| Japanese |
English |
| もしもし | Hello [used in telephone conversations] |
| おたく | (someone's) house, residence [polite equivalent of うち] |
| るすです | is not at home |
| はなし中[ちゅう]です | line is busy [lit., "in the middle of talk"] |
| でんわを かけます | to make a phone call |
| いらっしゃいます | exist, be [polite equivalent of います] |
| まちがえました | made a mistake |
| かわりました | It's me [lit., "We've changed over"] |
| ざんねんですが... | Sorry, but... [used to decline invitations. Lit., "It's disappointing, but..."] |
| Sentence+ が... | Leaves the sentence incomplete to avoid directness. The listener is expected to empathize w/ the speaker and mentally complete the sentence. |
| 何[なん]ども | many times |
| でんごんを おねがいします。 | May I leave a message? |
| ファックスを おくる | to send a fax |
| でん子[し]メール | email |
| メッセージ | message |
| けいたいでんわ | cell phone |
| こちらは ~です。 | This is~ [on telephone] |
| るすばんでんわ | telephone answering machine/ voice mail |
| ポケットベル/ポケベル | pager |
| 門 | [モン] gate |
| 聞 | [き, ブン] listen, hear |
| omitting を, が, は, へ | Common in informal conversations [に, で, から, まで, と, etc. are not dropped as easily] |
500 Words
