Japanese Phrases for Eating

By Emily Kato

If you are planning a trip to Japan you may be looking forward to enjoying some Japanese food. Learning a few Japanese Phrases for eating will make your experience a lot more fun and interesting. Even if you are not travelling to Japan, you can make use of these Japanese Phrases the next time you visit your favourite Japanese restaurant. If you are just starting out learning Japanese or don't know any words at all, don't worry about trying to learn what every one of the words mean, just learn some of the most useful phrases below to communicate while enjoying the Japanese food.

The first Japanese phrases to learn for eating, is I-ta-da-ki-ma-su. This phrases is used at the start of the meal and is roughly equivalent to 'Let's Eat'. Its not a religious type of phrase but is certainly part of the routine when beginning to eat. It's a good phrases to learn to show that you have learnt a few words in Japanese about eating.

If you are having a Japanese meal at a home, there may be many dishes to choose from. You may not recognise them and would like to enquire what a particular dish is. To ask 'What is This' in Japanese, you can use 'Kore wa nan desu ka?'.

As you look around at the food on the table, you may like the look of some of the food. To say 'That's looks delicious' you can use 'Oishii sou'. If it really is very tasty, the word for very nice taste is 'Oishii'. When you are also drinking with the meal, the most important word is 'Cheers', which is 'Kampai' in Japanese.

As the meal progresses and you get full, you may be offered more and more food. If your stomach is full and you cannot eat any more, you can use the phrase 'Onaka ippai', which literally means 'stomach full', or 'I can't eat any more'. Once the meal is over, the traditional phrases to use is 'Gochisousama deshita', which is a way of expressing thanks for the meal. - 30216

About the Author:

Sign Up for our Free Newsletter

Enter email address here