Business Japanese - Keigo II -

Kenjougo

By Niffer

“I find it really difficult to remember keigo.”

(To recap from the previous post on Keigo)

Keigo 敬語 literally means “respectful language” and is
used in formal situations (but mostly business). If you are
studying Japanese at university you will go over this. So this
entry is to help with people who will go to work in Japan
(teaching English or other business) and for university
students.

There are several different types of keigo which are used in

different ways depending on the situation and who you’re
speaking to, and who you’re talking about. When I learnt
keigo the teacher decided to combine all of these together into
one big lesson, which is very confusing! We barely practised
either which meant that when we had our keigo speaking
exam I broke down and cried after! It was so bad! I don’t want
anyone to ever go through that again! So I’m having lessons
now specifically for keigo/business Japanese and will explain
everything I learn to you.

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 So just to help this is a good diagram of the different keigo.
Believe it or not the ます form of the verbs you learn is a form
of keigo which is used between equals (marked as “fair” in the
diagram. This is also called teineigo). When you use this it it
with a stranger and you don’t know their social standing, or
someone on the same level as you (ie age, rank in a job etc).
Sonkeigo is used to elevate the person you are talking to, and
Kenjogo is used to push yourself down. Sonkeigo and Kenjogo
are used together, you wouldn’t mix these with other forms of
keigo.

In order to reduce the confusions these keigo entries will be

split up and won’t come one after the other but on random
weeks. Each focusing on a different type of keigo. I will also
try and make each of them situational with example
conversations and key phrases in bold (rather than just listing
the verbs like most sites do, although there will be a list for
reference) to make it easier to learn.

Click here for the lesson on Sonkeigo

Click here for the Memrise course covering all the sonkeigo,
kenjogo, and other keigo vocabulary.

Kenjougo 謙譲語

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 Kenjougo (also known as “humble Japanese”) is, like
sonkeigo, always used when you are talking to
someone higher ranking than you (boss, sempai,
customer, teacher), but is used when you are talking
about some you did/do/are going to do.

Unlike sonkeigo there is only one form used for kenjougo

(when the verb is not irregular):

お Vます します

The following are special words that get

changed COMPLETELY in kenjougo:

(Not all verbs that are irregular in kenjougo are irregular in

sonkeigo and vice versa)

伺います うかがいます
⾏く
参ります まいります
伺います うかがいます
来る
参ります まいります
⾷べます・飲みます 頂きます いただきます
頂きます いただきます
もらう
頂戴します ちょうだいします
あげる 差し上げます さしあげます

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 ⾒ます 拝⾒します はいけんします
申し上げます もうしあげます
⾔います
申します もうします
します 致します いたします
知っています 存じ上げます ぞんじあげます
です でございます
ある ございます
いる おります
会う お目にかかります
聞く 伺います うかがいます
たずねる 伺います うかがいます

As mentioned every other verb where you are referring to

yourself you use the stem form (ます with the ます taken off
i.e ききます －＞ きき) and turn it into お Vます します.

Here are some examples:

話す お話しします
書く お書きします
泳ぐ お泳ぎします
取る お取りします
座る お座りします

I know I said I wouldn’t list just vocabulary but these are

good to learn before you try to jump into practising using
them in sentences.

Below are some situations with these words used in a phrase

in the context of a situation. As mentioned they are only used
when talking about the person who is higher up than you, and
when you are talking to them or to someone else (about
yourself). The kenjougo is highlighted. Besides practising
these think up some of your own sentences you might use
when talking to a boss or someone you don’t know and check
with people on Lang-8 to see if it’s correct or not. If you have a

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 one-to-one Japanese teacher it really helps to practice
conversations with them in keigo.

On the phone

You: _____と申しますが、_____はいらっしゃいますか。=
My name is_____, is______ there?
(*いらっしゃいます is sonkeigo/respectful Japanese for いま
す)

Receptionist: はい、おります。お待ちください。 = Yes,

they are here. Please wait.
(*おまちください is sonkeigo)

。。。

Person you’re calling: お電話代わたりました。_____です。

= The phone has connected. This is _____

You: 先⽇お電話しました____です。= This is _____, I

called the other day.

。。。

You: 失礼いたします = Please excuse me (set phrase for

finishing on the phone instead of ‘goodbye’ like in English)

You notice how the person says “おります” for the person you
are trying to get in contact with. The person you are calling is
a higher status than yourself but they are part of the company
the receptionist is representing. The receptionist uses おりま
す (kenjougo) instead of いらっしゃいます (sonkeigo)
because she is humbling the company in relation to you, the
outsider/customer. Often when a person within a company is
talking about someone in that company to a person outside
the company they will refer to that person in humble form and
might even remove all name endings like さん.

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 But when you are referring directly to people in your company
such as co-workers or your boss you use sonkeigo when you
talk about them (as described in the sonkeigo post you use
different sonkeigo between your boss and your co-workers).

Apologies for being late/changing meeting time

今⽇１時にそちらに伺うことになっていたんですが。。。= I
am supposed to meet you at 1:00 today there but…

わざわざお時間をとっていただたのに。。。 = Even though

you took the time for me…

できれば、 のご都合のよい⽇に変更させていただけないで
しょうか = If possible, would you allow me to change the day
to a more convenient time?

ありがとうございます。本当に申し訳ありませんでした。=
Thank you very much. I am sorry for troubling you.

When you say someone is doing something for you, or asking

if they will allow you to do something, in a regular
conversation with a friend you would use てform with くれま
す, but, as you can see above, because you are using keigo and
referring to yourself you change this to いだだきます.

Use when talking about yourself when talking to

people higher up than you.
Don’t use for people who are on the same level
as you (i.e your friends)

You are a foreigner and Japanese people will understand if

you make a few mistakes (even Japanese people don’t know
how to use keigo properly sometimes). So don’t be too worried
about getting everything perfect. If you can find a Japanese
person to practice with (like a teacher) then great. It’s also
good to learn to recognise these so you can understand when
staff are talking to you and asking you questions.

ますform counts as a form of keigo, and (as show

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 in the diagram at the beginning of the post) can
be used in formal situations, especially in
sentences where you are talking about other
general topics like “my cat is sick” (although you
probably wouldn’t be telling a stranger that your
cat is sick).

If you would like more information and practice using keigo

this is a great pdt that outlines everything very clearly and
includes practice exercises: ParaPara Penguins

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