2011年8月29日月曜日

Have a good weekend !

Zansho omimai moushi agemasu.

This is a greeting for summer. It means “Are you doing OK in the hot weather?” and is used when we write a letter or postcard to friends or acquaintances. Every year I write postcards for zansho mimai only to my aunts living far away and friends whom I rarely see, but it is nice to get in touch with them for a season’s greeting.
 
The Japanese greetings that even a newcomer knows are “konnichiwa”, “arigato”, etc. Also, the greetings that you learn when you eat with Japanese people are “itadakimas” and “gochisosama”. The ones that you learn by hearing Japanese colleagues saying them everyday are “otsukaresama” and “osaki ni shitsurei shimas”.
*itadakimas: Thank you for the food. (before eating)
gochisosama: Thank you for the food. (after eating)
otsukaresama: Thank you for your hard work. (after finishing your work)
osaki ni shitsurei shimas: Excuse me for leaving the office before you.
Moreover, everyone wonders how one might say “Have a good weekend” in Japanese.
Have a good weekend. = yoi shumatsu o. / tanoshii shumatsu o.
The full sentence is “yoi / tanoshii shumatsu o sugoshite kudasai.” We omit “sugoshite kudasai” (Please spend). But, make sure to keep “o” because it is important.

We often use this greeting “yoi shumatsu o. / tanoshii shumatsu o.”, but I think they are translated from English. We probably didn’t have these kinds of greetings in Japan before. This is because such greetings as "Have a good day”, “Have a good night” or “Have a good holiday" are rarely used in Japanese.
Have a good day. = yoi ichinichi o.
This is not strange, but I think it is not used that much.

There is no good Japanese translation for "Have a good night". We never say “yoi yoru o”. When you say goodbye to someone after 8pm or 9pm and if you will just go home and sleep, you can say “oyasuminasai” (Have a good sleep/ Sleep well). However, it is weird to say “oyasuminasai” around 6pm or 7pm and you will still have dinner or go out later on.

Furthermore, for "Have a good holiday." or "Have a nice trip." I think it would be more natural to say “yasumi o tanoshinde kudasai” (Enjoy your holiday) or “ryoko o tanoshinde kudasai” (Enjoy your trip), instead of “yoi yasumi o” or “yoi ryoko o”.

Also, there is a convenient expression in Japanese called “gokigenyo”.
It means something like “Are you feeling well?” or “I hope you are well.” and is a greeting used when you meet someone and say goodbye both in the daytime and nighttime. But, we think this greeting is feminine and too elegant, so it is not popular anymore.

Well, lately the temperature has dropped a little, but the summer heat still lingers. Enjoy the rest of summer.

By the way, people say “Stay cool” in English when it is hot, but there is no expression like this in Japanese. If I try to translate it, it becomes “suzushiku ite ne”, but this would not be used.

*Watch the video, too!