Let’s say you plan to travel to Japan, but you don’t know much Japanese? You might be fluent in English, but that won’t help much. It’s definitely necessary for you to know some words in Japanese, for that we made this basic guide to help you increase your vocabulary and try to survive in Japan. We will divide this guide into categories.
Table of Contents
Requests and Questions
When you are in Japan, you will need to ask many questions, where is that? What does this mean? Does anyone speak Portuguese? The words in the table below can help you understand and know how to ask these questions.
- ですか (desuka) – Used to ask questions
- どこ (doko) – Where
- なに (nani) – What?
- どうして (doushite) – Why?
- どうした (doushita) – What happened?
- いつ (itsu) – When
- 時間 (jikan) – Time
- 質問 (shitsumon) – Question
- だれ (dare) – Who
- ここ (koko) – Here
- いくら (ikura) – How much (price)
Looking for Places
What can I ask? Well, for that we need to know the names of some places that tourists usually look for.
- トイレ (toire) – Bathroom
- 手洗い (tearai) – Washroom
- 服 (fuku) – Changing room
- ホテル (hoteru) – Hotel
- 空港 (kuukou) – Airport
- 駅 (eki) – Station
- 大学 (daigaku) – School / College
- 本屋 (honya) – Bookstore
- 家 (ie / uchi) – House / My House
- タクシー (takushii) – Taxi
- レストラン (resutoran) – Restaurant
- コンビニ (konbini) – Convenience store
- スーパー (suupaa) – Supermarket
- 公園 (kouen) – Park
- 警察 (keisatsu) – Police
- 温泉 (onsen) – Hot springs
Emergency Words
Sometimes you may encounter some difficulty or need help, here are some emergency words.
- 助けて (tasukete) – Help me / Help!
- わかりません (wakarimasen) – I don’t know (formal)
- わからない (wakaranai) – I don’t know (informal)
- やめて! (yamete!) – Stop it!
- だめ (dame) – Cannot / Don’t do that
- 危ない (abunai) – Dangerous
- 危険 (kiken) – Danger
- ください (kudasai) – Please
- おねがい (onegai) – Please (request)
- ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu) – Thank you very much
- すみません (sumimasen) – Sorry (polite)
- ごめんなさい (gomennasai) – Sorry (stronger)
Food-Related Words
Everyone loves food, no one can live without it! So now let’s talk a little about food!
- おなかすいた (onaka suita) – I’m hungry
- 食べます (tabemasu) – Eat
- 飲みます (nomimasu) – Drink
- 水 (mizu) – Water
- 飲み物 (nomimono) – Beverage
- 食べ物 (tabemono) – Food
- 美味しい (oishii) – Delicious
- 不味い (mazui) – Bad / Not tasty
- いただきます (itadakimasu) – Thank you for the meal (before eating)
- ごちそうさまでした (gochisousama deshita) – Thank you for the meal (after eating)
Words You Should Know
The most basic words in Japanese like greetings, good morning, thank you, etc.
- おはようございます (ohayou gozaimasu) – Good morning
- こんにちは (konnichiwa) – Good afternoon / Hi
- こんばんは (konbanwa) – Good evening (upon arrival)
- お休み (oyasumi) – Good night (when sleeping)
- ではまた (dewa mata) – See you later
- また明日 (mata ashita) – See you tomorrow
- さようなら (sayounara) – Goodbye
- じゃね (ja ne) – Bye
- あなた (anata) – You
- 私 (watashi) – I
- 彼 (kare) – He / Boyfriend
- 彼女 (kanojo) – She / Girlfriend
- たち (tachi) – Plural (ex: 私たち = we)
There are some interesting rules about pronouns or sentence formation that we won’t go into detail about.
What Can Help Me Now?
This is just the tip of the iceberg, you need to learn many things, like numbers, verbs, adjectives, foods, etc. Therefore, we will leave below a list of articles with vocabulary for you to learn and survive in Japan.
Don’t forget to take a good look at our category or use our search menu to find other Japanese articles to help with your trip.
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