カテゴリ:life

keigo

Keigo, or honorific words, are troublesome for those who learn Japanese. For example, simple "Did you do ...?" is in Japanese "... shimashitaka?" But in business scenes, it sometimes sounds too cross‐examining. You should say, "... saremashitaka?" or "... saretadeshoka" etc. A friend who works at a big international company in Tokyo complained one day. She and her coworkers often have to talk with its foreign center abroad. But the Tokyo staff are always asked, "...shimashitaka?...shimashitaka?" She said they felt like being questioned.
It is such a pity that they in the foreign center have no malice at all. They are just working hard. I insisted that they were just doing their best. Talk about importance of speech levels!