Respective forms 敬語 けいご
The respective form is super polite expressions that are used in speaking to people to whom you have to pay the upmost attention and care as a part of service or in a relationship. At service industry such as entertainment, store, and high-class restaurants, you will be treated like a king or a queen (or may be as a good as once-popular expression used by an entertainer/singer, Haruo Minami, said "Customer is a god."
Here are some commonly used Keiko expressions in daily life. | |
---でございます | is a respective form of です. |
かしこまりました | a super polite form of わかりました I got it. I understood |
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polite form of ちょっと、すこし |
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ごちゅうもんは おきまりでしょうか |
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ごちゅうもんを おうかがいいたします | I ask your order = Let me take your order. |
(たいへん)おまたせしました。 or おまたせいたしました。 |
Thank you for waiting (very much = "long time" in this case.) |
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This way, this direction (To this way, please) |
Honorific お or ご おひとつ、おふたつ、おめしあがり、おもちかえり、おかいけい、おつり、おかえしします、おげんき、おまなえ、おちゃ |
one item, two items, eating (here), take out, payment, change (to return), to return, how have you been? , (your) name, green tea something (I) can help you with, (your) order, steamed rice |
Watch a drama about Japanese learners and a funny Japanese teacher.
No English caption available so here is some vocabulary.
課長 かちょう Section chief、部長 ぶちょう
department head、社長 しゃちょう company president
日本人の知らない日本語 The entire episode available at YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRTE9NvSdxk (29.30)
Commonly used but grammatically wrong expressions at business establishments (such as a family restaurant and grocery shops).
Using a respective form (けいご is even difficult for young Japanese natives to handle since most of them do not grow up in the environment to use it in daily life. Log time ago, Keiko was used even among family members (by children especially to their fathers and grandparents) but at this modern age, their speech have become much more relaxed and casual among family members and friends and even with teachers at schools.
So when do Japanese start learning to talk this way? Usually when they belong to a school club activities, especially sport club, they learn how to talk to senior members. Junior member will learn respective forms by listening to other semi-senior members talking to their seniors. Some young Japanese learn at a part time job such as working as a waiter at a family restaurants, which have created "manuals" for waiters to learn how to talk with the customers. This was made to teach young Japanese how to be polite. I do not know who came up with these expressions but they just tried to be super polite and ended up with strange Keiko (respective forms and expressions).
While some complain about this phenomena but most Japanese just accept
them since those expression are commonly heard at a service establishment.
This must be really confusing for a Japanese language learners who try to learn correct Japanese. Do all Japanese
speak perfect Japanese? How about you? Do you speak and write
perfect English? So the answer is "NO." The natives make mistakes
all the time so you need to learn grammar from a professional Japanese teachers
(My Japanese is not perfect, either). A native speaker can teach you what is
commonly said (not always grammatically correct). Watch the episode from a
drama series 日本人の知らない日本語
Wrong Keigo | Correct Keiko |
いらっしゃいませ。 こんにちは。 | いらっしゃいませ。is enough. こんにちは is redundant after いらっしゃいませ. |
こちらが マーボーどうふに なります。 | こちらが マーボーどうふ でございます。 This is Maaboo tofu (Tofu in spicy sauce). |
おのみものは だいじょうぶですか | おのみものは よろしいですか。Is your drink this one? だいじょうぶ is used when asking if someone is doing fine (asking about one's health and well-being). |
ごちゅうもんのほうは いじょうで よろしいでしょうか。 |
ごちゅうもんは、いじょうで よろしいでしょうか(or よろしいですか)。 or よろしかったでしょうか。or よろしかったですか。ほう
is used only when you compare it with something else. (Your) order are these (you have received al)? |
おかいけい 3000えんから おあずかりします。 |
おかいけい 3000えん おあずかりします。 (I) receive the payment/amount of 3000 yen. から means "from" so it does not make sense. |