The Japanese words you know the better you will be able to speak Japanese. This is also true of Japanese phrases. Learning a number of common Japanese phrases will make it much easier to communicate. The reason for this is that the most common Japanese phrases are used over and over again in basically the same order. For instance, when you meet someone for the first time the conversation will consists of mostly a set dialogue. I highly recommend that you find yourself a good Japanese conversational phrase book. If possible, choose one that also contains phone conversations as the language is slightly different.

• P1: こんにちは　(good afternoon)
• P2: こんにちは     (good afternoon)
• P1: はじめまして (nice to meet you)
• P2: はじえまして (nice to meet you)
• P1: わたしは (insert name)です　(my name is —-)
• P2: わたしは (insert name) です   (my name is —-)
• P1: よろしくおねがいします　(please treat me well)
• P2: よろしくおねがいします    (please treat me well)

Below I have listed some common Japanese phrases. While learning these will not mae you fluent in Japanese, they should help you converse in basic conversations. You can also click on the following link for a list of common Japanese words or a list of over 1000 Japanese words and Kanji.

Common Japanese Phrases