Interesting the differences in how formal languages differ from common usage. I belong to a website fraturing Japanese films. (Run by a Vietnamese Gentleman interestingly). Noting that I was American, my greeting was customized to "Howdy". I found it endearing that they would attempt to use an American greeting, even though no one has ever said "Howdy" to me in my life. Its only used in certain parts of the country. Arigato Goziemasu thank you for your teachings, very informative!
People still use the base phrase 元気 and ですか is used all time for polite questions. So it still useful to know sentence structure in general but if you want to know what Japanese people usually say watch drama, reality, or slice life anime. Also you are a foreigner so most people will be happy that you speak Japanese at all. What actually worse is teaching Romaji that a crutch since nothing is written in Romaji and the only time you use it is for typing.
@@ZombieOrgasm I would add immersion at the right level though, because it if its to advanced you get lost in it and stop listening to it, make sure you are able to comprehend about 40-50% more or less.
I really like the way you're arranging your subtitles. :) Really helps people who are trying to decipher a Japanese text before reading the translation to see how accurate our own attempt at translating was.
I always found that asking "How are you?" is just a formally and not a real question to ask people. I could be having the worst day of my life and still answer "Good, good, and you?" just to get on with the conversation.
That depends on the country. In the U.S.A. that might be the case, here in The Netherlands not so much most of the time. If someone asks 'How are you' they expect an honest answer. Cultural differences.
@@renefrijhoff2484 Oooh it's the same in Finland! I would love to see a map of this: in which country is "how are you" a greeting and which a real question 🤔
This is true, but even in the US there are sometimes where you might mean it as a real question. If the other person had been sick or injured, as Yuta mentioned, or if they had just gone through some difficulty. That's pretty much done in inflection, though. "How *are* you?" or with a sympathetic facial expression or something.
@@renefrijhoff2484 how often would someone say "how are you?" Maybe its because ireland is a very hide your emotions and only use sarcasm country but i dont think ive ever been asked this in my life except for job interviews
I've seen 'o genki desu ka' once, in anime, and it was an estranged father uncomfortably asking his son how things have been as if expecting what happens next--the son immediately starts extorting him for money, leveraging the fact that the father has been absent for so long that's all he's good for. I feel like the phrase was written in explicitly to show the dominant and overbearing position the son was in over the father, who only really wanted to be a good dad but never had the opportunity, and the son was just generally not a very good person.
I think because of they way my brain takes an (American)English approach to Japanese, it's always interesting to me when Yuta says about some phrase, "Nobody says [polite phrase]." "They say [casual form of the same thing]." To me that always sounds like "so, they do say it, just in the casual form," while Yuta treats it as though it's a completely different phrase. And I suppose that's because from a Japanese perspective, it is. Hard to explain what I mean. So, like, to my ear, the difference between "おはようございます" and "おはよう” read like the difference between saying "Good morning." and "mornin'." The exact same thing, just abbreviated for casual speech. While Japanese seems to treat these as completely different phrases with very little overlap. Similarly, "お元気ですか“ vs "元気？” to "How are you?" vs "How ya doin'?" Maybe it's because while, in English, you could say the more 'formal' version or the casual version with a friend interchangeably and it wouldn't really be weird, whereas in Japanese, you'd basically never say the full phrase to a friend. Or maybe the issue is my viewing the polite form as the "full phrase" while the casual one is abbreviated and that's not how Japanese think about the difference at all. I dunno, maybe none of that makes sense :P And I know his point was that they don't often say "元気？” either, but that was just the example at hand, I've noticed this phenomenon elsewhere too.
It's hard to wrap your head around it since we don't have equivalents of "Casual speech" and "Normal speech" in English, it's a little bit more noticeable in Spanish I'd say, but, just know, that differentiation is extremely important in Japanese, think of it as someone speaking ye old English vs someone using Modern casual Speech and how that would completely change the tone of a conversation (leading also to awkward situations and misunderstandings)
Genki is objectively not a good foundation and I have seen many people get stuck in the way that they learn because of the way genki takes incorrect shortcuts in teaching. Do yourself a favor and use Tae Kims guide to Japanese grammar instead and start consuming content and learning vocabulary intuitively through exposure.
It may sound weird, but I treat saying "Genki?" the same way we do in English. In the UK, it is common to greet friends and family with "Alright?" or "You alright?" and they don't usually need a reply, you can just say "alright" back. I use this with Japanese friends now and then. But they also know my Japanese is limited, so me using Genki a lot makes sense to them.
I suppose the issue is that having some kind of opening greeting like "Like hey how are you doing" or something along those lines feels very natural in English and it can feel very awkward or rude to skip it and go straight in to the rest of the conversation. So it can be hard when you're still at that stage where you still need to process a sentence in English first then translate it to Japanese before speaking.
The course that I'm learning from (Human Japanese) had a cultural note about the term "genki", noting that it meant "healthy" and that using "genki desu ka?" too regularly like we would use "how are you" in English (every day for example) comes across more like you're concerned for their health than actually asking how they're doing. Is this accurate?
Not a native speaker, but in my experience native English speakers aren't really interested in how you/we are doing when they ask. It is just a polite greeting in English. That is why nobody actually answers it. It's just that many textbooks don't take culture into account, thus mirror-translating the English greeting.
Lots of Americans care, how you are doing or least want to hear what you are doing. Many people in the US also answer but usually answer it briefly, I am doing well or not so go or something good happened. Oversharing in the US is pretty common.
This is inverted in finnish culture, if you ask "how are you?" or its other variations, you can expect usually somewhat more honest answer to it. This is why you dont ask this from complete strangers or people you dont know. More of a personal question usually, than something you just throw around.
interesting. as a german this feels kinda familiar in another way. i often hear that americans actually just ask "how are you?" or something like that but don't expect to be answered, and are surprised when a german would answer them how they are (and many germans will actually be straight if they feel bad and tell you). so from my perspective, i feel "how are you?" is weird as well if you don't mean it as a genuine question but just as a greeting. it doesn't feel sensible to even ask at all otherwise.
I find that strange as well. Im talking a lot of English at my international workplace as a German, and this greeting formula comes up all the time. And its always just an awkward "fine" as a response. Some people use it every time i talk to them, which makes it incredibly awkward. Sometimes i would like to just answer "Same as 2 hours ago, genius" xD With friends in German i often use "Wie gehts? (How are you?)" as a greeting with friends, but then its meant as an actual question.
weird. as an English person 'you alright?' is a pretty common greeting but Americans never understand that its a stand in for hello and not an actual question, so its weird that you've experienced this from an American person.
@@UwU_for_Christ As a American I actually want to know how a person is doing and lot of people in the US like to know people story. It not always a stand in for hello. Being noisy in the US is expected, the overshare is really common here.
@@UwU_for_Christ it's just different, to an American "how are you" just reduces to "hi" and we lie and say fine, if a Brit were to ask me "you alright?" I may have not previously known it's just a greeting because different words are used
Thank you for your video. I really appreciate you covering this topic. I still don't totally understand this, as it still seems weird. Why it seems weird: 'Genki' means something like 'are you good/happy/energetic'? I'm not using a translator. I've been in Japan for 4 months, and I'm going off what 'genki' seems to mean. This question though, in a linguistic sense, seems to limit the responder to those particular emotions though... and I am sure I'm not understanding something cultural here. I teach English, and I ask my students, "How are you?" Sometimes they are tired, and they say, "I'm tired". Sometimes they are hungry, and they say, "I'm hungry". Are you 'genki'? Well, actually no, I'm tired, but not NOT genki... I'm not sure how that works. I'm glad to be here, but I'm also having other feelings... It becomes confusing how to ask about that, and how to express that. Genki desu ka? Sure, but I'm also this and that... Also, in a place like the U.S., "How's it going?" can be a good conversation starter. In Japan, "Genki desu ka?" seems like a very yes/no question, but my experience is limited. Is that right, or am I mis-interpreting things? When I get asked that question, "Genki desu ka?", I feel like I'm being asked, "Are you happy and full of energy!!!!?" Sometimes, I'd like to elaborate that, "I'm good, but I'm a little tired, a bit confused, and not really 'full' of energy but okay - can we do the day like normal people whom are not excited about everything?" I don't completely know for sure if that's what I'm being asked, but I'd like to hope there's a 'How's it going?', though at this point I don't think there is... Genki desu ka? What are my options?
Your videos and emails are so helpful. I'm doing Duolingo and I don't always understand what I'm learning until I watch one of your videos that has to do with a similar lesson. Much appreciated 🙏
You do know that Yuta dunked hard on Duolingo and how bad it is right. Since I am also learning Japanese right now I could give you better recommend materials if you are interested. 幸運を祈ります。
You can't depend on just Duolingo unless you have rich outside knowledge going into it, which many people don't. Human Japanese is good for understanding concepts and cultures as well as the language. I use the genki textbook which gives a lot of context clues as well. Most of the things I use are free and I'm an advanced beginner and close to being able to probably taking N5 and N4 JLPT exams if they were available near me. Japanese gets easier as you practice.
@@southcoastinventors6583 he dunked hard on it as a non-native English speaker. Duolingo purposely rewords and rephrases things to be understood by English speakers but the culture meaning is often hard to explain when your just directly translating the "gist" of what was said. You see it in subtitles all the time where the Japanese dub means one thing and the English sub says something similar but not exactly what was said in Japanese. I personally like that Duolingo breaks up the Japanese words by syllables to help you know how to spell it (I use a Japanese keyboard) so I could spell things in hiragana after my first week simply because I had the words sounded out to me.
@@HouseMDaddict Well if your talking about the first week then its okay, if your talking about long term then nah. I find it pretty easy to type with Microsoft IME. I mean you always should learn by words then sentences so that's fine but Duolingo is path to not learn Japanese in the long run. Could be better for other languages though.
"how are you" is definitely a filler greeting word, shown by how we almost never actually answer it as a real question but with greeting type answers. It seems japanese has a similar greeting style to chinese in this way, I wonder if japanese has there own version of generic questions, like english "how are you" or chinese "have you eaten"
1:17 I don’t know any English speakers who ask eachother “How are you?” when they wake up in the same apartment or house. That’s a ridiculous example. We just say “Good morning”
This is highly individual. I personally am prone to saying it multiple times a day to the same person. That's definitely not the "correct" way to do it, but it shows the usage certainly varies on a spectrum.
Wow, what an eye opening thing. Asking people how they are is such an integrated part of my culture and daily life (even to my family members! I ask multiple times a day how they are!) That I could never imagine starting conversations any other way! XD
This is so true. In my many years of being with Japanese people at work and whenever I hang out with them, I have never heard that expression "O genki desu ka?" used. Even in anime. So, I don't use that either.
Ooh, I just got reminded of a scene in “My Senpai Is Annoying” where Igarashi, attempting to be super polite (or formal?) with Takeda because she was embarrassed says, “お元気ですか” and her other co-workers laugh at her for saying that.
Now I remember my Japanese friend told me as well it's not something that people say... I always thought since genki means "healthy / energetic" maybe I am just ending up asking someone about their physical well-being. But that would not be what I would want to ask my friend, something like "How have you been?" encompasses more. Also, that literal translation of "Are you lively / energetic?" makes me think so much of an artist on stage talking to their audience asking them if they are fine. Maybe that's not how it comes across. xD No idea.
something to bare in mind with english is that english speakers just use "how are you" as a greeting but not as an actual question. Thats probably why everyone who isn't a native english speaker actually answers the "question" when asked when in reality they are just being greeted.
I mean as a native english speaker, depending on the context I will actually answer it like a question or expect a proper answer. Maybe its a regional thing but at least personally I feel like I want a proper answer more often than not.
@@hexlart8481 Where I live you usually just say "I'm good" regardless if it's true. Only time when they expect an actual answer is if it's not a greeting.
Thank you for this! I've been working on getting connected to a group who practices conversational Japanese in my area. I think a lot of Americans also hate the greeting "how are you?" like you said at 4:02 , most people who ask "how are you?" don't care to hear how you're *actually* doing 😅 At least, not in America.
As an amercian native english speaker I do feel like at least where I live, people do actually use it to ask how you are doing more often than not. Using it as a pure greeting feels distant and like you are uninterested or maybe just being formal, almost like using keigo in japanese. But if I'm talking with a close friend I find it most natural to answer the question honestly, talking about something good or bad that happened recently. If I'm meeting a friend for the first time in a while I want to hear how they have been since we last saw each other, and if they asked me I'd respond elaborating on my life since we last met. Maybe its a west coast thing, idk, but I feel like "most people dont care to hear how you're **actually** doing" is an over-generalization bc in my experience it is very much the opposite.
Good video! I was half expecting to hear "Saikin dou?" (Which I believe is like "How are things lately?") Is that uncommon to say? Or maybe not used during greetings?
As a language teacher I think that saying to someone "don't say/arrête de dire/pare de falar" is something very negative through the learning process in a language. Like some ESL teachers that make videos with "stop saying , 10 different ways of saying " as if no one would comprehend your gratitude when you say . In your video, you explain very well that saying is pretty unusual , and I see your point, but "don't say" is kinda harsh in my opinion... I learned one day watching a video about Japanese politicians and there was one that always yelled and started a story about something of the daily life before beginning to speak about the subjects of the day. Now I know that is rare to ask it in the Japanese culture, but the deception I felt when I read "don't say" was ginormous, but I watched the video, as I accompany your work here in UA-cam for a long time, and I know that you are an excellent teacher, and I guess it's really hard to find a good name to say "this exists in the language but we almost never use it". Haha
I actually didn't say “don't say o genki desu ka” as my approach is generally descriptive. My position is that it’s not wrong to speak unnatural Japanese but if you want to know how to speak Japanese naturally, I will help you. That's why most of my videos are real-life examples and what we are likely to say (descriptive approach).
"Don't say" in the title gets more clicks because of the harshness and the suggestion that you might be making a mistake. You may not like it as a teaching element but that is not it's purpose. It is for marketing to get people to click, and it works.
@@Synaps4 yes, sinapse, and it is something that usually makes me boycott whom is using that kinda of propaganda. The anxiety that this marketing creates neither it is ignored nor it should be accepted, but for sure this is just my opinion
@@ThatJapaneseManYuta thank you so much for replying my commentary, and yes, you didn't say it. I love your approach on your videos, and I really enjoy the real-life context that you demonstrate on them. But I felt like I needed to express myself about the title, sorry for the inconvenience
Very strange as I asked my Japanese teacher this very question today. She is a 60 year old Japanese lady and says that it's ok to say 元気ですか but only when you haven't seen someone for a while. Don't use it every day. So there you are, I say it to her every Monday when I have my lesson and she responds with the same.
Most of us are fluent in staying silent in several languages. There are just always people who don't know that a mouth can also be kept shut at times. =D
As stated below, in English when we say common variations of "How are you?" like "What's up?" or "How's it going?" we don't expect or offer an answer to the question but actually reply with the same phrase. The in-video clip shows examples of such. I do agree that the use of 元気ですか is more common with people you haven't seen in awhile, perhaps even more so on phone calls and older people. That's my experience when my Japanese mother-in-law calls us from overseas, at least.
Wait, I didn't know I'm not supposed to seriously answer when someone asks how I'm doing, I always put a lot of thought into it T . T I feel like I've been pranked for all my life now, lol
@@DrowsyPotato Ahh, I usually answer with a good or fine, and maybe an activity I did recently before asking how they were as well, but I rarely get a response. If I'm doing bad though, which I guess I more often, I just say something like, "Meow, and how about yourself?" since like, most don't respond well to negativity, but I also don't want to lie. And I'm from the Midwest I guess
Nah. Most Americans respond with expressions like these to "How are you?" - All right. How about you? - Well. - OK - Stoned. - I'm fucking pissed. - Tired. - Not feeling well. In other words, most Americans actually report their current state when asked "How are you?"
Like for the "*rarely" XD. I'm sick of this trend of "in [insert a language] we don't say [insert a word that they DO say but less often than books lead you to think]". Like, I remember watching "in Spanish we don't say "adios"" eeeh, yes, yes we do.
Finally, someone who thinks that way. I am also sick of this real x language trend and most of them are misleading and sometimes wrong. I was going to write a really sarcastic reply to this video but no need to bother. Better not to watch and completely ignore them... They are all just click baits...
Yeah I always heard most Japanese are happy/proud that you know how to speak any Japanese as long as its not some rude anime phrase. I personally have been learning for the past 4 months because I like the way it sounds, it is a challenge, I do not want to read subtitles, and I want to visit Japan went they really open up.
@@southcoastinventors6583 Rude anime phrases, huh... I remember a conversation years ago that was had between a Finn, a Korean and a Chinese person, and in which the vocab (somehow the topic was each person's military service) was purely based on One Piece, FMA, and AoT. They were a bit confused about what I was talking about at some points tbh, but that was purely 'cause I talked about army (ground forces) specifically, when they were talking about military (armed forces) in general.
Thank you Yuta san. Indeed. 3 weeks after I moved to Japan and got caught up in many Japanese-only situations, I just wanted to toss my Japanese textbooks across a parking lot.
4:09 What about if you want to genuinely ask how the person's feeling? Not physically, but emotionally. If you ask that, that's actually prolly coz you think that person's feeling bad, and maybe asking this kind of things is rude in Japan, but anyways, how could you say that?
Any variation of using 気分 would be a fairly unambiguous way of asking someone about their feeling/mood. Like: 気分はどうですか. But just remember that even in English you usually dont ask "How are you feeling emotionally" or something direct like that, like most things it's all about context and other cues so a well placed なんかあった？ just works.
The thing is that how are you is also used as a conversation starter and not just a greeting. Starting conversations with Japanese people that I’m already friends with can be a bit tricky
How would this work with someone you don't talk with all that often though? I have a Japanese friend who's invited me to ask them anything related about Japanese culture or language any time something arises, which means we have talk with each other at most once every 3-5 months or so. At that point I think it'd be polite even by Japanese standards to ask how they've been, right?
I just watched an Anime and yes i know anime japanese can be very different from actually spoken japanese but the Girl in the show just used "Osu" as an greeting. i guess it's very informal and might be only used to close friends but could you compare it to something like "teenlanguage". My Question here is if japanese friends actually sometimes use "osu" as an greeting?
I think it's taught like that because the world is very English centric right now. And I find a lot of text books in German being translated from English. Most cultures don't ask personal questions like that (and than not even expect an answer). Textbooks written in German on any language don't contain that at all.
The point is Japanese people don’t ask a lot of questions. お元気ですか / 元気です？Are both very good for a western equivalent of “how are you” and all Japanese know how why you ask.
I pretty much never ask "How are you?" Normally I'll say "what's up?" as a request for what they've been doing lately (since I last saw them). I tend to actually listen and care about specific information and have eventually realized that there's a lot of things that we say that we don't mean. Most people that ask ME what's up or how I am, I know that it's just a polite phrase they're spouting and not an actual question, so I always just respond with a "oh, you know..." and see if they bite (most people don't). The ones that do can usually get more information, but since most people are just trying to make small talk with a pointless question that they're not even going to listen to the answer to it usually ends there. Japanese seems to have a lot of "polite-isms" like this where you say a thing just to be polite, but rarely do they ask questions that they don't care about the answer. What I always found weird is that when I was told "O genki desu ne" is how people ask that question, it set off a bunch of warning lights in my head, especially when they said "O-" at the start of something makes it more polite. While I didn't really know the part where people didn't ask a question like this at all, I knew immediately that this was following that "polite-ism" in english where we ask people questions we don't care about the answer to, the "O-" part seemed so unnecessary pretty much intuitively, I never really cared or used this phrase because it was a phrase I don't really bother to use in english.
For this example, the more I watched Japanese TV, I realized that the familiar way to say it was simply « genki » (in a Morning Musume show 😂😂😂) I used it with my friend’s kids who for now only speak Japanese, and the response was better 😆
I think it's more similar to English than that, with the exception that we say "how you doing?" or something like that as a greeting, without actually meaning the question. But if it's been a few weeks or a few years, we will ask "How are you?" or "How have you been?" and really mean it as a question. I don't here Ogenki, in daily conversations, but my friends that I see maybe once a month or less, they almost always ask me "genki desu ka?" Although many of them just do the simple "genki?" But there are two caveats, being in Kyushu, possibly it's regional differences in conversation habits, but I think maybe more likely is that since I'm foreign, they could be intentionally speaking differently to me. Like, the fact the JHS drills "How are you?" as part of the daily greetings, may make them think they have to ask me in Japanese as well.
A friend of mine did a brief interview of a Japanese person for a project and went through a mutual friend who was Japanese but wasn't particularly used to interpreting. He basically said the hardest thing to translate in the conversation was surprisingly "how are you?" because it is not a sentiment expressed super often.
you can apply this to all the language. Books and real live speaking not really same. However sometime we use "how are you" to a person we know who we meet them after so long. Genki desu ka !?hehe
Watching this video made me realize that some of the best casual Japanese you can learn is by watching reality T. V shows that actually show real interactions of people
Nice tips!!..thank you..i am always did this when i goes to japanese streamer at youtube when they online to learn japanese language more and their culture
Not mentioned in the video, but I think the most significant difference is most of us never use 「お元気ですか？」 to whom we first met. If it is used, it sounds superficial unless you are a doctor or teacher or someone who is obliged to do that. Yuta asked about the impression to「元気ですか？」, so my opinion is as below: 「元気ですか？」は同僚にはあまり使わないですね。語尾の「か」に問いただすニュアンスがあってダイレクトに聞こえるんじゃないかと。お客さんとかに対して使う場合が多い気がします。 同僚なら「元気？」「元気してた？」「元気してる？」あたりがカジュアルで適切じゃないかと思います。 あと、目上の相手やビジネスシーンなら「お元気でしたか？」や「最近は調子いかがですか？」なんかが使いやすいと思います。
I have a online Japanese acquaintance, and they ask me 元気 quite often. they also like to say something like 何か代わったことはあるの？ but I'm not really sure because, no subtitles in real life, however whenever I respond with 別に何も代わったことはありません。They don't seem to correct me so I dunno maybe I hear them ok? lol
Hi Yuta! One of the examples from Terrace House you used are actually the first time I've seen or heard お疲れ used as a greeting, let alone between friends. I always thought of it as a compliment -- "good job" -- such as in the cafe scene; or as a salutation before leaving work. Can you elaborate? Thanks!
I think It is actually an english-speaking thing (europe-american thing?). As a non-native english speaker I've been in every-day daily meetings and every single time it started like "How it's going?" "How are we?" and all other variations. I've always wanted to say "Dude, we've been meeting everyday for a whole year, do you think anything has dramatically changed in my life since yesterday? :)", but I've being polite and go for "Good good, thank you, You?". It is a 100% cultural difference, in my native habitat we only ask "How are you?" only if you see someone is injured or crying or something like this, not as a substitute to "Hi" (I'm glad that we are not the only one weirdos who don't need to know how is everyone doing today each day of the year :)).
Is "taichou" only for health? or can it be applied to general well being? let's say you're worried about a friend getting depressed, or too stressed or something like that, what would you say?
3:35 So now "Otsukare" means "Good work", but in an earlier clip they used it to say hello. Why do you greet people by saying "good work" to each other?
@That Japanese Man Yuta, I'm wanting to be a translator and while I was studying kanji I saw that there are "Onyomi" and "Kunyomi". I've looked up both of them and still cant understand it. It says "One" is pronounced "ichi" in onyomi, but it's "Hito" in kunyomi. I dont get it. It also tells me 7 is "shichi" in onyomi, but i've been told it's "nana" by a japanese person.
I'm not japanese but I'm currently studying the language and aiming to become a translator too. Most japanese Kanjis have two readings: Onyomi (which comes from Chinese) and Kunyomi. Usually the meaning doesn't change. Take as an example 7, in some words 7 is read as nana like saying nanatsu (seven things) while in others you would read it as shichi as in shichigatsu (July). Hope it helps! But you might ask a native speaker or someone who knows more for a detailed explanation :)
Arigato Yuta-san! Hontōni, watashitachi zen'in ni oshiete kudasatta koto ni hontōni kansha shite imasu. Anata no yōna hitobito no okage de, watashi wa ōku no koto o manabimashita. Watashi wa eien ni kansha shimasu. Itsuka kazoku o Nihon ni tsurete ikeru koto o negatte imasu. Kōun o oinori shite imasu.
Jamie Hamilton 0 seconds ago Whilst I agree Japanese rarely say that, it doesn’t mean we have to speak in the same way. The Japanese also rarely smile, they stare too much and don’t care at all about strangers but I have no wish to imitate any of that. I can speak Japanese fluently and still keep my bunka and body language, mannerism and turns of phrase as a British person, because that’s what I am. I actually find that the Japanese like it when you ask ogenkidesuka because probably no-one else asked them how they are all day or all day. “How are you?” Or “お元気でか” doesn’t have to be an empty greeting, it is something that you can use selectively for people you like or care about - maybe the Japanese can learn something as well from contact with foreigners?
Despite living in Japan almost 20 years, these 2 expressions お疲れ様です (you must be tired) & よろしくお願いいたします (please be kind to me) still feel so strange. Of course I use it every day, but it doesn't have much meaning to me. How did the yoroshiku expression start? Were ppeople extremely harsh on each other before?
This was really interesting, but I have a question, what about the phrase: " どんな感じですか ". I've heard these one a couple of times in some dramas or interview
What about 元気でいるの? or something similar? That might be used more often in comparison. お元気ですか。Seems to me personally quite weirdly formal and at the same time not something I would ask somebody who I would talk teinei with. It seems to me like something you would use in a letter maybe frankly.
Learn Japanese with Yuta: bit.ly/3R2ELfe
Yuta, if I cook raw sashimi to be completely cooked, will it taste less good?
I like Osaka-ben. Mokarimashita? (sth like, 'are you making a profit?') ... Bochi bochi den na :)
Interesting the differences in how formal languages differ from common usage. I belong to a website fraturing Japanese films. (Run by a Vietnamese Gentleman interestingly). Noting that I was American, my greeting was customized to "Howdy". I found it endearing that they would attempt to use an American greeting, even though no one has ever said "Howdy" to me in my life. Its only used in certain parts of the country. Arigato Goziemasu thank you for your teachings, very informative!
I learn little japanese word from this video
@That Japanese Man Yuta
Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi season 1 episode 2 (1:25-1:55) would have been perfect for this video! lol
Learning Japanese: spending months & years learning words and phrases that you’ll eventually be told “we don’t say that” by Japanese. 😂
Interesting. I learnt that.
They should teach cultural differences in textbooks.
People still use the base phrase 元気 and ですか is used all time for polite questions. So it still useful to know sentence structure in general but if you want to know what Japanese people usually say watch drama, reality, or slice life anime. Also you are a foreigner so most people will be happy that you speak Japanese at all. What actually worse is teaching Romaji that a crutch since nothing is written in Romaji and the only time you use it is for typing.
A good teacher tends to fill that role, it's why I can't push myself through a lot of self study stuff, just raw translation tests lose context
Grammar books are fine for establishing basics. Move on to immersion as soon as you can.
@@ZombieOrgasm I would add immersion at the right level though, because it if its to advanced you get lost in it and stop listening to it, make sure you are able to comprehend about 40-50% more or less.
I really like the way you're arranging your subtitles. :)
Really helps people who are trying to decipher a Japanese text before reading the translation to see how accurate our own attempt at translating was.
I always found that asking "How are you?" is just a formally and not a real question to ask people. I could be having the worst day of my life and still answer "Good, good, and you?" just to get on with the conversation.
That depends on the country. In the U.S.A. that might be the case, here in The Netherlands not so much most of the time. If someone asks 'How are you' they expect an honest answer. Cultural differences.
@@renefrijhoff2484 Oooh it's the same in Finland! I would love to see a map of this: in which country is "how are you" a greeting and which a real question 🤔
@@renefrijhoff2484 In my country we ask that question if we really care and expect honest answer too
This is true, but even in the US there are sometimes where you might mean it as a real question. If the other person had been sick or injured, as Yuta mentioned, or if they had just gone through some difficulty. That's pretty much done in inflection, though. "How *are* you?" or with a sympathetic facial expression or something.
@@renefrijhoff2484 how often would someone say "how are you?" Maybe its because ireland is a very hide your emotions and only use sarcasm country but i dont think ive ever been asked this in my life except for job interviews
I'm amazed how much work Yuta puts in looking for the examples. Keep you the good work. Thank you
I've seen 'o genki desu ka' once, in anime, and it was an estranged father uncomfortably asking his son how things have been as if expecting what happens next--the son immediately starts extorting him for money, leveraging the fact that the father has been absent for so long that's all he's good for.
I feel like the phrase was written in explicitly to show the dominant and overbearing position the son was in over the father, who only really wanted to be a good dad but never had the opportunity, and the son was just generally not a very good person.
I think because of they way my brain takes an (American)English approach to Japanese, it's always interesting to me when Yuta says about some phrase, "Nobody says [polite phrase]." "They say [casual form of the same thing]." To me that always sounds like "so, they do say it, just in the casual form," while Yuta treats it as though it's a completely different phrase. And I suppose that's because from a Japanese perspective, it is.
Hard to explain what I mean. So, like, to my ear, the difference between "おはようございます" and "おはよう” read like the difference between saying "Good morning." and "mornin'." The exact same thing, just abbreviated for casual speech. While Japanese seems to treat these as completely different phrases with very little overlap.
Similarly, "お元気ですか“ vs "元気？” to "How are you?" vs "How ya doin'?"
Maybe it's because while, in English, you could say the more 'formal' version or the casual version with a friend interchangeably and it wouldn't really be weird, whereas in Japanese, you'd basically never say the full phrase to a friend. Or maybe the issue is my viewing the polite form as the "full phrase" while the casual one is abbreviated and that's not how Japanese think about the difference at all.
I dunno, maybe none of that makes sense :P And I know his point was that they don't often say "元気？” either, but that was just the example at hand, I've noticed this phenomenon elsewhere too.
It's hard to wrap your head around it since we don't have equivalents of "Casual speech" and "Normal speech" in English, it's a little bit more noticeable in Spanish I'd say, but, just know, that differentiation is extremely important in Japanese, think of it as someone speaking ye old English vs someone using Modern casual Speech and how that would completely change the tone of a conversation (leading also to awkward situations and misunderstandings)
Genki textbooks are setting us up to fail 😅
What a bunch of pathetic sociopaths. I'm sure they're only in it just to mentally manipulate poor innocent people. Scumbags
No. Read it but don't treat it as holy doctrine.
It's a good foundation but don't use it refer to just that one.
Genki is objectively not a good foundation and I have seen many people get stuck in the way that they learn because of the way genki takes incorrect shortcuts in teaching. Do yourself a favor and use Tae Kims guide to Japanese grammar instead and start consuming content and learning vocabulary intuitively through exposure.
@@sczoot6285 Solid advice. And please don't neglect pitch accent! Remember they're just melodies!!!
It may sound weird, but I treat saying "Genki?" the same way we do in English.
In the UK, it is common to greet friends and family with "Alright?" or "You alright?" and they don't usually need a reply, you can just say "alright" back. I use this with Japanese friends now and then. But they also know my Japanese is limited, so me using Genki a lot makes sense to them.
Things don't work that way Britty.
@@myujokt733 dont care
I suppose the issue is that having some kind of opening greeting like "Like hey how are you doing" or something along those lines feels very natural in English and it can feel very awkward or rude to skip it and go straight in to the rest of the conversation. So it can be hard when you're still at that stage where you still need to process a sentence in English first then translate it to Japanese before speaking.
The course that I'm learning from (Human Japanese) had a cultural note about the term "genki", noting that it meant "healthy" and that using "genki desu ka?" too regularly like we would use "how are you" in English (every day for example) comes across more like you're concerned for their health than actually asking how they're doing.
Is this accurate?
Pretty much.
@@danielantony1882 Gratitude for the answer. ^^
Not a native speaker, but in my experience native English speakers aren't really interested in how you/we are doing when they ask. It is just a polite greeting in English. That is why nobody actually answers it. It's just that many textbooks don't take culture into account, thus mirror-translating the English greeting.
That's the same thing in basically all languages, it's just a polite way of greeting people. Which annoys me a lot tbh lol.
@@SethJV Not in Dutch.
Lots of Americans care, how you are doing or least want to hear what you are doing. Many people in the US also answer but usually answer it briefly, I am doing well or not so go or something good happened. Oversharing in the US is pretty common.
@@renefrijhoff2484 yes. Different cultures 😀
This is inverted in finnish culture, if you ask "how are you?" or its other variations, you can expect usually somewhat more honest answer to it. This is why you dont ask this from complete strangers or people you dont know. More of a personal question usually, than something you just throw around.
interesting. as a german this feels kinda familiar in another way. i often hear that americans actually just ask "how are you?" or something like that but don't expect to be answered, and are surprised when a german would answer them how they are (and many germans will actually be straight if they feel bad and tell you). so from my perspective, i feel "how are you?" is weird as well if you don't mean it as a genuine question but just as a greeting. it doesn't feel sensible to even ask at all otherwise.
I find that strange as well. Im talking a lot of English at my international workplace as a German, and this greeting formula comes up all the time. And its always just an awkward "fine" as a response. Some people use it every time i talk to them, which makes it incredibly awkward. Sometimes i would like to just answer "Same as 2 hours ago, genius" xD
With friends in German i often use "Wie gehts? (How are you?)" as a greeting with friends, but then its meant as an actual question.
weird. as an English person 'you alright?' is a pretty common greeting but Americans never understand that its a stand in for hello and not an actual question, so its weird that you've experienced this from an American person.
@@UwU_for_Christ As a American I actually want to know how a person is doing and lot of people in the US like to know people story. It not always a stand in for hello. Being noisy in the US is expected, the overshare is really common here.
I'm Swedish and agree, it feels so weird when how are you aren't actually a question but a greeting.
@@UwU_for_Christ it's just different, to an American "how are you" just reduces to "hi" and we lie and say fine, if a Brit were to ask me "you alright?" I may have not previously known it's just a greeting because different words are used
Thank you for your video. I really appreciate you covering this topic. I still don't totally understand this, as it still seems weird. Why it seems weird: 'Genki' means something like 'are you good/happy/energetic'? I'm not using a translator. I've been in Japan for 4 months, and I'm going off what 'genki' seems to mean. This question though, in a linguistic sense, seems to limit the responder to those particular emotions though... and I am sure I'm not understanding something cultural here. I teach English, and I ask my students, "How are you?" Sometimes they are tired, and they say, "I'm tired". Sometimes they are hungry, and they say, "I'm hungry". Are you 'genki'? Well, actually no, I'm tired, but not NOT genki... I'm not sure how that works. I'm glad to be here, but I'm also having other feelings... It becomes confusing how to ask about that, and how to express that. Genki desu ka? Sure, but I'm also this and that...
Also, in a place like the U.S., "How's it going?" can be a good conversation starter. In Japan, "Genki desu ka?" seems like a very yes/no question, but my experience is limited. Is that right, or am I mis-interpreting things? When I get asked that question, "Genki desu ka?", I feel like I'm being asked, "Are you happy and full of energy!!!!?" Sometimes, I'd like to elaborate that, "I'm good, but I'm a little tired, a bit confused, and not really 'full' of energy but okay - can we do the day like normal people whom are not excited about everything?" I don't completely know for sure if that's what I'm being asked, but I'd like to hope there's a 'How's it going?', though at this point I don't think there is... Genki desu ka? What are my options?
Thank so much for this video, I’ve been looking for a UA-camr like you forever, I’m so glad I found you through this video 😊
Basic Japanese Textbook: Say this
Five years later: DON'T
I never took these expressions from textbooks so seriously, I just used them to learn basic structures.
Same
私もです！
僕も
I can't remember anything about when I started learning japanese anyway
@@AMadd3RHatt3R i think we dont need to use です here. i reckon that japanese people talk a lot more casual on the internet between each other
Thanks to Yuta I've mastered the way of selling out/promoting and all of the pitch accents of it as well. THANKS YUTA!
Your videos and emails are so helpful. I'm doing Duolingo and I don't always understand what I'm learning until I watch one of your videos that has to do with a similar lesson. Much appreciated 🙏
You do know that Yuta dunked hard on Duolingo and how bad it is right. Since I am also learning Japanese right now I could give you better recommend materials if you are interested. 幸運を祈ります。
You can't depend on just Duolingo unless you have rich outside knowledge going into it, which many people don't. Human Japanese is good for understanding concepts and cultures as well as the language. I use the genki textbook which gives a lot of context clues as well. Most of the things I use are free and I'm an advanced beginner and close to being able to probably taking N5 and N4 JLPT exams if they were available near me. Japanese gets easier as you practice.
@@southcoastinventors6583 he dunked hard on it as a non-native English speaker. Duolingo purposely rewords and rephrases things to be understood by English speakers but the culture meaning is often hard to explain when your just directly translating the "gist" of what was said. You see it in subtitles all the time where the Japanese dub means one thing and the English sub says something similar but not exactly what was said in Japanese. I personally like that Duolingo breaks up the Japanese words by syllables to help you know how to spell it (I use a Japanese keyboard) so I could spell things in hiragana after my first week simply because I had the words sounded out to me.
@@HouseMDaddict Well if your talking about the first week then its okay, if your talking about long term then nah. I find it pretty easy to type with Microsoft IME. I mean you always should learn by words then sentences so that's fine but Duolingo is path to not learn Japanese in the long run. Could be better for other languages though.
"how are you" is definitely a filler greeting word, shown by how we almost never actually answer it as a real question but with greeting type answers.
It seems japanese has a similar greeting style to chinese in this way, I wonder if japanese has there own version of generic questions, like english "how are you" or chinese "have you eaten"
If you had to pick between learning textbooks before going to Japan vs trying to learning using lessons in Japan, what would you choose?
1:17 I don’t know any English speakers who ask eachother “How are you?” when they wake up in the same apartment or house. That’s a ridiculous example. We just say “Good morning”
I’ve asked “how are you doing?” To people I’ve woken up with in the same house.
This is highly individual. I personally am prone to saying it multiple times a day to the same person. That's definitely not the "correct" way to do it, but it shows the usage certainly varies on a spectrum.
Wow, what an eye opening thing. Asking people how they are is such an integrated part of my culture and daily life (even to my family members! I ask multiple times a day how they are!) That I could never imagine starting conversations any other way! XD
You're awesome, Yuta! Your advice really helps refine my Japanese learning!
This is so true. In my many years of being with Japanese people at work and whenever I hang out with them, I have never heard that expression "O genki desu ka?" used. Even in anime. So, I don't use that either.
Ooh, I just got reminded of a scene in “My Senpai Is Annoying” where Igarashi, attempting to be super polite (or formal?) with Takeda because she was embarrassed says, “お元気ですか” and her other co-workers laugh at her for saying that.
Now I remember my Japanese friend told me as well it's not something that people say... I always thought since genki means "healthy / energetic" maybe I am just ending up asking someone about their physical well-being. But that would not be what I would want to ask my friend, something like "How have you been?" encompasses more.
Also, that literal translation of "Are you lively / energetic?" makes me think so much of an artist on stage talking to their audience asking them if they are fine. Maybe that's not how it comes across. xD No idea.
something to bare in mind with english is that english speakers just use "how are you" as a greeting but not as an actual question. Thats probably why everyone who isn't a native english speaker actually answers the "question" when asked when in reality they are just being greeted.
I mean as a native english speaker, depending on the context I will actually answer it like a question or expect a proper answer. Maybe its a regional thing but at least personally I feel like I want a proper answer more often than not.
@@hexlart8481 Where I live you usually just say "I'm good" regardless if it's true. Only time when they expect an actual answer is if it's not a greeting.
1:54 surprise Yuta on my left ear
Thank you for this! I've been working on getting connected to a group who practices conversational Japanese in my area.
I think a lot of Americans also hate the greeting "how are you?" like you said at 4:02 , most people who ask "how are you?" don't care to hear how you're *actually* doing 😅 At least, not in America.
As an amercian native english speaker I do feel like at least where I live, people do actually use it to ask how you are doing more often than not. Using it as a pure greeting feels distant and like you are uninterested or maybe just being formal, almost like using keigo in japanese. But if I'm talking with a close friend I find it most natural to answer the question honestly, talking about something good or bad that happened recently. If I'm meeting a friend for the first time in a while I want to hear how they have been since we last saw each other, and if they asked me I'd respond elaborating on my life since we last met. Maybe its a west coast thing, idk, but I feel like "most people dont care to hear how you're **actually** doing" is an over-generalization bc in my experience it is very much the opposite.
Good video! I was half expecting to hear "Saikin dou?" (Which I believe is like "How are things lately?") Is that uncommon to say? Or maybe not used during greetings?
As a language teacher I think that saying to someone "don't say/arrête de dire/pare de falar" is something very negative through the learning process in a language.
Like some ESL teachers that make videos with "stop saying , 10 different ways of saying " as if no one would comprehend your gratitude when you say .
In your video, you explain very well that saying is pretty unusual , and I see your point, but "don't say" is kinda harsh in my opinion...
I learned one day watching a video about Japanese politicians and there was one that always yelled and started a story about something of the daily life before beginning to speak about the subjects of the day.
Now I know that is rare to ask it in the Japanese culture, but the deception I felt when I read "don't say" was ginormous, but I watched the video, as I accompany your work here in UA-cam for a long time, and I know that you are an excellent teacher, and I guess it's really hard to find a good name to say "this exists in the language but we almost never use it". Haha
I actually didn't say “don't say o genki desu ka” as my approach is generally descriptive. My position is that it’s not wrong to speak unnatural Japanese but if you want to know how to speak Japanese naturally, I will help you. That's why most of my videos are real-life examples and what we are likely to say (descriptive approach).
"Don't say" in the title gets more clicks because of the harshness and the suggestion that you might be making a mistake. You may not like it as a teaching element but that is not it's purpose. It is for marketing to get people to click, and it works.
@@Synaps4 yes, sinapse, and it is something that usually makes me boycott whom is using that kinda of propaganda. The anxiety that this marketing creates neither it is ignored nor it should be accepted, but for sure this is just my opinion
@@ThatJapaneseManYuta thank you so much for replying my commentary, and yes, you didn't say it. I love your approach on your videos, and I really enjoy the real-life context that you demonstrate on them. But I felt like I needed to express myself about the title, sorry for the inconvenience
Very strange as I asked my Japanese teacher this very question today. She is a 60 year old Japanese lady and says that it's ok to say 元気ですか but only when you haven't seen someone for a while. Don't use it every day. So there you are, I say it to her every Monday when I have my lesson and she responds with the same.
"How to speak Japanese?"
- just don't say anything!
ye, I could do that, that sounds good! I've actually practiced that a lot
Most of us are fluent in staying silent in several languages. There are just always people who don't know that a mouth can also be kept shut at times. =D
I learned about "Otsukare sama desu" a couple of months ago, and I love it. I wish I saw more of this type of sentiment in my everyday life.
As stated below, in English when we say common variations of "How are you?" like "What's up?" or "How's it going?" we don't expect or offer an answer to the question but actually reply with the same phrase. The in-video clip shows examples of such.
I do agree that the use of 元気ですか is more common with people you haven't seen in awhile, perhaps even more so on phone calls and older people. That's my experience when my Japanese mother-in-law calls us from overseas, at least.
Wait, I didn't know I'm not supposed to seriously answer when someone asks how I'm doing, I always put a lot of thought into it T . T
I feel like I've been pranked for all my life now, lol
@@9aracna. Depends where you are from. Where im from we kinda have both but quite often people want to actually know how you are doing :)
@@DrowsyPotato Ahh, I usually answer with a good or fine, and maybe an activity I did recently before asking how they were as well, but I rarely get a response. If I'm doing bad though, which I guess I more often, I just say something like, "Meow, and how about yourself?" since like, most don't respond well to negativity, but I also don't want to lie. And I'm from the Midwest I guess
Nah. Most Americans respond with expressions like these to "How are you?"
- All right. How about you?
- Well.
- OK
- Stoned.
- I'm fucking pissed.
- Tired.
- Not feeling well.
In other words, most Americans actually report their current state when asked "How are you?"
Hey! Haven't been keeping up lately until just now, so I'm just now noticing the facial hair. It looks good on you! Nice change.
the clips you found are perfect, awesome stuff
Like for the "*rarely" XD. I'm sick of this trend of "in [insert a language] we don't say [insert a word that they DO say but less often than books lead you to think]".
Like, I remember watching "in Spanish we don't say "adios"" eeeh, yes, yes we do.
Finally, someone who thinks that way. I am also sick of this real x language trend and most of them are misleading and sometimes wrong. I was going to write a really sarcastic reply to this video but no need to bother. Better not to watch and completely ignore them... They are all just click baits...
if we Japanese are said “Ogenki desuka お元気ですか？” by foreigner, we dont feel strange
Yeah I always heard most Japanese are happy/proud that you know how to speak any Japanese as long as its not some rude anime phrase. I personally have been learning for the past 4 months because I like the way it sounds, it is a challenge, I do not want to read subtitles, and I want to visit Japan went they really open up.
@@southcoastinventors6583 Rude anime phrases, huh... I remember a conversation years ago that was had between a Finn, a Korean and a Chinese person, and in which the vocab (somehow the topic was each person's military service) was purely based on One Piece, FMA, and AoT.
They were a bit confused about what I was talking about at some points tbh, but that was purely 'cause I talked about army (ground forces) specifically, when they were talking about military (armed forces) in general.
Great video. Thank you and keep it up Yuta!
Very fascinating! I'm gonna have to remember this one.
Thank you Yuta san. Indeed. 3 weeks after I moved to Japan and got caught up in many Japanese-only situations, I just wanted to toss my Japanese textbooks across a parking lot.
I thought o genki desuka means "are you alright?" . So i dont intend to say that in a normal convo.
Thanks for this insight...Yuta👍
In my 2 years living in Japan, the only times I "hear" 元気ですか? Are after 久しぶり! In a text from a friend I haven't met in some time
That's a good one. Didn't think about it.
thanks mate for this video since i a Nihongo beginner i learn some new word from your video.
4:09 What about if you want to genuinely ask how the person's feeling? Not physically, but emotionally. If you ask that, that's actually prolly coz you think that person's feeling bad, and maybe asking this kind of things is rude in Japan, but anyways, how could you say that?
Any variation of using 気分 would be a fairly unambiguous way of asking someone about their feeling/mood. Like: 気分はどうですか. But just remember that even in English you usually dont ask "How are you feeling emotionally" or something direct like that, like most things it's all about context and other cues so a well placed なんかあった？ just works.
@@imjoshing7471, yeah, I thought of that word, but I wasn't sure. Okay, thanks.
The thing is that how are you is also used as a conversation starter and not just a greeting. Starting conversations with Japanese people that I’m already friends with can be a bit tricky
How would this work with someone you don't talk with all that often though? I have a Japanese friend who's invited me to ask them anything related about Japanese culture or language any time something arises, which means we have talk with each other at most once every 3-5 months or so. At that point I think it'd be polite even by Japanese standards to ask how they've been, right?
Honestly, after 3 month this is the first time I hear that expression.
4:20 Had to get help from Google translate because I confused Taichou and Taishou (General).
Having watched all of Terrace House for Japanese listening practice, I've only learned three words;
おいしい
すごい
大丈夫
w
Awesome video as always!
2:11
How best could we use your email classes without being sidetracked?
What Resources should we use to compliment your classes?
I just watched an Anime and yes i know anime japanese can be very different from actually spoken japanese but the Girl in the show just used "Osu" as an greeting. i guess it's very informal and might be only used to close friends but could you compare it to something like "teenlanguage". My Question here is if japanese friends actually sometimes use "osu" as an greeting?
*@DarkOhBoy* *I think it's maybe same as they said ''Ohayo'' means good morning into your friends.*
I think it's taught like that because the world is very English centric right now. And I find a lot of text books in German being translated from English. Most cultures don't ask personal questions like that (and than not even expect an answer). Textbooks written in German on any language don't contain that at all.
The point is Japanese people don’t ask a lot of questions. お元気ですか / 元気です？Are both very good for a western equivalent of “how are you” and all Japanese know how why you ask.
元気してました is actually reall cool, I think I'll use that one more often.
I pretty much never ask "How are you?"
Normally I'll say "what's up?" as a request for what they've been doing lately (since I last saw them).
I tend to actually listen and care about specific information and have eventually realized that there's a lot of things that we say that we don't mean. Most people that ask ME what's up or how I am, I know that it's just a polite phrase they're spouting and not an actual question, so I always just respond with a "oh, you know..." and see if they bite (most people don't). The ones that do can usually get more information, but since most people are just trying to make small talk with a pointless question that they're not even going to listen to the answer to it usually ends there.
Japanese seems to have a lot of "polite-isms" like this where you say a thing just to be polite, but rarely do they ask questions that they don't care about the answer.
What I always found weird is that when I was told "O genki desu ne" is how people ask that question, it set off a bunch of warning lights in my head, especially when they said "O-" at the start of something makes it more polite. While I didn't really know the part where people didn't ask a question like this at all, I knew immediately that this was following that "polite-ism" in english where we ask people questions we don't care about the answer to, the "O-" part seemed so unnecessary pretty much intuitively, I never really cared or used this phrase because it was a phrase I don't really bother to use in english.
Hi Yuta! I really wanted to know how to say “don’t do it!” as an order in Japanese, it’s for a tattoo, thank you!!
For this example, the more I watched Japanese TV, I realized that the familiar way to say it was simply « genki » (in a Morning Musume show 😂😂😂) I used it with my friend’s kids who for now only speak Japanese, and the response was better 😆
I think it's more similar to English than that, with the exception that we say "how you doing?" or something like that as a greeting, without actually meaning the question. But if it's been a few weeks or a few years, we will ask "How are you?" or "How have you been?" and really mean it as a question. I don't here Ogenki, in daily conversations, but my friends that I see maybe once a month or less, they almost always ask me "genki desu ka?" Although many of them just do the simple "genki?" But there are two caveats, being in Kyushu, possibly it's regional differences in conversation habits, but I think maybe more likely is that since I'm foreign, they could be intentionally speaking differently to me. Like, the fact the JHS drills "How are you?" as part of the daily greetings, may make them think they have to ask me in Japanese as well.
A friend of mine did a brief interview of a Japanese person for a project and went through a mutual friend who was Japanese but wasn't particularly used to interpreting. He basically said the hardest thing to translate in the conversation was surprisingly "how are you?" because it is not a sentiment expressed super often.
you can apply this to all the language. Books and real live speaking not really same. However sometime we use "how are you" to a person we know who we meet them after so long. Genki desu ka !?hehe
Thanks Yuta!
Watching this video made me realize that some of the best casual Japanese you can learn is by watching reality T. V shows that actually show real interactions of people
"Saikin dou?" is another one that I heard
Nice tips!!..thank you..i am always did this when i goes to japanese streamer at youtube when they online to learn japanese language more and their culture
yuta aoki is really underrated and not getting enough views... i don't know why...
私は日本人ですが、How are youが挨拶の基本となっている英語圏の文化には今でも戸惑います😅 挨拶の感覚や文化がだいぶ違いますね。
Not mentioned in the video, but I think the most significant difference is most of us never use 「お元気ですか？」 to whom we first met. If it is used, it sounds superficial unless you are a doctor or teacher or someone who is obliged to do that.
Yuta asked about the impression to「元気ですか？」, so my opinion is as below:
「元気ですか？」は同僚にはあまり使わないですね。語尾の「か」に問いただすニュアンスがあってダイレクトに聞こえるんじゃないかと。お客さんとかに対して使う場合が多い気がします。
同僚なら「元気？」「元気してた？」「元気してる？」あたりがカジュアルで適切じゃないかと思います。
あと、目上の相手やビジネスシーンなら「お元気でしたか？」や「最近は調子いかがですか？」なんかが使いやすいと思います。
確かに「お元気でしたか？」や「最近は調子いかがですか？」は使いそうな気がします。 でもそれはしばらく会ってない人に使うフレーズですよね。そうすると “How are you?” みたいに毎日会ってる人に（なんなら一日に複数回）使えるフレーズってなかなかないですよね。
@@ThatJapaneseManYuta 日常的に複数回使える軽い表現となると「おつかれ」とか「どうも」くらいですかねぇ
I have a online Japanese acquaintance, and they ask me 元気 quite often. they also like to say something like 何か代わったことはあるの？ but I'm not really sure because, no subtitles in real life, however whenever I respond with 別に何も代わったことはありません。They don't seem to correct me so I dunno maybe I hear them ok? lol
Ohhh yes yuta les go i miss you
1:53 So, do I have to also say it at people's left ears?
When I FaceTime with family, they always ask “Genki?”, and I just say “Mm Genki” 😂
Hi Yuta! One of the examples from Terrace House you used are actually the first time I've seen or heard お疲れ used as a greeting, let alone between friends. I always thought of it as a compliment -- "good job" -- such as in the cafe scene; or as a salutation before leaving work. Can you elaborate? Thanks!
It's used for that as well!
I think It is actually an english-speaking thing (europe-american thing?). As a non-native english speaker I've been in every-day daily meetings and every single time it started like "How it's going?" "How are we?" and all other variations. I've always wanted to say "Dude, we've been meeting everyday for a whole year, do you think anything has dramatically changed in my life since yesterday? :)", but I've being polite and go for "Good good, thank you, You?". It is a 100% cultural difference, in my native habitat we only ask "How are you?" only if you see someone is injured or crying or something like this, not as a substitute to "Hi" (I'm glad that we are not the only one weirdos who don't need to know how is everyone doing today each day of the year :)).
Is "taichou" only for health? or can it be applied to general well being? let's say you're worried about a friend getting depressed, or too stressed or something like that, what would you say?
3:35 So now "Otsukare" means "Good work", but in an earlier clip they used it to say hello. Why do you greet people by saying "good work" to each other?
I think they meant it like "thanks for the hard work" (of waiting/travelling to see each other)
Interesting.. I had heard いかがですか? as a way of asking how are you ... Is that also too direct?
@That Japanese Man Yuta, I'm wanting to be a translator and while I was studying kanji I saw that there are "Onyomi" and "Kunyomi". I've looked up both of them and still cant understand it. It says "One" is pronounced "ichi" in onyomi, but it's "Hito" in kunyomi. I dont get it. It also tells me 7 is "shichi" in onyomi, but i've been told it's "nana" by a japanese person.
I'm not japanese but I'm currently studying the language and aiming to become a translator too. Most japanese Kanjis have two readings: Onyomi (which comes from Chinese) and Kunyomi. Usually the meaning doesn't change. Take as an example 7, in some words 7 is read as nana like saying nanatsu (seven things) while in others you would read it as shichi as in shichigatsu (July). Hope it helps! But you might ask a native speaker or someone who knows more for a detailed explanation :)
when I teach German to beginners, I tell them that you don't ask someone "wie geht's?" unless you really want to know how they're doing.
Arigato Yuta-san! Hontōni, watashitachi zen'in ni oshiete kudasatta koto ni hontōni kansha shite imasu. Anata no yōna hitobito no okage de, watashi wa ōku no koto o manabimashita. Watashi wa eien ni kansha shimasu. Itsuka kazoku o Nihon ni tsurete ikeru koto o negatte imasu. Kōun o oinori shite imasu.
Thank you for clarifying. It is also not common for people outside Japan to ask "how r you" everytine they meet someone.
I JUST TALKED TO A JAPANESE GUY AND SAID "お元気ですか" AND HE TOLD ME NOT TO SAY THAT. I WAS SOOO EMBARRASING 😭😭😭
Jamie Hamilton
0 seconds ago
Whilst I agree Japanese rarely say that, it doesn’t mean we have to speak in the same way. The Japanese also rarely smile, they stare too much and don’t care at all about strangers but I have no wish to imitate any of that. I can speak Japanese fluently and still keep my bunka and body language, mannerism and turns of phrase as a British person, because that’s what I am. I actually find that the Japanese like it when you ask ogenkidesuka because probably no-one else asked them how they are all day or all day. “How are you?” Or “お元気でか” doesn’t have to be an empty greeting, it is something that you can use selectively for people you like or care about - maybe the Japanese can learn something as well from contact with foreigners?
Wait isn't お疲れ様 like "good work today?" But those people used it when they met up, as a greeting?
Just wait until you learn all the different meanings Japanese people put on どうも.
@@imjoshing7471 And they say Japanese isn't as hard as English lol
I’ve been saying お元気ですかto Japanese in Toronto and to Japanese twitch streamers for years and nobody told me they rarely say it.
Japanese rappers: よ、調子どうよ？
Headphones be like:
Because you can use them
at any time of the day
especially at work.
Hair and beard looking sharp!
Well this is informative, i use the ogenki thing for being polite since i have this mentality of "being a foreigner=be polite or you are screwed".
Despite living in Japan almost 20 years, these 2 expressions お疲れ様です (you must be tired) & よろしくお願いいたします (please be kind to me) still feel so strange. Of course I use it every day, but it doesn't have much meaning to me. How did the yoroshiku expression start? Were ppeople extremely harsh on each other before?
It’s similar in Korean
How are you is not often said
Which is 어떻게 지내(요)
Would Daijoubu (大丈夫) be more valid in this case? Thanks for making this vid , i think this was literally the second thing I learned.
Daijoubu isn't a greeting. It's directly asking someone if they are okay, like if they fell over or look upset for example.
This is teaching me that me watching Terrace House is actually great for supporting my Japanese lessons! 😂
This was really interesting, but I have a question, what about the phrase: " どんな感じですか ". I've heard these one a couple of times in some dramas or interview
it's like asking " How is it like?".
for example, "昨日のテストはどんな感じだった?" (What was yesterday's test like?)
YUTAさん、お元気ですか？
What about 元気でいるの? or something similar? That might be used more often in comparison. お元気ですか。Seems to me personally quite weirdly formal and at the same time not something I would ask somebody who I would talk teinei with. It seems to me like something you would use in a letter maybe frankly.