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first trip to japan in october -
02-09-2009, 12:10 PM
I have looked through other posts but everyone seems to have a bit more japanese knowledge than me so here goes:
first trip to Japan in october for my sixteenth birthday with my nineteen year old uncle and to be honest I really don't know where to start!  I have always loved Japanese culture and intend to be respectful and polite at all times. If possible could someone give me any phrases which would be useful in my stay and include pronunciation? also could you suggest places to visit? I'd like to get the most out of my two week visit so it would be cool if you could share with me the places you have visited in Japan and loved  (they do not need to be strictly city related places) We plan to get a hotel in Tokyo but suggestions for other locations are welcome thankyou x 
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02-09-2009, 12:51 PM
Same boat as you Sarah (first trip) ^^.
An interesting point is indeed whether ppl can tell us of any useful phrases that would help us in our trip to Japan. Especially things like: 'What?! That's way too much bro/ sis! I'm not paying you that much!' 'How do I get to <name of place>?' 'What's the specialty here?' (for restaurants) 'What's your cheapest room?' 'What time does the train leave for <name of place>?' 'Is this food/ dish vegetarian?' I'll come up with more later on.
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02-09-2009, 01:26 PM
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We can teach you the rest, but chances are, you can either ask them in English and they will reply in English, or if they don't speak English, you won't understand them anyways... As for Sarah Bash, what kind of simple phrase are you looking for? I guess you know the basic: Konnichiwa, Konbanwa, Arigato Gozaimasu, Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu? Later - Ja Matta Ne Bye - Sayonara Please - Kudasai When you are shopping, you want to look at something on the shelf, say a camera: Kore kamera misete kudasai (That camera, let me see please)
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02-09-2009, 05:40 PM
Hi,
First thing first, your gonna have to do soem homework. Pick up a Japan travel guide book. I find National Geographic and Lonely planet to be a good combination. Lonely planet provides you will maps, adress, and everything else you need to plan your trip. The national geographic is similar but not as "complete" as the Lonely planet one. BUT...theres tons of pictures which is kind of useful. Theres also lots of history and political stuff explained which makes it a good read. As for the keyphrase you could try google but my best advice is, again, to pick up a 10$ conversation guide. It contains everything you need + answer people can point. The lonely planet one is again my favorite one. As to recommendation on what to do in Japan the possibilities are almost endless. Which city do you plan to visit and what are you interested in ? You could also take a look at the other hundreds of thread like this one and seek some answers there as well. Raisthlin www.aujapon.raisthlin.ca
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02-09-2009, 06:26 PM
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I know fairly simple phrases, hello, goodbye, thankyou and oddly enough "i like cats" haha! i'm just scared i will seem impolite because i have limited japanese. I would just like to know how to say that my meal was nice or ask how much something is politely. but im guessing that would be more suitable for the language forum? :/ sorry if so. and i mostly plan to stay in tokyo where we will get a hotel so suggestions in this area would be nice i know the kind of things i would like to see, i suppose any good places to shop would be helpful? and also the best hotels to go to? x
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02-09-2009, 11:48 PM
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What is your budget for hotel? And waht kind of shopping are you looking to do? Up scale brand name shopping can be done at Ginza and/or roppogi hills.. typical shopping can be done at many places, mainly shibuya and shinjuku, while you can also shop at the Decks at Odaiba (Recommended).. Sunshine city in ikebukuro is also nice
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02-10-2009, 07:27 AM
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As for my original questions, I was assuming that since ppl there will see me as a foreigner, they will probably guide me through rough hand gestures. However, I guess you're right, in that they will probably answer me normally and I most likely won't get what they're saying; unless it's in English. In any case, I plan on doing some heavy research before going there and prolly do some google maps print outs to know exact locations I want to visit (on foot). Shouldn't be so hard. Plus ppl there should already be used to silly questions and confused looks from foreigners anyways 
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02-10-2009, 08:22 AM
You will probably be offered a lot of help, and much will NOT be helpful.
If I get the feeling someone is going to attempt English in a painful or useless way, I simply jump in and say "ii yo, nihongo wa daijoubu, douzo" or "It's cool, Japanese is fine, please continue." If I can speak Japanese better than you can speak English, let's just go with Japanese, okay? For someone unfamiliar with Japanese grammar and construction, Engrish can be completely unrecognizable and therefore completely useless. At least getting to learn the basic sentence structure of Japanese will help when you have to decode English words crammed into Japanese grammar. I would suggest you get a copy of Pimsleur's short course. I crammed before coming to Japan and it really covered the important things, and how the answers would be given. I understand grammar quite well, and the last nine months have been a lot of vocab work. Where, what, how much, numbers, etc should be learned quite easily even if you're only repeating without a great deal of understanding the underlying structure.
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