How do Japanese people express “NO”?
In Japan, we don’t often say “NO” directly and it’s difficult for foreign people to understand what they really mean.
Here are 3 examples how they express “NO” in conversations.
1. Just smile and don’t respond
If you say “Please invite me to your house” and your Japanese friend just smile and don’t respond, or say “OK, someday” and never talk about it again, it means “NO”.
2. I’ll think about it / I’ll check my schedule
These expressions are often used in business scenes. If they only use these phrases and don’t give you any specific schedule such as “I’ll call you back tomorrow” or “ I suppose we can proceed if my boss says yes”, their answers are in most part “NO”.
3. Sorry I’m busy
Although many Japanese people are really busy, this phrase tends to be used to express “NO”. We like to use this phrase because we don’t need to explain the real reason and then hurt someone’s feelings.
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Corrections · 5
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How do Japanese people express “NO”?
In Japan, we don’t often say “NO” directly and it’s difficult for foreign people to understand what we really mean.Here are 3 examples of how we express “NO” in conversations.
1. Just smile and don’t respond
If you say “Please invite me to your house” and your Japanese friend just smile and doesn't respond, or say “OK, someday” and never talks about it again, it means “NO”.
2. I’ll think about it / I’ll check my schedule
These expressions are often used in business scenes. If they only use these phrases and don’t give you any specific schedule, such as, “I’ll call you back tomorrow” or “ I suppose we can proceed if my boss says yes”, their answers are in most part “NO”.
3. Sorry I’m busy
Although many Japanese people are really busy, this phrase tends to be used to express “NO”. We like to use this phrase because we don’t need to explain the real reason and then hurt someone’s feelings.
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How do Japanese people express “NO”?
In Japan, we don’t often say “NO” directly and it’s difficult for foreign people to understand what they we really mean.Here are 3 examples how they Japanese people express “NO” in conversations.
1. Just smile and don’t respond
If you say “Please invite me to your house” and your Japanese friend just smiles and doesn’t respond, or says “OK, someday” and never talks about it again, it means “NO”.
2. I’ll think about it / I’ll check my schedule
These expressions are often used in business scenes. If they only use these phrases and don’t give you any specific schedule such as “I’ll call you back tomorrow” or “ I suppose we can proceed if my boss says yes”, their answers are in most part “NO”.
3. Sorry I’m busy
Although many Japanese people are really busy, this phrase tends to be used to express “NO”. We like to use this phrase because we don’t need to explain the real reason and then hurt someone’s feelings.
Good writing.
Yes, this is difficult for people whose culture is more direct.
On No.1, in my culture - saying “Please invite me to your house” would be considered impolite. You are not supposed to ask someone for an invitation. Some people will do it indirectly, they might say something like " I would really like to see your house"
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There is an amusing story about President Nixon misinterpreting Emperor Hirohito.
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This is funny. You also use expressions like そうですね (soodesune), えと (eto), and ちょっと (chotto) sometimes when you are expressing a subtle negative response. Are there other words like this?
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Thank you for this material! In Russia, we have the similar situation, I think. It's difficult for many Russians to say "NO" directly. So these phrases sound familiar to me :)
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