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Here are a few more phrases that just might come in handy on your next trip to Japan.

What is your name? - Onamae wa nan desu ka?

My name is ________. - I've seen several different versions of this: Watashi no namae wa __________ desu. or Watashi wa _________ desu. or Namae wa _________ desu. I think we used the last in my Japanese class. Good luck!

How are you? - Ogenki desu ka?

Fine, thank you. - Genki desu.

Yes. - Hai.

No - Iie.

You might see a couple of patterns in some of the above. Questions often end in "desu ka" - pronounced dess ka.

The "o" at the beginning of the words for name (namae) and what is essentially "health" is a term of politeness used when referring to others. Note in the responses when you are talking about yourself it is not used. So, you ask "Ogenki desu ka?" but answer "Genki desu."

Japanese has, like German and French, different layers of language. I can still remember my French teacher in high school telling us that the personal form of verbs in French was used for mothers, fathers, children, cats and dogs. The French acually have a verb that is used when you talk about someone who is trying to use the personal form of verbs with you - tutoyer. Our friend Becky in Paris talked about some guy who was tutoyering her and how she kept using other verb forms back at him to keep distance between them.

In Japanese you can find three layers - one for talking to peers, one for those above you (teachers, bosses, etc.) and one for those of lower status.