrases that a Japanese learner learned in the very first stage is “はじめまして”. However, in terms of Kanji, which one do you think is appropriate for this phrase: 初めまして or 始めまして?

Personally, I thought it should be “初めまして”. The reason is that… well… somehow… I don’t know… it should be that way. (embarrassed…) However, there are different explanations in different dictionaries. Some say that it should be “始めまして”. In contrast, some say “初” is the way to describe the “time”, and “始” is to describe “things” or “event”. However, they also say there is no an absolute answer for that.

After the investigation, my understanding is that there is a trend for the usage whereas both Kanji are correct for “はじめまして”.

When it comes to the meaning of “start”, you should use “始”. In contrast, when it comes to “the first time”, you should use “初”. Let’s practice by the following examples.

９時ちょうどになったら、テストをはじめてください。(始めて)

はじめてこのセミナーに参加される方は、ここに名前を書いてください。(初めて)

先月から日本語の勉強をはじめました。(始め)

日本語の勉強は　はじめてですか？(初めて)

See you next week!