Office Japanese - the Telephone: Part One

Good phone manner is an essential part of working in a Japanese office, and handling phone calls is one of the testing grounds of your Japanese skills – you can no longer rely on the gestures and facial expressions you may use in face-to-face interactions, and your listening skills are paramount because you don’t have the luxury of visual context. On the flip side, work phone calls usually fall into patterns which you can practice (though you obviously can’t meet every contingency) and unlike in-person conversation, you can write out what you want to say in advance.

Today’s post is the first in a series of articles on practical office Japanese based around language samples taken from an actual office etiquette　manual (yes, I have one in my possession, and you too can learn the secret rituals of the Japanese office!).  Even Japanese people can have trouble adjusting to the change in politeness required for office phone calls, but remember, it is just a matter of practice, so find a Japanese speaking friend and practice! (But you’ll have to wait for Part Three of the series or the call will be very one-sided…..)

Part One    Calling and asking for someone

１．自分の名前を名乗る

XX社のYYと申します。

-Speak slowly and clearly
-Put a smile in your voice
-Be prepared to spell out your name slowly , e.g. 「ジャ・ス・プ・リ・ザ」
-Just as Japanese people “spell” their names by reference to other kanji, e.g. for the name 加地　（かじ）：　「加えるの加に地方のち」, there may be occasions when you need to do the same, for example when the connection is bad. When required, I say the following: 「忍者のジャ、寿司のス、プリンのプ、理解のリ、正座のザ」. Be careful which kanji you choose – when spelling out the name Banner for example, 「馬鹿のバ」would not be a wise choice.

２．あいさつをする

いつもお世話になっております。

-Use a sincere tone - don't jut throw it out
-If it is before 10am you can throw in おはようございます before いつもお世話になっております。

３．名指人の取次ぎを依頼する

恐れ入れますが、ZZ課のBB様をお願いいたします

When you don’t know the name of the person you are after, state your business and ask for the person in charge:

恐れ入れますが、XXについてお聞きしたいのですが、係の方お願いいたします。

Just a short lesson today – Part Two will cover calling a person directly, Part Three will be receiving and forwarding a call and Part Four will deal with explaining that the person asked for is not available.

Comments

[achikochi]

Hey thanks so much for this post. I have been trying to track down a concise explanation of office telephone etiquette. I look forward to your future posts.

[Colm]

cool post, thanks. 　次のご投稿を楽しみにしております　:)

[Deas]

Don't forget to raise the timbre of your voice for clarity and politeness' sake. (Or is that just baloney that I've bought hook, line and sinker?) I look forward to the next post, too.

:-)

[Coal]

Telephone talk is the bane of my office life. Thanks for posting this. Looking forward to the follow-up parts.

By the way, how would you spell out 神酒？

[Will]

Coal

神輿（みこし）のみに黒神（くろき）のき？

Will

[Coal]

That's an original one. The missus normally goes with 「えーぅと、神様のかみ、と、お酒のさけ………はい、カナで結構！」

[Will]

I contemplated 神子　but thought it might be a bit racy......:-)

[Coal]

Perhaps. I think the only time we didn't have a problem was when we were calling the jinja to book our shinzenshiki. She just said 「おみきのみき」 and the girl on the end of the phone got it straight away.

[Kinglouis]

Thanks you, thank you, thank you, thank you. A million thank you's. I've been studying Japanese for four years and that's the most straightforward (read: best) guide to telephone etiquette I've seen (and I've looked!)

[Will]

I am a sucker for well worded praise - I will make a concerted effort to create some writing time to finish off with another article or two

[Saleem]

Cool post. One question: Should that be ”恐れ入りますが　”　？　：）