Your App's Japanese for How Are You Is a Question You Only Ask After Months Apart.
To say It's been a long time. in Japanese, say お久しぶりです (o-hisashiburi desu).
Every app teaches you お元気ですか. Say that to someone you saw yesterday and they'll wonder what they missed.
Why this phrase
Obon week is when all of Japan greets people it has not seen since New Year, so this is the greeting to get right. Kofuku runs into Hana after months and opens with the textbook お元気ですか, which lands oddly because it means have you been well since we last met, not hello. She resets him with お久しぶりですね, then walks the ladder: 久しぶり for close friends, お久しぶりです as the safe default for anyone including a shop owner, ご無沙汰しております when it is formal. Hana plays the friend, Kofuku plays the returning tourist. お元気ですか is not wrong Japanese, it is just reserved for a real gap.
Up next
Survival
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Bonus Just Declined Your Card
ikkatsu-barai · pay in one lump sum
Survival
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You Said Two and They Lit a Second Stove
nininmae de onegai shimasu · two servings, please
Survival
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You Jammed the Chip In. She Wanted a Tap.
tatchi shite kudasai · Please tap (your card).
Survival
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Your App Taught You This Means Yes. The Cashier Just Heard No.
ii desu · I'm good / no thanks
More phrases like this
- Stop Waiting for the Check. It's Already on Your Table. · denpyō o motte reji e okoshi kudasai
- At a Japanese Table Your Glass Is Never Empty. That Isn't Generosity. It's a Loop. · mada daijōbu desu
- You Introduced Yourself in Japanese and Accidentally Called Yourself Sir. · Jon desu
- Your App Taught You "I Want." Say That to Staff and You Sound Like a Four-Year-Old. · mōfu, onegai shimasu
- You Asked Them to Say It Again. They Said the Same Word Again, Just Slower. · dō iu imi desu ka?
- Kyoto Now Taxes You Per Night, Per Person. At the Top End That's Ten Thousand Yen Each. · shukuhakuzei
- Your App Taught You The Japanese Word For You. Nobody Says It To Your Face. · tanaka san
- You Stood Your Chopsticks Up in the Rice. In Japan You Just Set the Table for a Funeral. · hashioki, arimasu ka?
- Someone in Japan Calls You Over. The English Word Coming Sends You the Wrong Way. · ima ikimasu
- If a Japanese Staffer Says THIS Word, Freeze · dame desu
- I'm OK → The Most Useful Phrase in Japan · daijōbu desu
- They Never Say Your Name. They Shout a Number. · bangō de oyobi shimasu
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