Kanpai!

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If you visit Japan, you’ll no doubt see a group of people raising their beer or alcoholic beverages and hear them say, “Kanpai!”.   Kanpai is a popular Japanese expression that is equivalent to “Cheers!” and is used before you start drinking.

Please note that kanpai is commonly misspelled as kampai.  You can view my blog post on the Japanese alphabet to learn more about the letter n before a p.

Oishii

While eating great tasting food, oishii is one of the most popular ways to say delicious in Japanese.  Remember to stretch out the “i” sound.

oishii: 

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Mā-mā

If the food you’re eating is not to your liking, a polite term to use is mā-mā.  This means so-so.  Remember to stretch out both “a” sounds.

mā-mā:

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Oishii Desu and Mā-mā Desu

To say oishii and mā-mā in a more polite and formal way, you would add desu at the end.  If you’re meeting close friends or family, you wouldn’t use desu as it sounds too formal.

oishii desu:

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mā-mā desu:

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Itadakimasu!

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Itadakimasu is a very popular expression in Japanese culture.  It’s very common to hear Japanese people say “Itadakimasu!” as a group before they eat.

Itadakimasu simply means “Let’s eat!” but can be translated as “I’m about to receive (something)”.

It’s very polite to say itadakimasu before eating a meal, no matter the time of day or night.

sumimasen:

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Sumimasen means ‘sorry’ or ‘excuse me’ in Japanese.  You can use sumimasen to apologize if you made a mistake or if you bothered someone.  You can also use sumimasen if you want to call someone’s attention.

Hai

Hai is a very simple way to say yes in Japanese.

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Iie

Iie is no in Japanese. Make sure to pronounce both i‘s, stretching the i sound a bit before saying the e sound.

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