EP 4: Top Questions that I often get asked in Japan
What does a Japanese person wants to know about you?
I believe one of the most important skill of learning any new language is “Listening”. If you are able to understand what a person is saying to you, it’s actually ok even if you can’t speak their language. Humans are very intelligent and we always find a way to explain our thoughts to others - whether with words, gestures or other non verbal cues.
If you are a foreigner living in Japan or visiting Japan, it’s likely that you are going to come across many locals (Native Japanese Speakers) who may want to talk with you. Over the years I have noticed that the questions people ask are pretty standard and my hope with this blog post is to capture as much of those as I can. Periodically I will try to update this as I get asked more questions and learn new vocabulary.
Last Updated: 26 Mar 2021
Q1. What are you doing now?
Ima Nani shiteru no? / 今何をしてるの？
Or you may hear a variation of it: nani o shiteimasu ka? （なに を しています か？）
Whenever you hear a ka, its usually a question (?). The word ‘Nani’ is ‘what?’
Shiteru, Shiteimasu all came from the word Suru (Which in english means ’to do'). So the word Suru (it’s a verb) is conjugated with it’s te form and then finally a “Iru” or “imasu” gets added to make it more polite.
The ~te form is usually used when speaking in the present progressive/continuous. The present continuous is used when conveying that present action is currently in progress. In Japanese, the present continuous is expressed using the ~te form.
Suru (Dictionary form) ->> Shite (Present continuous - te form) ->> Shiteru or Shitemasu (Polite)
So if you don’t care about being polite, you could technically also just say “ima nani shite no?/ いま なに して の” (What are you doing now?).
So listen carefully whenever you hear nani or ka, usually its a question coming your way.
Q2. Where are you from? / What’s your nationality? / What’s your Origin?
This is probably the most common question that gets asked. Someone can just take one look at you and immediately know that you are not Japanese. So naturally this question pops up in their head pretty quickly.
Now there are many ways of asking this question, so I will try to share all the variations that i have studied so far.
Shusshin wa doko desu ka? / 出身はどこですか / Where are you from? / Where is your birth place / What’s your origin?
Shusshin – Origin / Place (i.e. Australia)
Wa – topic marker (It’s like ‘is’ in english)
Doko – where
Ka – question ?
Doko kara kimashita ka? / どこから来ましたか / Where did you come from?
Doko – where
Kara – from
Kimashita (past tenses of the verb “Kuru” which means “to come”) – in English Kimashita is ‘came’
ka – question ?
Doko no kuni no Hito? / どこの国の人？/ Which country are you from?
Actually the literal translation of this would sound something like “You are a person of Which Country? But it sounds little strange in english.
Doko – where
no – possessive particle
kuni – country
hito – person
Dochira no kuni no kata desu ka? / どちらの国の方ですか。/ What country are you from?
This is basically a more polite form of the above.
Dochira – polite version of doko. Meaning: ‘where’
kuni – country
kata – this has many definitions. Here, it’s the polite way of saying “person” / Hito.
Q3. Nan Sai desu ka? / 何歳ですか / How Old are You?
Probably the most weirdest question to ask someone, but in Japan it’s pretty common. I guess in Japan your age may really determine how someone will converse with you. For instance, if you are much older than the person who is asking you this question then he/she may decide to treat you with more respect and use more formal language.
Nevertheless, I still feel it’s a pretty strange thing to ask in a first meeting. But in Japan you can totally get away with it and ask it to every person you meet without feeling guilty. But be prepared to answer it as well!
Q4. Shumi wa nan desu ka? / Shumi wa nani desu ka? / What is your hobby? / What are your hobbies? / 趣味は何ですか
When we meet someone new, we are always looking for some commonalities between us and them so that we can carry on with the conversation. For example if you love reading books and you meet someone who says her hobby is reading, then naturally you can ask many follow up questions like:
What’s your most favourite book?
How many times have you read that book?
Who is your most favourite author?
What was your biggest takeaway from that book?
etc. you get the drill.
So its good if you have your answer prepared, because if you are meeting Japanese people, it’s very likely that sooner or later you will be facing this question.
Q5. What do you do for living / What kind of work do you do? / What’s your job? Another common question that you will hear a lot.
There are several ways this question gets asked. But if you know certain vocabulary then it should be easy to understand.
お仕事は？／Oshigoto wa? (Very Casual)
The sentence above is kind of incomplete, but it’s commonly used in conversations.
お仕事は何ですか？ Oshigoto wa nan desuka? (More polite)
If you want to add a subject: lets say If you want to ask “What is Yuuka’s Job” - you could say:
ゆうかの仕事はなんですか
Yuuka no Shigoto wa nan desu ka
I once read that its common to ask someone's job in a short form because if the speaker hesitates with his/her answer, that's a good sign for you to change the topic. And one more thing i have noticed is - if you try to compliment someone about their job, their answer is often very modest like: "Oh, no, there's nothing special about my job" or "It’s a very boring job" and so on - but actually all they want to say is "Thank you." Japanese people are very modest.
That’s all for today. I am probably going to add more questions on this post in the future so stay tuned!