Do you speak English?
Yeah, the plan is to learn a ton of Japanese and be a fluent ninja traveler.
But maybe you didn't give yourself enough time to study. Maybe your trip to Japan came a bit earlier than expected.
In that case, hopefully you can at least say that you need English, English, English!
Do you speak English?
I was flipping through a Japanese travel phrasebook, and they included a sentence like this:
英語話せますか？
えいご はなせます か？
Can you speak English?
Literally: “English + can speak + か？”
Well, specifically, they had:
英語が話せますか？
えいご が はなせます か？
Can you speak English?
Literally: “English + が + can speak + か？”
...but I removed the が.
Grammatically, we should have が in there, and if you take a Japanese class, your teacher will probably tell you it's necessary. In the real world, however, it sounds more natural to just leave it out of your sentence.
But, I'm getting sidetracked.
To me, as an English speaker, saying "Can you speak English?" seems like an acceptable question to ask someone while traveling.
And yet, I find myself shying away from using the Japanese sentence listed above.
I think the question, "Can you speak English?" comes off as too direct in Japanese.
It doesn't sound rude―that's not the problem.
The problem, rather, is that Japanese people tend to be rather hesitant to say that they "can speak English" unless they are very, very fluent.
So if you go around asking 英語話せますか？ (えいご はなせます か？), I'm betting that you'll have a lot of people respond with, "No, I can't." ...even if their English is much, much better than your Japanese.
Instead of putting the focus on the listener's speaking ability, I prefer to put the focus on the language itself, asking:
英語大丈夫ですか？
えいご だいじょうぶ です か？
Is English OK? // Is it all right if I use English?
Literally: “English + OK + です + か？”
Even if the person you're talking to isn't very good at English, they may say, "Err... uh... mmm... OK."
At the complete opposite end of the spectrum, you may have people that assume you only speak English.
Don't they have any idea how much you studied for this moment?! And now they won't even give you a chance to speak Japanese?!
Well, if you're feeling very confident, you could say:
日本語話せますよ。
にほんご はなせます よ。
You know, I can speak Japanese.
Literally: “Japanese + can speak + よ.”
...although I wouldn't use that unless you're pretty good at Japanese.
Or maybe you'll get hit with the reverse of the question we saw earlier:
日本語大丈夫ですか？
にほんご だいじょうぶ です か？
Is Japanese OK? // Is it all right if I use Japanese?
Literally: “Japanese + OK + です + か？”
Then you could say:
はい、大丈夫ですよ。
はい、 だいじょうぶ です よ。
Yes, it's OK. // Yes, that's OK.
Literally: “yes, + OK + です + よ.”
Speaking of which, have we learned はい, yet? It means "yes."
いいえ is "no."
While we're at it, we might as well introduce these phrases, too:
少し話せます。
すこし はなせます。
I can speak a little bit (of Japanese).
Literally: “a little bit + can speak.”
少しわかります。
すこし わかります。
I understand a little. // I know a little bit (of Japanese).
Literally: “a little bit + understand.”
↑ For more on the verb わかる, "to understand," go back to our previous lesson: [NDL #635] - Travel: Must-Have Survival Phrases, Part 2.
What does this say? What does that mean?
When a Japanese person says a word that you don't understand, you can respond with:
「Word」って何ですか？
「Word」 って なん です か？
What is “word”?
Literally: “[word] + って + what + です + か？”
For example, maybe you're staying at a ryokan, and they tell you where the "futon" are.
You don't know what that is, so you ask:
「布団」って何ですか？
「ふとん」 って なん です か？
What is a “futon”?
Literally: “futon + って + what + です + か？”
...then you're surprised to learn that the English word "futon" refers to something different than the Japanese 布団 (ふとん).
It's kind of confusing, as 布団 (ふとん) could refer to a 掛け布団 (かけぶとん // comforter) or a 敷き布団 (しきぶとん // Japanese mattress; sleeping mat).
I'll let Google-Images-sensei teach us.
Futon:
布団（ふとん）：
掛け布団（かけぶとん）：
敷き布団（しきぶとん）：
We also talked about 布団、掛け布団、and 敷き布団 in these lessons:
- [NDL #252] - Rolling Up Our Sleeves and... Acting with Reckless Abandon?
- [NDL #262] - Thinning Scissors
Man, I'm sidetrack city today. Sorry.
Anyway, this sentence pattern is also useful for asking what items on a menu are. Maybe you can read the name of the item, but you have no idea what kind of food it actually is. You point and say:
「Word」って何ですか？
「Word」 って なん です か？
What is “word”?
Literally: “[word] + って + what + です + か？”
Could you please write that down?
This one is useful for obvious reasons. People give you some crazy name of a restaurant or a station or something, and you're guaranteed to forget it, so you have them write it down. Now a piece of paper can talk in your place!
書いてくれませんか？
かいて くれません か？
Could you please write it down?
Literally: “write (and) + won’t give (me) + か?”
Are you curious about what's going on with this ～てくれませんか form of request?
If so, lesson goodness awaits you, friend:
- [NDL #48] - Could I possibly conjugate that verb for you?
- [NDL #49] - Making Requests Like a Boss
- [NDL #385] - JLPT N5: てください
- [NDL #407] - JLPT N4: ～てくれる
How do you pronounce this?
Maybe you have something written down but you don't know how to pronounce it.
In that case, you could say:
これってどう読むんですか？
これ って どう よむ んです か？
How do you pronounce this? // How do you say this?
Literally: “this + って + how + read + んです + か？”
Other Purportedly Useful Phrases
When I was a beginner, I was repeatedly taught varying versions of the phrases "Could you repeat that?" and "Could you speak more slowly?"
I'll include some polite ways you can say these here, but personally I don't think these are very helpful.
I have never seen someone get what they requested when asking these questions.
It seems that, by asking "Could you repeat that?" or "Could you speak more slowly?", what you're really saying is "I suck at Japanese." So the Japanese person you're talking to is likely to:
A) Say something completely different (i.e. dumb it down for you).
B) Start speaking English to you.
You might be able to get someone to speak more slowly, at least, but I've found that most people aren't very good at doing that, either.
Anyway...
すみません、もう一度言ってくれませんか？
すみません、 もういちど いって くれません か？
Sorry, could you please say that one more time?
Literally: “excuse me / sorry, + one more time + say (and) + won’t give (me) + か？”
もっとゆっくり話してくれませんか？
もっと ゆっくり はなして くれません か？
Could you please speak more slowly?
Literally: “more + slowly + speak (and) + won’t give (me) + か？”
This lesson might seem a bit long, but no one is forcing you to memorize every single one of these sentences right away.
Maybe focus on one or two that you really want to use, then you can master the other ones later as you continue to improve.
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