Do you say "Genki desu ka?" [Greeting in Japan] 

In the video, I say, "we feel a little uncomfortable, when asked, "genki desuka?" What I meant to say was, "I feel confused and don't know how to respond." 🙏

To be precise, "How are you?" would also be inappropriate in most of those situations in UK English - to a boss or senior colleague, someone you don't know well. To my ear, the phrase presupposes a personal relationship. I remember being asked "How are you?" by a shop clerk in San Francisco and it feeling incredibly strange. The other point is that most of the time "How are you?" is like お疲れ様, merely a greeting. One is not expected to take it seriously and respond with a point-by-point health report. The typical response is "Fine. You?" This explains a dialectal variation that outsiders find very puzzling. In the East Midlands, it's common to greet someone by saying, "Alright(?)", to which the standard response is, "Alright". It's not a question or enquiry, just something to say and get over with. I'm guessing that the tendency for English speakers to say お元気ですか got started because someone once asked for a translation of "How are you?" and the respondent did not actually understand the nuances of this phrase, took it literally and suggested お元気ですか. At that moment, a million awkward future conversations with Japanese learners were born...

This clarification helps so much, as an adult learner of Japanese, textbooks can only go so far. Thank you for what you do.

Genki desuka is kind of like hisasshiburi. When you haven’t seen someone for a while you ask it.

Thanks very much for this! Learning a language requires understanding not only of the words and grammar, but also the culture and the history. This will be very helpful!

Learn when to say something and when not in a language is so important. Thanks Mai for teaching us about this 🥰🥰

Love your clear explanation of Japanese. Lots of RU-vidrs talk too fast. You are great. Thanks!!

Thank you. Clear and concise.

Very useful to learn the nuances of certain sentences, because that's quite difficult as a learner. I also have a Japanese colleague and it's nice to surprise him now and again with more Japanese sentences :)

One of the best channels on learning conversational Japanese. Arigatogozaimasu!

Thanks for the video! It’s good to have the nuances of these phrases I’m already familiar with explained by a native speaker!

Thank you, can't wait your next video

It sounds impossibly difficult to learn to speak Japanese. This is a very good channel because it is of utmost importance to express things properly, otherwise very improper meanings will be conveyed! I think the most important task is to be sensitive to expectations, not to translate literally from our own vernacular.

Great lesson, ありがとうございます

Even when I'm speaking japanese, i often greet my japanese friends with the english expression "Whats up" But i still learned some things from this video, thanks.

Great video. Subscribed! Thank you 🙏🏽

Thanks for this lesson❤

Very helpful.. thanks..!

Thank you teacher for this useful information.

Arigatou gozaimasu, Maisensei. You explain things very well. I will follow your channel.

いい動画ですよね！ありがとうございますまい先生

Nice work Mai, i learn a lot today

I usually stick with a generic weather comment as an opener. 今日はいい天気ですね。Regardless of culture the weather small talk feels universal and inoffensive.

thank you very much for yours tips, i'll start to use these sentences in my daily japanese conversations

I was told that Hajimemashite means "Nice to meet you" and Yoroshiko onegaishimasu means "Please be good to me."

So useful lesson I’ve interested in studying Japanese since the half of 2022, actually. Though I’m not good at speaking foreign language, I won’t give up trying studying Japanese or English.. おつかれさまでした、まいさん

It’s really irritating that textbooks or standard Japanese courses always teach お元気ですか and always the literal translation for おつかれさまです. I didn’t know it was just a greeting like how are you and can be used in these situations. RU-vid Japanese lessons have been helping me sooo much. Thank you!!

In Indonesia, we just use the Master Password: "Assalamualaikum." Doesn't matter who you're talking to or what time of day it is. Works for all.

ありがとうございました！

Thank you for this lesson. I just subscribed to your channel.

Hi,very interesting, difference between real life conversations and apps /books , learning by heart sentences that are useless or sound weird ,even if learning is never a bad thing at all . Precious lessons👌よくがんばいましたね🌸.

lol hey boss, you healthy?😂 thanks for this I will now keep this in mind!!

İn Türkiye, we have a very similar culture in this manner. You just don't say 'How are you?' and we have a very similar saying for 'otsukaresama deshita' which is 'kolay gelsin' ... you can say it as often as you can to people that you just met, or even to people whom you know that are working at that moment.

I indeed start my conversation with how are you, later I found out that's how old people greet each other. But I still do say it

Nice video. I think adding in お先に失礼します when at work is important too. I say it often because I'm just an assistant. Sometimes I just copy what my other coworkers say ahaha One of them would say, 'お先に失礼します。' and then everyone would say お疲れ様でした～

Hello! May I know the background music in this video? It was very soothing to listen to

Arigato Gozoimazu Sensei. I sucribing your channel now😊

I have studied the japanase language for almost 5 years but I have to continue ty sensei.

Good video thank you❤

The thing you might not understand is..... Westerners are not too bothered what they "should" say, as we are not as conformist over here. Perhaps I "should" bow, but in the bible entire nations have lost their salvation through bowing to idols, so.... I bow to Christ alone. The Japanese should also consider that they "should" understand our cultural differences, and that we are more happy-go-lucky

Well, i sure wish textbooks would get it together!!😄😅

Kirei Sensei! 😍

ありがとうございました。 I live in the US and my friend/former neighbor (she is Japanese and has since moved back to Fukuoka), would carpool to work with me. She would often greet me with 「だいじょぶ？」

I think I’ve really only used it when sending texts to my mother-in-law or acquaintances I haven’t spoken with in some time and are more formal with. Maybe New Years greetings? Occasions where it was more formal or the native speaker asked me first and I responded in kind. Usually I don’t often use it.

Here in the states we say, yo what's poppin my g.

Arigato Gozaimasu mam❤❤❤

Nice video. Subscribed. Best wishes from the UK. どうもありがとうございました。

Thanks teacher.... バリ島 から、よろしく

ありがとう

question. I am Australian and our general greeting is g'day which is short for good day. is the best translation of this saying gokigenyo or is there a better one. I am only a beginner at this language.

Thanks for the explanation! It would be interesting to know some situations where it really *is* appropriate to ask “o genki desu ka” also. I’m assuming say you’re with a freind and you notice they’re coughing a lot or something like that so you genuinely want to show some concern for their health by asking them this question :)

Now I know why people laugh nervously when I ask Genkidesuka?

3:46 Mai please check i think need some correction

"How are you?" - When an English speaker asks this, it is not a formality as most suppose. It is asking "What is your present mood? Your mindset?" One asks it to discover how the convo is going to proceed.

I just asked an employer for a dream job "ogenki desu ka?" in an email 😂🥃

I don't need to ask, I just put on my scouter and check the person's power level.

How about 順調? Could u explain in wich situation can i say it

very good video

I once asked that to my sensei. She was surprised and confused 😂. Then she realized it was my American habit so she asked me back lol.

If I meet a person or the first time and they greet me with よろしくおねがいします should I respond the same in full or is it okay to just respond with よろしく?

Can you provide more examples for what to say when meeting a friend? Asking "どこ行く？” assumes you've arranged to meet. But what would you say if you just happened to meet your friend by chance? For example, you go to the station and you see that your friend is also waiting for the train.

🌸🌸🌸👍🦋

Mai san kawaii❤❤

Sooo....WHY DO TEXTBOOKS always bang on about this if it's not natural? For heavens sake!

i'm just going to use お疲れ様 for everything 😂

I like her! まいが好きですよ！😉👍

So you can just say "nani taberu" and it's a question? You don't need ka at the end for casual?

To start, konichi wa n bye bye

Arigatou gozaimasu Mai Sensei , Would you explain under title Japanese words like : Arigatou, Genky , easy to learn, because most of people are not Japanese, but we like to learning Japanese speaking, Arigatou gozaimasu Mai Sensei ❤❤

What do you think of 調子どうですか Is this only for explaining "how are you" as a phrase?

If I want to speak how I want speak, can I speak to Japanese people or they will ban me?

おはようございます、これは初めてチャネルをめて。一年間にほんごをべんきょうしています。にほんの先生に何がいいますか？ Loved the video, very clear English.

If people ask "お元気ですか?" How can we answer back? thanks!

It's going to be a bit tricky not using "genki" when I greet my colleague, largely because his name is Genki. 😉

ありがとうございます、まいせんせい

What if you meet a friend after a long time, but you aren’t close enough to drop keigo? Would something like, お久しぶりです。元気していましたか？ be appropriate?

hi my name is mani im from malaysia i want to learn japanese language can you teach me

Hello Mai, why do japenese people get uncomfortable when someone is genuinely learning the language and making a real effort but sometimes say things in the wrong context or perhaps innapropriately? Why is there not grace and forgiveness for the learner? I've seen alot of content lately about how Japan seems rather intolerant of foreigners. In America, when I see someone trying to speak the language, the last thing I want to do is discourage them or make them feel bad if they make a mistake. I'll keep learning but it's strange to me to hear these things. Especially since in my opinion, japanese is way harder than English. Thank and enjoyed this little five minute lesson :)

Hello dear mai 😊😊😊

マイ様一番女性います。

Ahh gimme a break you don’t see someone for more than a week and they ask you if you were Genki datta? On the other hand I can count the number of times someone’s said konnichiwa to me this year on one hand

外国人にはお疲れ様っていう習慣が理解できないらしいです笑

No, I say どうしてる？😊 Kthxbye

Just like how we don't ask "how are you?" in English. We ask "how's it going?"

Textbook vs reality

You are so beautiful

Wrong, they do say how are you

I just saw another RU-vid vid and the Japanese people greeted each other o Genki desk ka…..so, huh?

Why suddenly in the middle there is no romanised translation like in the beginning? Difficult for beginners to follow. So, the 2nd part of your lesson is not useful to me as a beginner.

Oooh what a boring world.... If it's the morning...if you meet for the 1st time...if ...if...if....if....How did Nihonjin come to obey to such insipid, tasteless way of living...? No improvisations... no fresh and direct reactions...😮 Robots ? Tell me after how much hours or days that i met a beautiful boy can i say to him : "the Moon is beautiful tonight ! " ⁉️

Yeah, people need to stop saying it

People with empathy and kindness ask how are you. Sad that you feel so much shame to not show your face or speak. Very sad

I think the problem is, a lot of teachers and textbooks teach a kind of Japanese that is merely a literal translation of what one might say in English. Instead of teaching students to say literal translations of English into Japanese, teachers and textbooks need to teach students how to think in Japanese; teach Japanese that Japanese native speakers actually use. English speakers ask "How are you?/How do you do?" So they want to feel comfortable by saying something familiar to their culture, and that's "お元気ですか？" It would be as off-putting as having a Japanese person ask out of the blue, "Hello! You must be tired." Students must be warned of falling into the trap of merely translating from their language to Japanese. 元気 actually means "baseline energy." "Are you at baseline energy?" The concept of 気 can be a lesson in itself as it is part of many Japanese expressions, such as 気になる, 気にする, 気持ち, 気分, etc. Anyway, yeah I think お元気ですか is a good thing to nip in the bud, and a good starting point to show students that Japanese and English aren't always, if ever, equivalent 1 to 1. Someone I know who thought they were speaking Japanese told me "こんにちは、友達。いかがですか？" It literally means "Hello, friend. How is it?" First of all, I'm not your friend, and how is what? Same vibes. お元気ですか seems a bit... like you're trying to get too close early on and may put Japanese people off. Anyway, that's enough yapping from me today.

Very helpful, thanks