The short version: start with すみません, then say one of these — もう一度お願いします (again, please), ゆっくりお願いします (slower, please), 分かりません (I don't follow), 書いてもらえますか (could you write it?). Eight sentences, and almost nothing can go badly enough that you are stuck.
Phrasebooks teach you the conversation that goes well. But the moment you actually need Japanese is the moment it goes badly — the station attendant answers too fast, the form has a word you have never seen, the person opposite is waiting and you have nothing.
What rescues that moment is not more vocabulary. It is eight short sentences, learned so well that they arrive without thinking.
すみません。すみません。Excuse me. / Sorry. / Thank you.
トイレはどこですか。トイレはどこですか。Where is the toilet?
Swap in any noun: 駅はどこですか (the station), エレベーターはどこですか (the lift), 出口はどこですか (the exit).
これは何ですか。これはなんですか。What is this?
Pointing is completely acceptable while you say it. Also useful: これは何が入っていますか — what's in this? (allergies, ingredients).
もう一度お願いします。もういちどおねがいします。Once more, please.
Longer version: もう一度言ってください — please say it again.
ゆっくりお願いします。ゆっくりおねがいします。Slowly, please.
Or: ゆっくり話してください — please speak slowly.
ちょっと分かりません。ちょっとわかりません。I don't quite follow.
Plain version: 分かりません. Adding ちょっと makes it noticeably softer, and it is what most people actually say.
書いてもらえますか。かいてもらえますか。Could you write it down?
英語のメニューはありますか。えいごのメニューはありますか。Do you have an English menu?
Direct version: 英語が話せますか — can you speak English?
助けてください。たすけてください。Please help me.
救急車を呼んでください — please call an ambulance. Emergency numbers: 119 fire and ambulance, 110 police.
Three more that are worth the same shelf space
| Japanese | Reading | When |
|---|---|---|
| 大丈夫です。 | だいじょうぶです | No thanks / I'm fine. The universal polite refusal. |
| 大丈夫ですか。 | だいじょうぶですか | Are you okay? — for offering help to someone else. |
| お願いします。 | おねがいします | Please. Works alone, for almost any request. |
Why these are worth memorising word for word
Most Japanese you learn is flexible — patterns you fill with different words. These eight are the opposite: they are fixed blocks, and that is exactly the point. Under pressure, the brain cannot assemble a sentence from parts. It can only reach for something already finished.
So say them out loud until they are boring. That is the whole method, and it takes about ten minutes.
1. Say them, don't read them. Kanjijo's conversation and shadowing tracks have you repeat lines after native audio until the rhythm is yours — which is what makes a sentence available when you are flustered.
2. Train the reply too. Asking is easy; understanding the answer is the real skill. The dictation track and JLPT listening practice work on exactly that half.
3. Keep the words attached. Every vocabulary item carries example sentences with furigana and audio plus an exclusive mnemonic, and the SRS engine returns each one the day before you would forget it.
4. Review in the gaps of your day. The home screen, lock screen and interactive test widgets put a phrase in front of you dozens of times a day without opening anything.
And when you want to move past survival: the full N5–N1 kanji, vocabulary and grammar banks, JLPT reading practice, mock JLPT tests and an OCR scanner for anything written you cannot read yet.
- Conversation & shadowing
- Dictation training
- Example sentences with audio
- Exclusive mnemonics
- SRS spaced repetition
- Home & lock screen widgets
- Interactive test widget
- Full N5–N1 grammar bank
- JLPT reading practice
- JLPT listening practice
- Mock JLPT tests
- OCR scanner
Quick reference
- すみません
- Excuse me / sorry / thank you. Start almost everything with it.
- 〜はどこですか
- Where is 〜?
- これは何ですか
- What is this?
- もう一度お願いします
- Once more, please.
- ゆっくりお願いします
- Slowly, please — usually the more useful one.
- ちょっと分かりません
- I don't quite follow. Not 知りません.
- 書いてもらえますか
- Could you write it down?
- 英語のメニューはありますか
- Do you have an English menu?
- 助けてください
- Please help — genuine emergencies. 119 fire/ambulance, 110 police.
Related Reading on Kanjijo
Frequently Asked Questions
もう一度お願いします (mou ichido onegaishimasu) — once more, please. Polite, short and appropriate with anyone. Longer: もう一度言ってください. If the problem was speed rather than volume, ask for ゆっくりお願いします instead.
分かりません, and ちょっと分かりません is softer and more natural. Avoid 知りません for this: it means you don't have that information and can sound dismissive when replying to something just explained to you.
Three things: excuse me (getting attention), sorry (small apology) and thank you (when someone has gone to trouble for you). That range is why it opens almost every request a beginner needs.
英語が話せますか. Often better: ask for the thing instead of the ability — 英語のメニューはありますか, 英語の案内はありますか. Starting with すみません makes either far more polite.
助けてください (please help me) for genuine emergencies, and 救急車を呼んでください to ask for an ambulance. Emergency numbers are 119 for fire and ambulance, 110 for police. For everyday trouble, すみません plus the problem is the normal approach.
Eight sentences, and you are never stuck
Kanjijo trains the part that matters under pressure: conversation and shadowing with native audio, dictation for catching fast speech, example sentences with furigana, exclusive mnemonics, an SRS engine timed to the moment before you forget, and home, lock screen and interactive test widgets. Plus the full N5–N1 kanji, vocabulary and grammar path, JLPT reading and listening practice, mock tests and an OCR scanner. Free on iPhone.
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