Business Lingo

It occurred to me that I forgot to include the most important phrases in Japanese business in my last post about the proper way to meet celebrities. Because I’d like to think that this blog is educational as well as entertaining, here comes a foreign language lesson that some might find rather boring.

If you’ve studied any Japanese, you have likely learned that the phrase “ohayoh gozaimasu” means good morning. This is true. However, as Shimura Bucho explained to me, you also say ohayoh gozaimasu when you meet someone of outstandingly high status. This would be a person that you do not see on a regular basis and are not likely to see again in the near future. In situations like this, no matter what time of day it is, it is appropriate use the greeting ohayoh gozaimasu.

The opposite of ohayoh gozaimasu (when used to greet a superior) is the super casual term Ossu! Ossu is the equivalent of “Hey” or “Yo,” and is used when you meet up with the boys or team members from your company. Ossu was once only exclusively by males, but nowadays girls are starting to use it as well. It is perfectly appropriate to extend the “ssss” sound at the end of the phrase when greeting people, thus mimicking Gollum from Lord of The Rings.

The other required business phrase is “otsukaresama-desu” (present tense). This phrase can be translated into English to mean anything from, “thanks for your effort” to “let’s throw back beers like there’s no tomorrow!” The phrase is usually spoken at the end of the workday (or after one has just completed a project), and expresses thanks for a day’s hard work. Somewhat confusingly however, if you are in an office environment, people will often use the phrase as a substitute for konnichiwa. In situations like this, the phrase merely means hello.

After the NHK enka TV show filming I attended, all my co-workers and I had to stand upright in a line and bow to every single singer, dancer, producer, publicist, manager, and tech person as they left the filming area with bags in hand. Out of respect, we could not leave the studio until all of the abovementioned people associated with the filming had left before us. While lined up, at first I thought I might say “yoku dekimashita” or “you did great!” to the passing people, but I soon found that this was an inappropriate way of thanking people. The correct term to use was otsukaresama-deshita (past tense), and I said it around 10 thousand times.

B.E.W.