Handling restaurants that neither speak nor have menus in English

[SyntaxPC]

My wife and I will be traveling to Japan for our first time this Spring. Neither of us speak Japanese and this will be our first time in a country in which we can't even read the printed text. Some Anglophone friends of mine that have lived in Japan for some time tell me that language can be a real barrier in some smaller establishments and especially in more rural areas. In the brief Internet research I've conducted thus far, I've already discovered a handful of places at which I'd like to eat that seem to be English-free.

Both I and my wife eat everything and have no dietary restrictions. If we were to go to an English-free restaurant, we'd ideally just want to ask the server to give us a typical meal consisting of in whatever that restaurant specializes and/or whatever is most popular among their Japanese patrons.

• Is this a real problem?
  
• Would the server understand what I wanted if I just say "omakase"? ...
  
  • ...even if it's not a sushi place?
    
  • ...even if the place doesn't usually offer a tasting menu?
    

I've an idea: I'd like to print out a bunch of business-card-sized notes stating in Japanese exactly what I said above (i.e., that we don't have any dietary restrictions and we just want a typical Japanese meal). The cards could even have a box were we could pencil in how hungry we are at the time and/or how much money we'd like to spend. We could then just hand a card to the server.

• Is this overkill?
  
• Has anyone out there done something like this before?
  
• Might this somehow offend the server?
  
• Do you think there's a chance that we would get fleeced (i.e., served way too much food and/or served the most expensive items on the menu)?
  
• Do you think the server might "dumb the menu down" because we're not Japanese? (This has happened to me before in my travels.)
  

If this sounds like a good idea, can anyone help translate? Translation Party is failing me

[David A. Goldfarb]

You just need a translation for "We'll have what they're having."

[Lisa Shock]

In some places, the staff might understand some English, but, judging from the number of times my husband and I wound up getting the wrong thing, it's not very likely. (He tried asking for what I was having once and wound up getting a fork and empty plate to share mine instead of his own plate.) And we can manage a bit of Japanese -well, my husband can watch the TV news and understand it.

I have a friend who will take you around and help you figure things out. He just started a tour business, but he has lived in Japan for quite a while and is married to a Japanese woman. Try visiting: Nama Japan

[SyntaxPC]

I just spoke with one of my friends that lived in rural Japan for a year. Below are some of his answers.

• Is this a real problem?
  

Yes, it is a real problem; virtually no one spoke English when he was there. He did claim, however, that "almost everyone under the age of 80" should be able to read simple printed English.

• Would the server understand what I wanted if I just say "omakase"? ...
  

They will probably get the idea. Since most small restaurants list their dishes on wooden paddles on the walls, another option is to simply randomly point at the paddles and hope for the best.

• Is this overkill?
  
• Might this somehow offend the server?
  

No and no.

• Do you think there's a chance that we would get fleeced (i.e., served way too much food and/or served the most expensive items on the menu)?
  

Probably not; most people are very honest.

• Do you think the server might "dumb the menu down" because we're not Japanese? (This has happened to me before in my travels.)
  

That is a definite possibility, but that will happen even if you speak fluent Japanese. My friend went on to tell me that even though he could speak fluently, many restaurants would often serve him a fork and refused to give him chopsticks.

You just need a translation for "We'll have what they're having."

True, but that won't necessarily work if the restaurant is close to empty.

I have a friend who will take you around and help you figure things out. He just started a tour business, but he has lived in Japan for quite a while and is married to a Japanese woman. Try visiting: Nama Japan

Thanks; his services look quite reasonable and enticing, but it doesn't solve my general problem for the remainder of my trip.

I think I am going to try and print up my card idea. Before I revert to using a combination of Google Translate and my gaijin friends, are there any e-gulleters out there that speak Japanese natively who are willing to help me translate?

Edited October 22, 2009 by SyntaxPC (log)

[Kent Wang]

This is a wonderful idea. You might want to also include something like "Please serve me the same dishes you would a Japanese. I will eat anything. Chopsticks, no forks."

[Dave the Cook]

You might want to read through a couple of topics: An interface between the two languages and Daily Nihongo.

[SyntaxPC]

You might want to read through a couple of topics: An interface between the two languages and Daily Nihongo.

I'll do that. I wasn't quite sure for what to search when I first tried solving this problem. Thanks!

[SyntaxPC]

See attached for a draft of the card up with which I came. The text (with English translations) is as follows:

我々は日本語を話さない深くお詫び申し上げます。

We apologize that we do not speak Japanese.

私たちは食品のすべてのタイプを食べる。

We eat all types of food.

よろしければ、我々の食事を選択するとあなたに委託。

If it is okay with you, we entrust you to choose our meal.

ご迷惑をおかけこれが原因かもしれない深くお詫び申し上げます。

We apologize if this causes you any inconvenience.

私たちは、このレストランの専門されている食品をしたいと思います。

We would prefer foods that are specialties of this restaurant.

我々は、日本のお客様の間で人気のある食品をしたいと思います。

We would also like any foods that are popular among Japanese customers.

ひもじそうな: 少し -|--|--|--|--|--|- 非常に

Hunger: not very hungry -|--|--|--|--|--|- starving

我々は一人当たり___________円をかけてしたいと思います

We would like to spend ___________ yen per person.

Any Japanese speakers out there want to correct this?

[Hiroyuki]

A tentative translation:

すみませんが、私たちは日本語が話せません。

We apologize that we do not speak Japanese.

私たちは何でも食べれます。

We eat all types of food.

できれば、そちらで食べるものを選んでもらえますか。

If it is okay with you, we entrust you to choose our meal.

ご迷惑をおかけしてすみません。

We apologize if this causes you any inconvenience.

このお店の得意料理を食べたいと思います。

We would prefer foods that are specialties of this restaurant.

また、日本人のお客さんに人気のある料理も食べたいと思います。

We would also like any foods that are popular among Japanese customers.

空腹度：　小 -|--|--|--|--|--|- 大

Hunger: not very hungry -|--|--|--|--|--|- starving

一人当たり___________円くらいでお願いします。

We would like to spend ___________ yen per person.

I may come up with a better idea later.

[nakji]

I think you'll find most places very welcoming, especially if you've gone to the trouble of trying to bridge the language gap yourself. Don't forget to check out our Tales of trips in Japan topic for ideas. If you have specific places in mind that you'd like to visit, perhaps we can help supply you with requests for restaurants.

[Blether]

You might add to the pre-amble,

私たちは、数日前から、始めて日本旅行をしています。料理が大好きで、とても日本料理に興味があります。今回は、二週間の間、いろいろな日本の食べ物を楽しみたいと思います。

We came to travel in Japan for the first time a few days ago. We love cooking and are very interested in Japanese food. On this two-week trip, we're planning to enjoy lots of different Japanese foods.

Another useful phrase is 嫌いな物はないです　/ kirai-na mono wa nai desu / there's nothing we won't eat, viz. we'll try anything.

ETA: Oh yes, and in your shoes I'd add something along the lines of:

アメリカのフィラデルフィア市から来ました。かれは学士号を勉強中です。彼女はサーカスでライオン使いをしています。

We come from Philadelphia in the US. He's studying for a doctorate, and she's a lion tamer in the circus *

* modify as appropriate

If you paste Japanese text into MS Word (even the English version of Word with free East-Asian language support installed), you can then format it so that the phonetic characters appear alongside the kanji - and it only takes about a week to master the two phonetic alphabets.

Edited October 23, 2009 by Blether (log)

[prasantrin]

I was talking to my co-workers about this, and they think it's weird. They say you're better off learning how to say those things, then pulling out the card and pointing if the staff really can't understand you. They also say it's hard for Japanese people just to choose a bunch of dishes for you, because they'll be too concerned about whether you'll really like them or not. And a lot of places won't do omakase, plus some places that do, will only do them for regulars (with whose tastes they're familiar).

Perhaps instead of "omakase", you can use the word "osusume" which is more like "recommended" or sometimes "daily special". You can just say something like "osusume wa?" and then they'll mention a bunch of dishes and you can say, "OK. Zembu." ("OK, everything"--yes, Japanese people can understand "OK")

Crappy Japanese, I know, but most Japanese don't seem to expect much from furreners. I can usually get away with something along those lines.

And I've never been to a restaurant of any kind (high-end, low-end, mid-range) where the staff has insisted on a furrener using a fork rather than chopsticks. I look Japanese, but a lot of my friends don't, and they are never given the option. Perhaps the person was eating food that is normally eaten with a fork or spoon? (Like curry rice, for example)

[SyntaxPC]

A tentative translation:

Thanks!

You might add to the pre-amble,

Thanks! Those phrases seem useful, too.

If you paste Japanese text into MS Word (even the English version of Word with free East-Asian language support installed), you can then format it so that the phonetic characters appear alongside the kanji - and it only takes about a week to master the two phonetic alphabets.

Yes, I am planning on learning the phonetic alphabets. From what I've read and been told, however, most of the food items contain a lot of kanji, correct?

They also say it's hard for Japanese people just to choose a bunch of dishes for you, because they'll be too concerned about whether you'll really like them or not. And a lot of places won't do omakase, plus some places that do, will only do them for regulars (with whose tastes they're familiar).

Yeah, those are also things about which I worried.

Perhaps instead of "omakase", you can use the word "osusume" which is more like "recommended" or sometimes "daily special". You can just say something like "osusume wa?" and then they'll mention a bunch of dishes and you can say, "OK. Zembu." ("OK, everything"--yes, Japanese people can understand "OK")

That's very useful; thanks!

And I've never been to a restaurant of any kind (high-end, low-end, mid-range) where the staff has insisted on a furrener using a fork rather than chopsticks.

I guess I should mention some things about the friend that told me this story:

1. He does not look Japanese at all (his family is Scandinavian);
   
2. He was living there in the late 1990s;
   
3. He was living in a very rural area in Kumamoto;
   
4. People would consistently tell him that he was the first non-Japanese person they had ever seen. Old people would tell him that he was the first non-Japanese person they had seen since the American occupation after WWII.
   

#3 and #4 might explain the story. Also, things may have changed in the past ~10 years. As a somewhat amusing side story, he told me that he had a very hard time communicating because, even if he spoke to someone in fluent Japanese, people would always try and reply to him in broken English that had probably not been practiced since grammar school. It was very hard to get people to reply in Japanese. This was a particular problem for one of my friend's friends who happened to be from Brazil. The Brazilian friend only spoke Portuguese and Japanese. So when this guy would speak to Japanese people in perfect Japanese, they would reply in English and he would have no idea what they were saying.

[prasantrin]

#3 and 4 are likely the reasons. Assuming your friend was with the JET Programme, a lot has changed since then, even in rural areas.

You don't mention where you're planning on travelling, and what those "handful of places at which [you'd] like to eat that seem to be English-free" are. It would be helpful to know those things, so people who are living here now, or who have more recent travel experience here, can give you more accurate advice. Unless you're travelling to a place where absolutely no foreigners ever visit (and there are few of those now), you're not going to be as much of an anomaly as you may think, and you may not have as many problems as you think. (Reading Japanese--even katakana and hiragana--would be very helpful, as would a basic food vocubulary--if you can't read the menu, you can always ask the waitstaff to read it for you, so if you can understand the meaning, you'll be fine. I do that sometimes when the kanji is too difficult for me.)

[Blether]

Yes, I am planning on learning the phonetic alphabets. From what I've read and been told, however, most of the food items contain a lot of kanji, correct?

That's very sensible. Menus are like menus in English - there are the prosaic and the creative. In your run-of-the-mill izakaya or family eatery, there's plenty of phonetic writing and you can often get a long way toward understanding a menu with them alone. Then there are only a few kanji - say pork, chicken & beef - that you'll soon begin to recognise that will get you further still. The 'sakana' character will help on its own sometimes, but you'll also recognise it as part of the specific kanji for various kinds of fish. Next you'll need to recognise yakimono, agemono, yakitori, nabemono and so on.

Then you get to the 'line-caught Alaskan salmon steak served on a bed of locally-grown green leaf vegetables', aka salmon, spinach and spin, which is another level again. Then they'll suddenly go hand-written on you with sosho-style kanji, and names like 'moonflower pond lilies' and that's the point where you have to practice real-time communication skills (along with most of your Japanese fellow-diners).

Edited October 23, 2009 by Blether (log)

[Blether]

Perhaps this is a more comprehensive linguistic starting point.

[thelobster]

I guess I should mention some things about the friend that told me this story:

1. He does not look Japanese at all (his family is Scandinavian);
   
2. He was living there in the late 1990s;
   
3. He was living in a very rural area in Kumamoto;
   
4. People would consistently tell him that he was the first non-Japanese person they had ever seen. Old people would tell him that he was the first non-Japanese person they had seen since the American occupation after WWII.
   

#3 and #4 might explain the story. Also, things may have changed in the past ~10 years. As a somewhat amusing side story, he told me that he had a very hard time communicating because, even if he spoke to someone in fluent Japanese, people would always try and reply to him in broken English that had probably not been practiced since grammar school. It was very hard to get people to reply in Japanese. This was a particular problem for one of my friend's friends who happened to be from Brazil. The Brazilian friend only spoke Portuguese and Japanese. So when this guy would speak to Japanese people in perfect Japanese, they would reply in English and he would have no idea what they were saying.

Another explanation is that maybe your friend's fluent Japanese wasn't quite as fluent as he thought. I just can't imagine being refused chopsticks on multiple occasions (unless, as someone suggested above, it was for food that wasn't normally eaten with chopsticks). Even in rural Kyushu. It's certainly never happened to me, and I've traveled around small towns quite a bit.

Most guidebooks to Japan have a section of useful phrases, and they always cover restaurant ordering. If you're traveling a lot in rural areas you might even want to invest in a mini-dictionary/phrasebook from Berlitz or something like that.

Many restaurants (as opposed to drinking spots) have set menus that make it easier to order. For certain types of restaurants (tempura and sushi among them) it's usually easier and cheaper to order a set meal. Walls lined with "wooden paddles" are far from universal - they tend to be found more in old-fashioned, lower-end, and/or rural restaurants.

By the way, where in Japan were you planning to travel? What kinds of restaurants have you been researching? People might have more specific advice.