In the video, I say, "we feel a little uncomfortable, when asked, "genki desuka?" What I meant to say was, "I feel confused and don't know how to respond." 3:46 Correction: "どこ行く？(Where do you want to go?)"🙏

To be precise, "How are you?" would also be inappropriate in most of those situations in UK English - to a boss or senior colleague, someone you don't know well. To my ear, the phrase presupposes a personal relationship. I remember being asked "How are you?" by a shop clerk in San Francisco and it feeling incredibly strange. The other point is that most of the time "How are you?" is like お疲れ様, merely a greeting. One is not expected to take it seriously and respond with a point-by-point health report. The typical response is "Fine. You?" This explains a dialectal variation that outsiders find very puzzling. In the East Midlands, it's common to greet someone by saying, "Alright(?)", to which the standard response is, "Alright". It's not a question or enquiry, just something to say and get over with. I'm guessing that the tendency for English speakers to say お元気ですか got started because someone once asked for a translation of "How are you?" and the respondent did not actually understand the nuances of this phrase, took it literally and suggested お元気ですか. At that moment, a million awkward future conversations with Japanese learners were born...

This clarification helps so much, as an adult learner of Japanese, textbooks can only go so far. Thank you for what you do.

Sooo....WHY DO TEXTBOOKS always bang on about this if it's not natural? For heavens sake!

Thanks very much for this! Learning a language requires understanding not only of the words and grammar, but also the culture and the history. This will be very helpful!

Genki desuka is kind of like hisasshiburi. When you haven’t seen someone for a while you ask it.

Learn when to say something and when not in a language is so important. Thanks Mai for teaching us about this 🥰🥰

I already knew these explanations, so I learnt nothing... yet, I found this video great and very useful for beginners. Continue like that. We need more videos telling people how to properly speak in Japanese 😊

Love your clear explanation of Japanese. Lots of KZfaqrs talk too fast. You are great. Thanks!!

One of the best channels on learning conversational Japanese. Arigatogozaimasu!

Very useful to learn the nuances of certain sentences, because that's quite difficult as a learner. I also have a Japanese colleague and it's nice to surprise him now and again with more Japanese sentences :)

Nice video. I think adding in お先に失礼します when at work is important too. I say it often because I'm just an assistant. Sometimes I just copy what my other coworkers say ahaha One of them would say, 'お先に失礼します。' and then everyone would say お疲れ様でした～

Thank you. Clear and concise.

Thanks for the video! It’s good to have the nuances of these phrases I’m already familiar with explained by a native speaker!

Even when I'm speaking japanese, i often greet my japanese friends with the english expression "Whats up" But i still learned some things from this video, thanks.

Arigatou gozaimasu, Maisensei. You explain things very well. I will follow your channel.

Very helpful, thanks

Great lesson, ありがとうございます

It’s really irritating that textbooks or standard Japanese courses always teach お元気ですか and always the literal translation for おつかれさまです. I didn’t know it was just a greeting like how are you and can be used in these situations. KZfaq Japanese lessons have been helping me sooo much. Thank you!!

Thank you teacher for this useful information.

thank you very much for yours tips, i'll start to use these sentences in my daily japanese conversations

So useful lesson I’ve interested in studying Japanese since the half of 2022, actually. Though I’m not good at speaking foreign language, I won’t give up trying studying Japanese or English.. おつかれさまでした、まいさん

I was told that Hajimemashite means "Nice to meet you" and Yoroshiko onegaishimasu means "Please be good to me."

I usually stick with a generic weather comment as an opener. 今日はいい天気ですね。Regardless of culture the weather small talk feels universal and inoffensive.

Thanks for this lesson❤

I have studied the japanase language for almost 5 years but I have to continue ty sensei.

I definitely learned to say 元気ですか and it just so happens that the only people im able to speak japanese with are close friends so its completely appropriate and i do want detailed info about their life and such. But in my class we were taught 元気ですか was more of a thing and the response if not answering seriously is お陰様で元気です。

Great video. Subscribed! Thank you 🙏🏽

In Indonesia, we just use the Master Password: "Assalamualaikum." Doesn't matter who you're talking to or what time of day it is. Works for all.

Thank you, can't wait your next video

いい動画ですよね！ありがとうございますまい先生

It sounds impossibly difficult to learn to speak Japanese. This is a very good channel because it is of utmost importance to express things properly, otherwise very improper meanings will be conveyed! I think the most important task is to be sensitive to expectations, not to translate literally from our own vernacular.

I indeed start my conversation with how are you, later I found out that's how old people greet each other. But I still do say it

lol hey boss, you healthy?😂 thanks for this I will now keep this in mind!!

Hi,very interesting, difference between real life conversations and apps /books , learning by heart sentences that are useless or sound weird ,even if learning is never a bad thing at all . Precious lessons👌よくがんばいましたね🌸.

Thank you for the video! :)

ありがとうございました。 I live in the US and my friend/former neighbor (she is Japanese and has since moved back to Fukuoka), would carpool to work with me. She would often greet me with 「だいじょぶ？」

Now I know why people laugh nervously when I ask Genkidesuka?

İn Türkiye, we have a very similar culture in this manner. You just don't say 'How are you?' and we have a very similar saying for 'otsukaresama deshita' which is 'kolay gelsin' ... you can say it as often as you can to people that you just met, or even to people whom you know that are working at that moment.

"How are you?" - When an English speaker asks this, it is not a formality as most suppose. It is asking "What is your present mood? Your mindset?" One asks it to discover how the convo is going to proceed.

Nice work Mai, i learn a lot today

Thank you for this lesson. I just subscribed to your channel.

3:46 Mai please check i think need some correction

I think I’ve really only used it when sending texts to my mother-in-law or acquaintances I haven’t spoken with in some time and are more formal with. Maybe New Years greetings? Occasions where it was more formal or the native speaker asked me first and I responded in kind. Usually I don’t often use it.

Thanks for the explanation! It would be interesting to know some situations where it really *is* appropriate to ask “o genki desu ka” also. I’m assuming say you’re with a freind and you notice they’re coughing a lot or something like that so you genuinely want to show some concern for their health by asking them this question :)

I always see videos like this, but when I talk to my Japanese friends, they always say げんき？？ in an inquisitive tone when I talk to them. I think part of it depends on the person too. As with all languages and cultures, you may need to adapt your speech to the audience in ways that include more than just status or relation.

Here in the states we say, yo what's poppin my g.

I don't need to ask, I just put on my scouter and check the person's power level.

ありがとうございますまいせんせい。I now feel a bit awful as I have only been learning Japanese for about 5 months and initially via Busuu I did ask my Japanese friend おげんきですか？She answered in a lovely manner but I now hope I didn't make her uncomfortable 😅. Where I am from in North East England we always say 'how are you' 'alright?' Or 'how are you doing?' to almost anyone (even those we don't know well!) so its just trying to remember the cultural differences! 🙂

I once asked that to my sensei. She was surprised and confused 😂. Then she realized it was my American habit so she asked me back lol.

ありがとう

Well, i sure wish textbooks would get it together!!😄😅

Japanese people definitely do say 元気？ to mean something like "how are you?" It's more accurate to say that Japanese people do not habitually ask others about how they're doing unless there's a reason to do so. Some people, however, do ask this question to those they know without a significant pretext. Amongst university students and young professionals in big cities you may be unlikely to meet such a person, but they do exist. I really dislike this kind of "oh no I'm making a terrible mistake????" style of clickbait.

Arigato Gozoimazu Sensei. I sucribing your channel now😊

ありがとうございました！

Thanks teacher.... バリ島 から、よろしく

So you can just say "nani taberu" and it's a question? You don't need ka at the end for casual?

How do you get "where do you want to eat" from どこ行く? It's literal translation is where to go. Or where do (you) want to go. But where do you want to eat?

noone except english-speakers say "how are you"

Good video thank you❤

How about 順調? Could u explain in wich situation can i say it

What if you meet a friend after a long time, but you aren’t close enough to drop keigo? Would something like, お久しぶりです。元気していましたか？ be appropriate?

It's going to be a bit tricky not using "genki" when I greet my colleague, largely because his name is Genki. 😉

Hello! May I know the background music in this video? It was very soothing to listen to

Nice video. Subscribed. Best wishes from the UK. どうもありがとうございました。

If I meet a person or the first time and they greet me with よろしくおねがいします should I respond the same in full or is it okay to just respond with よろしく?

Can you provide more examples for what to say when meeting a friend? Asking "どこ行く？” assumes you've arranged to meet. But what would you say if you just happened to meet your friend by chance? For example, you go to the station and you see that your friend is also waiting for the train.

If I want to speak how I want speak, can I speak to Japanese people or they will ban me?

If people ask "お元気ですか?" How can we answer back? thanks!

I think the issue is when you say, "How are you?" you aren't literally asking that... Its not quite an idiom, but its still a tradition thing to do, to ask how someone's "health" is to show you are compassionate before proceeding on. Its actually often very awkward if someone literally answers. Take the french double-kiss greeting in which the parties a quick kiss on each cheek or the Tibetan monk tongue sticking where you stick your tongue out towards the other person. Both of which would seem very awkward and confusing if you didn't know about the tradition. Thankfully there's no countries that great each other by spitting or punching each other, the book/movie Dune had an excellent example of such a custom (to offer up ones water by spitting towards the guest/host). But out of curiosity is "Genki desu ka" interpretted the same as the literally "how are you?"? I feel like if I had just lost a loved kne, extremely depressed, etc... I would be "healthy" (usually mental health isn't included in generic health unless specified). Or if I broke my arm and its recovering fine, if asked how I was I'd respond that I was "great, my arm should heal up in no time" (could be again the tradition of always answering in the affirmative). Specifically is "Genki desu ka" something that would be normal to hear from a doctor/nurse or is it just really weird phrasing regardless?

Quick question from a beginner... why is it nani ka itta / nani ka shita. I would have used ga instead of ka... Can someone explain? :)

お疲れ様です

"That's enough" 🫣 Okay ma'am 🥲

Mai san, I'm learning Japanese because I'd love to visit your lovely country. Since I'm a native-born American, I sometimes inflect my voice when questioning someone in Japanese. Would that confuse a Japanese person who doesn't understand English? I'd love to sound Japanese. But I doubt I can hide my American accent. Thanks so much.

Ahh gimme a break you don’t see someone for more than a week and they ask you if you were Genki datta? On the other hand I can count the number of times someone’s said konnichiwa to me this year on one hand

I just asked an employer for a dream job "ogenki desu ka?" in an email 😂🥃

Wait... when meeting someone for the first time, shouldn't 「はじめまして」 be said after the greeting (「おはようございます」, or 「こんにちは」, or 「こんばんは」), and your name, while 「よろしくお願いします」 (「どうぞよろしくお願いします」) should be said at the very end of the introduction? 🤔 At least, this is what all the Japanese learning courses/books say... Also, I'm afraid the translation of「どこ行く」is wrong... it doesn't mean "What do you want to eat", but (literally) "Where to go"... if you want to ask "Where are you going/where do you go", you should say 「どこに行く」…

Hello Mai, why do japenese people get uncomfortable when someone is genuinely learning the language and making a real effort but sometimes say things in the wrong context or perhaps innapropriately? Why is there not grace and forgiveness for the learner? I've seen alot of content lately about how Japan seems rather intolerant of foreigners. In America, when I see someone trying to speak the language, the last thing I want to do is discourage them or make them feel bad if they make a mistake. I'll keep learning but it's strange to me to hear these things. Especially since in my opinion, japanese is way harder than English. Thank and enjoyed this little five minute lesson :)

Just like how we don't ask "how are you?" in English. We ask "how's it going?"

very good video

i'm just going to use お疲れ様 for everything 😂

What do you think of 調子どうですか Is this only for explaining "how are you" as a phrase?

Arigato Gozaimasu mam❤❤❤

I often find myself saying 「久しぶり！最近どう？」 in lieu of 「元気？」. Does that seem okay as well?

3:50 the English is incorrect "where should we go?"

question. I am Australian and our general greeting is g'day which is short for good day. is the best translation of this saying gokigenyo or is there a better one. I am only a beginner at this language.

The English translation @3:44 might need editing

Kirei Sensei! 😍

I thought it's dozoyoroshiku negaishimasu. Why just Yoroshiku?

Arigatou gozaimasu Mai Sensei , Would you explain under title Japanese words like : Arigatou, Genky , easy to learn, because most of people are not Japanese, but we like to learning Japanese speaking, Arigatou gozaimasu Mai Sensei ❤❤

おはようございます、これは初めてチャネルをめて。一年間にほんごをべんきょうしています。にほんの先生に何がいいますか？ Loved the video, very clear English.

Mai san kawaii❤❤

Wrong, they do say how are you

ありがとうございます、まいせんせい

The thing you might not understand is..... Westerners are not too bothered what they "should" say, as we are not as conformist over here. Perhaps I "should" bow, but in the bible entire nations have lost their salvation through bowing to idols, so.... I bow to Christ alone. The Japanese should also consider that they "should" understand our cultural differences, and that we are more happy-go-lucky

I just saw another KZfaq vid and the Japanese people greeted each other o Genki desk ka…..so, huh?

To start, konichi wa n bye bye

🌸🌸🌸👍🦋

I like her! まいが好きですよ！😉👍

外国人にはお疲れ様っていう習慣が理解できないらしいです笑