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Checking in the guest in the hotel

davidkoko

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18 Aug 2017
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Hi. I work for the hotel in Scotland. Id like to check in the guests in japanese. I started learning the language only 2 months ago so Im not sure how to translate some of the phrases. please correct and translate where needed.
Welcome- いらっしゃいませ
how r u? - お元気ですか? (is it ok to use this phrase to older people and people i hardly know like we do in English?)
breakfast is included (free) - 朝ごはんは 無料です。
breakfast costs 10 pounds- 朝ごはんは きゅ いぎりすぽんど です。
would you like to book it(breakfast)? - no idea how to translate it
it is served here on a left hand side from seven till ten- 朝ごはん あそこです。 dont know how to translate the rest.
check out is at 12 o clock- チェックアウトは 12時 までです。

and a few phrases i have no idea how to translate but id find it useful are: your room is located on the 1st floor. its room 116. in order to activate the lift please scan your card against the reader and then press the button.
 
Does the management of the hotel know you plan to do this and do they approve of it?
 
Welcome- いらっしゃいませ
Correct.

how r u? - お元気ですか? (is it ok to use this phrase to older people and people i hardly know like we do in English?)
There is no custom to ask these types questions to guests in Japanese. You don't need to say it.

breakfast is included (free) - 朝ごはんは 無料です。
朝食は無料です。
But you need to use polite language, so 朝食は宿泊料金に含まれております。 is more appropriate.

breakfast costs 10 pounds- 朝ごはんは きゅ いぎりすぽんど です。
朝食は10ポンド(じゅっぽんど)でございます。

would you like to book it(breakfast)? - no idea how to translate it
朝食はお召し上がりになりますか。

it is served here on a left hand side from seven till ten- 朝ごはん あそこです。 dont know how to translate the rest.
朝食は7時から10時までの間にあちらでお召し上がりになれます。

check out is at 12 o clock- チェックアウトは 12時 までです。
まで means "until 12". If you want to say exactly at 12, it's 12時でございます。.

your room is located on the 1st floor. its room 116.
お部屋は1階の116号室でございます。
(If you mean "the 2nd floor" in American English by "1st floor", i.e., it's not "the ground floor" in UK, it's 2階. I presume it's 1階 because of the room number 116.)

in order to activate the lift please scan your card against the reader and then press the button.
エレベーターを動かすには、最初にカードキーを読み取り機に読み込ませてからボタンをお押しください。
 
Thanks for the help.
You can speak any language here in the UK. Its illegal to forbid speaking a certain language at work. We have multinational team at the hotel i work for, so we speak to the guests in polish, german, french, chinese, italian and spanish at the moment. We had in the past people from many other countries. the management has nothing to do with that.
 
That's interesting.

So if the entire staff decided to speak nothing but Swahili to every guest, management can say nothing?
 
haha this question is just dumb. You speak to the guest either English or their native language if you know that. Youre not gonna speak to the guest the language he doesnt understand. But if you have 2 employees who are from the same country they can speak their own language to each other even if the customers or other members of staff are around. Forbidding that is a criminal offence and everyone is fully aware of that.
Anyway i think we came here to speak about Japan and japanese not Scotland.
 
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Anyway thanks for the help again. Im gonna learn that as soon as possible. I hope japanese guests are going to understand what i say haha. but im still a bit shy if it comes to speaking japanese. Keep your fingers crossed.
 
haha this question is just dumb

It was based on your statement that you may speak any language you want in the workplace and management can't say anything about it.

You speak to the guest either English or their native language

One would certainly hope so.

But if you have 2 employees who are from the same country they can speak their own language to each other even if the customers or another members of staff are around. Forbidding that is a criminal offence and everyone is fully aware of that.

You're the only one here who has been talking about what language two employees speak to each other. I never asked you about that.

Anyway i think we came here to speak about japanese not Scotland.

And you're the only one talking about Scotland, as far as that goes. I haven't brought it up.

The reason I asked if management knows of your plan and approves it is that due to the nature of Japanese, with its multiple politeness levels hardwired into the language and culture, it is not only likely that someone who started learning a handful of days ago will say something either rude or insufficiently polite....it is guaranteed you will. The only question is whether guests will just attribute it to your ignorance and say nothing about it (the more likely scenario) or whether they will complain to management about. You represent the hotel and your words and actions reflect on them. If there is a possibility that you may inadvertently rub guests the wrong way through your Japanese usage, then the hotel management should be aware of the potential for trouble and have veto power over your plan to start speaking to guests in a language in which you have no proficiency.

Honorific speech in Japanese - Wikipedia

Politeness and Formality in Japanese | Japanese Professor

Polite language in Japanese

Ask your supervisor to look through those and decide if after having barely gotten started learning Japanese you should be practicing your new skills during the course of your work in the hotel.
 
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I dont even feel like speaking to you anymore lol. I dont know what planet youre from but deffo not the same as me. If you attempt to speak a foreign language to the guests the only thing ur gonna see here is the smile on their faces even if everything you said is incorrect. the management will say nothing about that, were not in a prison. I thought its everywhere that relaxed as here but from what you said it doesnt seem like... How can it badly affect the image of the company? We can wear the informal shoes at work, sit on a desk, chat to the customers about private life, use our mobile phones at work, watch youtube when not busy, go with the customers for a drink after work, take pictures with them etc. I work for the hotel not for the Queen of England...
 
The Queen has lower expectations regarding customer service in the hospitality industry than a great many Japanese consumers do.

Apparently, so does your hotel.
 
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You are one of the more disrespectful posters I've seen on this forum. Glad to see that your infinite wisdom allows you to discern whether Japanese guests (about which you clearly know nothing) will be offended or insulted by your incorrect Japanese (you will mess it up) simply because you are apparently allowed to act unprofessionally in your job. It's not something like giving directions in Spanish or French. Customer service in Japanese is extremely strict, and Mike brought up an excellent point--which you then responded to with nothing but snark and arrogance. I don't check-in at a hotel in Tokyo where they proudly say "we offer services in English, because one of our staff asked around on an English forum and suddenly knows everything", only to have said staff greet me with "welcome to Tokyo, m****rf****r. I'll show your white a** to your room now."
 
I strongly doubt there would be a problem, but since there is a possibility of it management should be given a chance to give informed consent to it beforehand. All the more so if he watches Japanese cartoons.
 
You's guys are like a mafia. i asked for a translation not for ur life advice.
Not to mention that you have no knowledge whatsover about hospitality in general. we get in a hotel groups of people who book rooms through the travel agents from many different countries. Many of them like Koreans, Chinese, Japanese, Italians or Spanish dont know a single word in English and theyre constantly confused cos they dont know they need to scan the card to activate the lift, they dont know how to connect to the internet, how the tv works etc. and theres no way to communicate to them. Having someone whos able to speak the language is more than beneficial for the company. Thats why the hotels here try to maintain a multinational team. The whole team knows a few basic words in most of the common languages in the world. Japanese people like the other nations are coming here for holidays to enjoy their time off. they dont need the service like from the army but friendly and approachable staff who will be able to help. If you made an effort to learn the basics of their language to help them and provide a fantastic service they're gonna appreciate that. Keep your advice to yourself. Its all useless bull*** from the people who know nothing about the world but are first to instruct others how to behave.
You contributed nothing to the thread. you havent translated a single word so you better go somewhere else.
 
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Another thing. Out of 65 million people living in the UK 10 million are immigrants. Theyre doctors, lawyers, receptionists, plumbers, teachers, housekeepers etc. Most of them make thousands of grammar mistakes, mispronounce words, have very strong accents. Its difficult somethimes to grasp of what they were trying to say. My general manager in the hotel is from Egypt, reception manager from Poland, reservation manager from India. If I told them I was adviced by someone to inform them I am going to speak to Japanese customers in Japanese when they dont understand English and I may make mistakes they would laugh at my face. You guys seem like you were living in a different dimention.
 
@davidkoko, I applaud your efforts for trying to provide greetings and instructions to guests in their native language. If your hotel has a more casual atmosphere, Japanese guests probably won't hold you to the same standards, or at least pretend not to. If you stick to phrases you are certain are correct for the situation, the likelihood of offending is very low.

Providing service in Japanese is unfortunately one of the most complex honorific structures in the language, even worse than business Japanese. You can tell from toritoribe's corrections that the basic level that is perfectly acceptable for practically any day-to-day fall short of what is expected from desk staff in Japan. And for someone who has lived in Japan and has grown accustomed to hearing that super honorific polite phrasing, to imagine hearing what you wrote from a service staff would be jarring. Whether a Japanese tourist would be delighted or relieved to hear their language at all, or if they'd be put off by a misphrasing by someone who is obviously not a native speaker, is up to that person.

and guys, can we ease up a bit? If your intention is to help the OP through your response, there's a wrong way to be right.
 
and guys, can we ease up a bit? If your intention is to help the OP through your response, there's a wrong way to be right.

I don't think I have in the least been discourteous to him, despite his abusive remarks. Perhaps someone could direct the OP to our Forum Rules; if anyone here is in need of easing up a bit it is him. That he is new is not a reason to overlook his escalating vituperation.
 
I think it's not at all out of place to inform your manager that you'll be attempting to communicate in a language that you have little proficiency in. If they lose customers from your interactions (which they could) they certainly have a vested interest in whether you speak in that language or not. Some people are very appreciative of you speaking in their language but if you're in a service industry there's an acceptable way to speak and it's very complicated. I think even as a learner myself if someone addressed me without that service way of speaking I would be very surprised as it's not what's expected. Perhaps if they're having issues understanding the instructions in English you could offer to explain in their own language and explain that you have very limited proficiency so they should excuse you for any perceived rudeness.
 
I think we live in a different reality..You better dont come to the UK for holidays cos if u feel offended by the grammar mistakes etc youre gonna be offended every single minute here and if you complain about that in the hotels, restaurants or banks etc. the managers will just give you your money back and tell you to leave the property as youre disruptive to other customers and the staff. The customer is NOT always right here, especially when makes the fuss out of nothing.
Well I think its not coincidence that everyones trying to book the days off when American groups are coming to the town. This conceit and the need of instructing others is a big part of your culture and no one in the world cant stand you.
 
The reason people can't stand you is you're rude to people attempting to help you. You honestly seem conceited and self important to me. Also when accommodating for guests you want to try help them feel comfortable and welcome (of course hoping they don't cause inconvenience for other guests). I was trying to be helpful by offering you a way to use it with these people but not come across as overbearing. It seems you'll use it however you please no matter the advise of others much more well versed in how Japanese people expect things to be or react to certain things.
I also fail to see how anything I said came off as conceited. The fact is given even my limited language ability and how often I speak to natives I am way beyond where you are having just recently started. That being said I'm way behind people like Mike and of course Toritoribe-san. I speak to Japanese fairly regularly in Japanese and have passed at least N5 proficiency for the JLPT and will be going for N4 this year. Yet I'm still in no way prepared to address Japanese people from being in a service industry standpoint. Also unless I'm wrong trying to instruct others in something you're more proficient is a human trait not an American one. You've placed an entire stereotype on me from statements that were intended to give my opinion and to help you. If you'd like to apologize for doing so I'll attempt to further help you, otherwise I won't and I doubt others will be very willing to lend theirs either.
 
Out of curiosity, OP, where are you from and what is your native language?
 
Im from the very North of Scotland, from the Isle of Lewis. My native language is Scottish Gaelic, tho I live in the South now.
 
Reading through the thread, I couldn't help but feel like the responses were a bit leading, to give those in the know the opportunity to exercise their authority in the subject in a way to make the OP feel wrong for even attempting to use the language. The concerns raised are valid, but there's something in the delivery that makes me understand why the OP responded in an increasingly agitated manner.

You can point out the exact specifics of what was said when, and be as technically correct as you like; I'm just expressing the impression I got when I first responded. And for the record, I'm not defending anything the OP has said, especially in posts after my own. Since this sort of reaction is not terribly uncommon in our new posters, perhaps the blame isn't entirely theirs.
 
I fail to see how you or anyone else could or would impute such motives based on a simple question. I do all my posting here via one-finger typing, which takes quite a bit more time and effort than ten-finger typing, and find it easier to ask a question the answer to which may preclude a need to type up paragraphs. There's a reason most of my posts are brief.
 
I fail to see how you or anyone else could or would impute such motives based on a simple question.
As I said, this was just the impression that I got, and I've observed similar patterns in other threads. If it were an easily identifiable issue I would perhaps be able to point it out. In this case my impression was probably influenced by Amerikajin5's finger-wagging when the OP's frustration began to show, otherwise I might not have bothered to mention it.

I do all my posting here via one-finger typing, which takes quite a bit more time and effort than ten-finger typing, and find it easier to ask a question the answer to which may preclude a need to type up paragraphs. There's a reason most of my posts are brief.
It's helpful to know this, but pragmatic brevity can easily be confused for curtness, it seems.
 
If it were an easily identifiable issue I would perhaps be able to point it out.

But in the absence of facts your feelings were sufficient justification to malign my intent. You might have asked why I posted as I did instead of just attributing nefarious motives to me. That would be more in line which what you're preaching, after all.
 
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