i have many favorite japanese phrases(that i hope are correct) such as hashi ga tsukaeru yo! which i think mean "i can use chopsticks". here's your chance to share your faves and what they mean!!! yay!!!!
My personal favourite is 'yorokonde'
which means 'my pleasure' when I was in Japan, I generally found myself saying this instead of doitashimashite(spelling?) which as you may well know is your welcome.
Also I found that it was a phrase that not many Japanese people would expect a gaijin to even know, so that made me feel a little more confident in my Japanese too.
I've always been partial to 八方美人, literally meaning a 'beautiful person in all eight directions.'
It refers to someone who tries to be everybody's friend by saying what people want to hear.
For example:
彼女はやさしそうだけど、やっぱり八方美人だ。
My favorite phrase...hmm, probably, "Fuzakeruna yo!" It's used mostly when someone's speaking to you disrespectfully and kinda means, "Stop acting stupid." Another fav, "Omae wa ikutsu?!" Is used when someone's not acting mature and literally means, "How old are you?!" As you can see, I luffles insults. But my favorite phrase, that isn't an insult, is, "Ai shiteru" call me a sap but I just love the way that phrase sounds. It's such a lovely sound for it's meaning.