Japanese people say the word Ano
 

At the beginning of each sentence...so often...what does it really mean?


Ano ne
Ano...

etc

Well, hmm...
Umm....
By the way...

It`s an interjection. The examples above are just examples of what it could replace in English.

It can also be used to get someone's attention. Like "excuse me..."

This is the type of thing that living in Japan or speaking with natives really does teach you. I don't recall ever being taught this, but I instinctively do it.

Glad you pointed that out, I would have just stuck to すみません if I needed to get attention XD Thank you for pointing this out!

To my ear, すみません sounds more polite than あの. I like to think of あの as being the English equivalent of "Um."

As in, "Um, can you help me?"
あの〜、手伝ってくれないの？

I don't think you'd hear
あの、手伝っていただけないでしょうか。

:)

OK, so it is right, right? XD

I use ano like 'uhh' when I'm not sure what I'm saying next.

Shouldnt you use えっと for that? Maybe both are interchangeable?

Like ummm and uhh are, I think so, too.