13 December, 2021

Emails & Dates

Emailing is important. Here is how you would write an email in Japanese.

Recap

In my last Japanese blog, titled Shopping - I learned about useful terms to use when shopping! As well as some Counting terms

Homework

My homework was a bit more complicated this time! I had to write a short email where I would be making a meeting appointment with someone.

I began this by writing out roughly what I wanted to say in English.

Hello John Doe
Can we have a meeting about finances on Monday 20th September at 3pm?
Thank You, Amy

First I wanted to try and see if I can find how to say “Hello Sir” in Japanese, but I didn’t really find anything except “lastname-san” which is used in Japanese letters or emails, so in this case, I would say

Hello Doe

Konnichiwa Doe-san

The next thing I needed to find is how to say “Can I talk to you?” I’m not really confident I got this right, but I wrote this:

Can I talk to you?

Ohanashi shite moi desuka?

With this word, “Hanasu” is how you say speak, and “Ohanashi” is how you say speak respectfully.

And “Finance” in Japanese is “Fainasu” - I wasn’t too sure where I could put that word in this sentence, so I carried on with the next parts.

The dates!

For the sentence, I made up a random date, which was Monday the 20th of September at 3 o’clock, so I researched how I can say that.

September

Kugatsu

Tomorrow

Ashita

Monday

Getsuyobi

The 20th

Hatsuka

3 o’clock

San-ji

So, to say the date which I want to say, I can write:

Monday the 20th of September at 3 o’clock.

Getsuyobi, hatsuka kugatsu de san-ji

And to finish off the letter, I just say my thanks!

Thank you very much, Amy

Arigato, gozaimashita, Amy

Here is my final email which I’ve written up for the homework:

Konnichiwa Doe-san,
Fainasu ohanashi shite moi desuka?
Getsuyobi ni, hatsuka kugatsu de san-ji.
Arigato gozaimashita, Amy.

Feedback

Instead of greeting the email with “Konnichiwa Doe-san” I should’ve used:

Hello, Doe

Konnichiwa, Doe-Sama

Where “Sama” is a very respectful way to say “San” and is usually used in email formality. “Konnichiwa” can go either before the name or after the name.

Another thing which should be used in emails which is very important is:

Thank you for your support/kindness/work

Osewa ni natte orimasu

This is used to show appreciation for continued work or service, or future work or service.

With the email I wrote, instead of finances, I think the word “deadlines” is better, is that is more commonly used rather than finances.

In Japanese, “Deadlines” is “Shimekiri”, with “Shime” meaning “close” (noun) and “Shimeru” meaning “close” (verb) and “Kiri” meaning “cut” (noun) and “Kiru” meaning “cut” (verb) - This word is “Shime + Kiri” put together

May I talk about the deadline with you?

Shimekiri ni tsuite ohanashi shitemo yoroshii deshoka?

This one was difficult to pronounce!

In this sentence, “Tsuite” means “about”, “Ohanashi” is a respectful way to say “Speak”, “Shi + temo” means “Even if/if”, “Yoroshii” is a respectful way of saying “ii”, and “Desyouka?” is the respectful way of saying “desuka?”