When I started working in Japan I had little no experience with making business phone calls in Japanese. As the extroverted introvert I am just making phone calls in itself, even in my native language, used to be a nerve-wracking experience for me. As you can imagine I went through a rather difficult month when, after having entered a Japanese company as a new grad, we were going to start making phone calls as a part of our 研修 (new grad training).

I was the only foreigner taking part in this training, and all of a sudden I had to sit down and make 40 daily phone calls to an never-ending list of clients all in Japanese. We got no prior training about what sort of phrases to use or anything, and were expected to learn through 数をこなす- through repeating. And believe me, in Japan this mentality seems to be extremely popular. If there's something you can't do you just need to 頑張る (work harder!!). In the beginning I was horrified, and was staring blankly on the telephone numbers of the clients for like five minutes before gathering enough courage to actually make the phone call. Not to mention eavesdropping on my Japanese 同期s (colleagues) to figure out what kind of phrases they would use. Now, two years later, I can proudly say that I've reached a certain level for making business phone calls in Japanese much thanks to the strict environment of the company. It is true that practice makes perfect, but if you're considering working in a Japanese company where you'll have to be able to make phone calls you might want to memorise some phrases in advance in order to make the learning process smoother. I hope the following phrases can be of help:
Basics of making a phone call:
Introduction (To receptionist):
お忙しいところ、恐れ入ります。わたくし、（会社名）の(名前)と申します。
Excuse me, my name is XX from company XX.

いつもお世話になっております。
Thank you for your ongoing support (standard opening/closing phrase for business)

●●様はいらっしゃいますでしょうか.
Is Mr/Ms XX available?

Introduction 2 (To the client):
●●様、いつも大変お世話になっております。
Mr/Ms XX, thank you for your ongoing support

or
(Mr/Ms)様、初めてお電話させて頂きます。わたくし（会社名）の(名前)と申します。
お世話になっております。
Mr/Ms XX, I'm calling you for the first time. My name is XX from XX company. Thank you for your ongoing support.

今、お話してよろしいでしょうか？  /  今、お時間よろしいでしょうか？
Do you have time now?

Other phrases:
たびたび恐れ入ります
Sorry for bothering you again (if you've called the same place earlier the same day etc)

いつも電話ばかりで失礼しております
Sorry for always calling instead of visiting you directly

お電話が遠いようで...
or お電話が遠いようなのですが。
I'm sorry I can't hear you clearly.. (literarily means "the phone sounds far", because saying "I can't hear you" would indicate that the client isn't talking clearly enough, which would sound slightly impolite to a Japanese client)

Final phrases:
お時間有難うございました
Thank you for your time!

引き続きよろしくお願いいたします
Looking forward to continuing our cooperation

それでは、失礼いたします。
Good bye! (used when hanging up)


Basics of receiving a phone call:
Note: Always have a note-block available to write down the contact details for the person calling you

お待たせいたしました。
Sorry for keeping you waiting (used if the phone rings more than 3 times)

お電話ありがとうございます。株式会社●●の●●でございます
Thanks for calling. This is XX from XX company.

失礼ですが、お名前をお伺いしても宜しいでしょうか or
恐れ入りますが、お名前を頂戴できますでしょうか
Excuse my rudeness but may I have your name?

申し訳ございませんが、もう一度御社名をお願いいたします。
I'm really sorry but could you state your company name again?

少々お待ちください
Please wait a second

申し訳ございませんが、●●は現在席を外しております
申し訳ございませんが、●●は現在外出しております
I'm sorry but (person's name, without using -san after the name) is not present / is out.

現在外出しておりまして、○時頃戻る予定となっております
XX is out of the office but will be back around XX o'clock

戻り次第ご連絡させていただ きましょうか？
Shall I ask him/her to call you back when he/she returns?

念のため、お電話番号を伺いしてもよろしいでしょうか。
Just to be on the safe side, may I ask your phone number?

頂いたお電話で恐縮ですが・・
Sorry for changing topics, but.. (used when you want to change topics during a received phone call)

よろしくお願いいたします。
Thank you for your ongoing support

それでは、失礼いたします
Good bye! (used when hanging up)
Business manners to keep in mind:
・Remember that your voice is the representative of the company. Since the person you're calling can't see your face you should smile while talking and raise your voice to a higher pitch than you normally would to sound happier on the phone.
・Note that apparently some foreigners mistakenly use san after their own name. Make sure you avoid using san for yourself and your coworkers when you talk to clients. This is even the case when talking about your superiors! If you use san when you talk about your manager in front of a client your manager will most likely tell you to drop it - "呼び捨てていいよ！".
・In the business world you use negative language to describe your own company while talking to clients. While the word for "Your company" - 御社 / おんしゃ means something like "your honorable company" the kanji 弊 used in the word "My company" - 弊社 / へいしゃ has meanings such as abuse, evil, breakage and harmful. In relation to my previous point you could refer to your superior - let's say Tanaka-san - as 弊社の田中. For instance, 打合せには弊社の田中も同席いたします - Tanaka will also join the meeting.
・After the call is over it is preferable to hang up the phone in a way that makes as little sound as possible to avoid making a bad impression. You should also count to three after having said 失礼いたします before actually hanging up the phone to make sure the client doesn't have anything more to say.

A lot to keep in mind right?! Of course not all of it is a must, but remembering some of these rules and phrases will definitely get you a long way and leave a good impression on your clients.

Thanks for reading! Please let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or comments. Good luck!

-Anette

• All blogposts about Japanese
• All blogposts about working in Japan

先日レインボータウンFm木場スタジオの番組「フジフジの地球ドリンク～ラジオから始まる世界のワクワク～」でのノルウェー大特集にスタジオゲストとして参加させて頂きました。ノルウェー大特集の内容の纏めをレインボータウンFmの公式サイトからシェアします☆

美人のさゆりさんと一緒のスタジオ写真♡

ノルウェーは北欧・スウェーデンのお隣。
毎年、ノーベル平和賞の授賞式も行われる国際都市です。
氷河によってつくり出された複雑な地形フィヨルドは、世界自然遺産にも登録。北極圏のオーロラなど、ダイナミックで、美しい自然に溢れています。
これから絶好シーズンを迎えるオーロラ鑑賞。一生に一度は観てみたいけど、極寒の中で、ひたすら待つのはちょっと、、、という方にも朗報！
ノルウェー北部にあるトロムソでは、沿岸を暖流が流れているため、1月の平均気温は、なんと札幌よりも暖かいとか。
人里離れた場所に長時間かけて移動しなくても、ホテルやインフラの整った環境から、「北欧のパリ」と呼ばれる夜景とともに、オーロラが楽しめます。
海からのアプローチも可能！
最近では、"オーロラクルーズ"も人気です。
日中は、"世界一美しい航路"と称される、ロフォーテン諸島や7つの山頂が連なるセブンシスターズなどの景色を堪能。
夜はその日の天候に合わせて、ベストポイントに移動。
快適な船内で待機し、オーロラが現れたら、アナウンスしてくれます。
高揚した気持ちで外に出れば、神秘的な光のカーテンに、身体が包まれるような不思議な感覚。
アメリカやアラスカでもオーロラの鑑賞ができますが、出現時間帯は深夜から明け方。
その点、ノルウェーでは21時から０時がピークのため、オーロラ観て、乾杯して、気持ちよく就寝が可能（笑）。
翌日も朝から元気に活動できるため、旅のプランも立てやすいですね。
ちなみに、大人気ディズニー映画「アナと雪の女王」の舞台は、ノルウェー。ユニークなキャラクターで登場した妖精"オラフ"も、ノルウェーでは伝統的な名前で、かつては王様にも名づけられていたそうです。


【反射板 リフレクターは、
世界で一番エコな交通安全グッズ】

リフレクターは、通常「反射板」と呼ばれ、自転車後輪部分や道路のポール、標識等にも使われ、夜間の事故防止に役立っています。
北欧諸国ではリフレクター使用の歴史が50年以上あり、子供服の多くにリフレクターが縫い付けられていたり、大人もコートやバッグにつけています。
なんと人口の５人に1人が着用！
子供だけではなく家族みんなが身に付ける心がけ。
誰もが実践できる、命を守る取り組みです。
ラジオにご出演頂いたノルウェー出身のハンセン・アネッテさんは、安全性とファッション性を兼ね備えた新しいアプローチで、オリジナルデザインのリフレクターをプロデュースしています。
ヨーロッパの安全規格に準拠して製造された、北欧生まれの反射アクセサリー！
この冬、大注目です
(((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))
情報提供・写真:ノルディックオーロラデザイン
★商品情報はコチラ
https://nordlys.stores.jp

It's been a year since I promised I would make an updated PDF about how to translate Japanese kanji into Korean based on some simple pronunciation rules. Sorry for the delay! My last year as a student has been pretty busy, but now that I'm on my last school holiday I've finally been able to finish this list!  If you already know Japanese and want to learn Korean (or vice versa) this will come in handy for learning the vocabulary faster. Good luck, and please let me know if you have any comments or if you find mistakes in the document (hopefully there aren't any, but you never know).!

Kanji to Hanja - 300 words

Thanks again to Jostein for the great logo!

Before I started studying Korean I had heard that the two languages supposedly were quite similar. However, even though I was fluent in Japanese I couldn't really understand anything when I listened to conversations in Korean. After I started studying Korean I noticed that even without using kanji/hanja the Korean language is still based on the same fundamental Chinese characters, which made it interesting for me to search for Japanese and Korean words that had some sort of connection to each other.
I have been working on this list for a little while now, so I really hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think ^^

UPDATE: A new extended list with 300 words!


Thanks again to Jostein for the nice logo:D

The coolest T-shirt on campus!! "A camera is a device which is used to take photos of a motif"

Since I decided to apply for the Korean university Kyung Hee for my next master degree (I'm planning to follow Ritsumeikan's DMDP-program) I have started to take classes in Korean!
The truth is, there is only one class in Korean for master degree - students at Ritsu, and that class is a "reading and discussion"-class. Yeah, right.. As if I have the ability to read or discuss in a language I've never learned.
However, the teacher of the class was very kind, he let me register for his Friday-class, but instead of going to the Friday-classes he let me participate in his beginner-level classes on Wednesday. This way I can learn some Korean and get grades as well! Yay..!

So far I have found that Korean grammar seems weird.. I mean, I had hoped it would be more similar to Japanese, but it seems that they use different verbs talking about others than about one self. Of course, you can find this in Japanese too, but then we are talking keigo (extremely polite language which you wouldn't use in daily speech). That is to say, I am currently using Pimsleur to learn Korean by myself, perhaps they are teaching me some phrases one usually wouldn't use..? Hmm..

Putting the grammar aside though, there are actually a lot of words that are similar in Japanese and Korean!!! Perhaps this just is the work of our teachers, because they tend to point to all the similarities instead of the differences between Korean and Japanese. I guess they just want to make it easier for us students..

Anyway, here are some examples on words you can use both in Korean and Japanese:
無理　무리 (muri) Impossible
安心　안심 (anshin/anshim) Relief
道路　도로 (douro/doro) Road/highway
家族　가족 (kazoku/kajok) Family
理由　이유 (Riyuu/Iyu) Reason

And by the way, did you know that Japan' ancient capital Nara actually got it's name from Korean? The original meaning of Nara (나라) is actually "country"..

It makes things a little bit easier knowing that at least there are some words I can understand just because I know Japanese. But on the other hand I know there is a lot of hard work ahead if I want to become fluent in Korean as well.
So.. I guess that means I should get back to studying..
나증에 봬요!

For people studying Japanese the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) can be used as a way to measure your language skills, and the levels arrange from 5 to 1, where 1 is the highest. To be able to get a decent job in Japan (besides teaching English I guess) you need to at least have passed Level 2, but most places they won't employ you if you haven't cleared the JLPT Level 1.
And of course, being the highest level of the test the content of this level is particularly difficult.

After having studying kanjis and vocabulary for weeks now, I finally had the JLPT 1 test yesterday, and as expected there was a lot of hard questions in it. At least the first part of the test, where your ability to understand written Japanese is being tested, can be a bit confusing so one needs to stay focused.
I have been studying Japanese for 3 years now, but still the test is quite hard. This is partly because quite a few of the questions in the test are about things you normally don't use at all in daily Japanese.
For instance you have a lot of set phrases where you have to know the exact expression to be able to answer the question. I even asked my Japanese boyfriend about a couple of the grammar points and expressions that was written in my N1-book, and he told me he never had heard of them.

Here are some examples from one of the N1 practice books I used:
歯に衣着せぬ - はにきぬきせぬ - means to speak frankly
梨の礫 - なしのつぶて - means to not get a replay
匙を投げる - さじをなげる - means to give up (cause the situation is hopeless)
The point is, unless you are familiar with the expressions it is not really that easy to tell what the correct answer could be. A typical question would be something like "(薬 / 梨 / 花 / 衣) のつぶて" and then you'd have to pick the correct word. For some of the sentences in the JLPT I guess this is possible without even knowing the main word, if you get the context. But in sentence like these, that is easier said than done.

On the contrary, the listening-part of the test was easy. Almost too easy.. Perhaps I was being fooled or something, perhaps it was all trick questions which were meant to fool me so that I would think that the answer was easy, when in reality the answer was something completely different and my listening skills suck. The listening questions somehow doesn't seem fit for level 1, at least not when you compare them to the reading part of the test.
Personally I think that the readings could have been made a bit easier and the listening-part a bit harder for the test to be closer to natural usage of Japanese..
Anyway, the result won't be released until September anyway, so I guess I've got other things to concentrate on. Exams up next! O.o

Kyoto Daigaku, where the JLPT test was being held

There was a lot of foreigners at the University, presumably people who wanted to take the JLPT.