This is a great idea Elmer! It'll go along way during those first crazy months.

Hopefully they'll have the autotranslator so I don't have to memorize things like that. I do remember to use the (please excuse me) or whatever it was to preface things. What does that translate as?

Actually I have used sumimasen before when I visited Japan. In fact, I think I said it just about every exchange I had with a Japanese, along with my tourist dictionary Japanese (heh fun times, when you get lost). Most of the time, appologizing for my lack of Japanese communication skills. However, about half the Japanese I spoke with spoke some english, and just about everyone I met was curtious and helpful and sympathetic to my situation. There was that one Police Officer, that blatantly and obviously walked away from me after I had tried to ask directions. Though that was more funny than anything else. And I know I said it about a million times at the Post Office. Those poor postal clerks, I still feel bad about having to get them to fill out all that information for me. :( A bit of a tangent, but that is my sumimasen story.

P.S. Seriously wtf is up with Hello Kitty everywhere, that really made laugh at some of the odd places it turned up. Best two examples: Golden Pavilion Hello Kitty, and Bride and Groom Hello Kitty in very fine detail in the window of a bridal boutique.

Spread the word brother! A little manners go a long way. I think the 4 most used japanese words / phrases i have used have been:

Sumimasen 　すみません excuse me

gomennasai　ごめんなさい I'm sorry

arigatou　　　ありがとう thank you

yoroshiku (onegaishimasu)　よろしくおねがいします nice to meet you/ please treat me kindly ... something like that.


these 4 phrases go a very long way in japanese, and show you have enough manners in your own language, to try to be polite in another.

Edited, Oct 13th 2009 6:32am by Tenfooterten

ばかじゃありません！

Huzzah, politeness at it's finest!

eh.. nvm ignore me. XD

forget about German and French, there will only be a JP button, not GE or FR button.

I remember I used the macro maker or something and put Japanese in the macro.
like my 8th page would be all JP phrases, like.. Hello, Sorry, any vacancy in your party?, and something like "teleport-dem" 500G, all in Japanese
just have to hit the macro and they come out

Thank you, Elmer. This is a fantastic idea! I'd love to see more posts about interacting with Japanese players before XIV comes out. I always worry if I'm being rude by just not using the correct auto-translate words. So thank you!

I do remember that the auto translater was pretty wacky hehe.
[reward] was taken from the BST abilities and basicly ment pet treat hehe and [help me] translated as something like "save my life!" wacky times :P

I just tried to work with the auto-translate the best that I can. I don't speak a word of japanese o.x One time, though, I remember trying to babelfish my way through an explanation ...

The auto-translate, for all its limitations, is pretty effective imho. I remember communicating with JP party members, and JP players i'd run into in general using the auto-translate. At one point in time, we even worked out a plan for a CoP airship fight w/ a JP member o.x

It definitely had limitations, I admit. Anything involving strategy is a bit difficult to auto-translate unless the person you're talking to has done it before and has a fair idea of what to do.

I try to be polite in general o.o I loved your english>jp questions series, elmer, those were pretty enlightening if a little depressing^^;

edit: re-read article, misunderstood first time :(

Edited, Oct 13th 2009 7:31pm by XboxSkidz

Sadly the only auto-translate phrases in FFXI for these are:

ちょっといいですか？ / Excuse me...
ごめんなさい。 / I'm sorry.

Despite the fact that すみません is so versatile and commonly used, it's not in the auto-translate dictionary at all. I see people using the one for ごめんなさい a lot and it feels strange since it's not nearly as common a phrase to hear. Hopefully the XIV version will be a little better than the one in XI.

I usually stay quiet in a JP Party but mostly what I use is

すみません (Excuse me) usually before I invite them or if I'm telling the PT I need to AFK
よろしくです　When I join the party, greeting/nice to meet you
またよろしくですね　when I'm saying goodbye to a PT member, sort of like "let's play again?" because it's easy to remember.
for congratulations and thanks I stick with ari/ome.
then I remember ただいま　and some other basic things (for before that was in the translator).

but really this is only to use with the japanese folks who I play with regularly. who knows if the things I say are even grammatically correct, but it least it seems polite and like I'm making an effort.
I'm sure as hell not going to do it to pretend I'm japanese in a JP PT like some english players seem to do.

most japanese players do understand basic english terms but won't bother to use them. they would rather just reject english players entirely. if they're going to act that rudely I usually won't give them the courtesy of turning on IME and attempting to speak their language. I won't reject them entirely but if they want to communicate with me they can try to do so with the 'auto translator'.

and speaking of the auto translator, I hope it's a little more automatic and user friendly in FFXIV. I know that a lot of basic things still aren't in our auto translator, and it's just ridiculous.
maybe if the translator in FFXIV is much better, the barriers will be broken somewhat.

I'm not saying the JP players are the only ones who need an attitude adjustment - there's also the NA players who just assume there's no friendly JP players, and they're just as bad.

I haven't played FFXI in years so I don't remember, but do Japanese players typically use goroawase in online games, or is this something usually restricted to social networking sites like mixi?

For example, 4649 = yoroshiku

(Excuse my lack of hiragana - typing on a work computer)

I always thought it was silly. Kind of like saying, "Let me apologize for taking up your time even as I'm taking up three times as much of your time with my apology." It's nice that they're so courteous, but honestly a simple "gomen" would do the job and be far less intrusive.

I know, I know, spare me the lectures about Japanese culture, please.

sumimasen wa mainichi ga tsukatte iru n da to omoimasu yo

(I can't use d e s u without the forums replacing it with "rate me down!"

When I make requests to Japanese players via /shout I always begin with "sumimasen" and "/shout sh*tsureishimash*ta", which basically means "excuse my rudeness (for shouting)". You can also use "onegaishimasu" at the end of your request as a polite way of saying please.

I even made macros for my shouts in Jeuno to look like this:

Line 1: sumimasen. /shout sh*tsureishimash*ta. (Excuse me. Please excuse the rudeness of my shout.)
Line 2: *use of auto-translator to form requests for missions or items*
Line 3: onegaishimasu o(_ _o) <-- /bow emote, also can use m(_ _)m

This really helps me get Japanese players for missions and EXP parties.

If you want to end a party with a JP player you can also say "arigatoo gozaimash*ta", which means thank you (for what you helped with), or "osewa ni narimasu", which means "I am have become obliged to you for your assistance." =]

Other good expressions are:

onegaishimasu = please
kudasai = often confused with please, but its more like an order. "Do this ____ ." If you want to use kudasai, follow it with "onegaishimasu", so you're saying "Please do this _____ ." Blank spot being whatever it is you want done.
yoroshiku onegaishimasu = nice to meet you (literally means "please be kind to me")
dewa mata = see you again (guys be careful! "jya ne", "jya mata", and "jya mata ne" are girly ways of saying "see you later"! "mata na" would be the more casual masculine way of saying "see ya".
chotto matte kudasai = wait a bit
tadaima = I am back! (say after you've returned.)
okaeri = Welcome back! (said to those who've returned.)
arigatou = Thanks
arigatou gozaimasu = Thank you
ieie = no problem / you're welcome (casual)
dooitashimash*ta = you're welcome (formal)

I should stop now because I could go on forever I feel like. Japanese language has so many phrases.

Edited, Oct 14th 2009 4:32pm by Nathanael

oh god. sumimasen.