Motivated by Jeryl, I shall start my series of Business Japanese threads.

I am sure most of us here would know that you need to use 敬語 (けいご）when it comes to Business Japanese.

In school, if you have studied up to JLPT 3 level, you would know that there are generally 3 types of 敬語, which are:

-尊敬語（そんけいご）: Honorific form
-謙譲語(けんじょご）： Humble form
-丁寧語(ていねいご）: Polite form

But I guess that not many people in this forum know that there's actually something called 美化語 (びかご) in 敬語. These are words that use お or ご in front of a noun (e.g ご連絡、お電話) to beautify the word. =)

Anyway, let's move on.

The following are all the set phrases you need to know for 尊敬語 and 謙譲語. If possible, memorize them. =)

Note: they are all in 辞書形



Recently, one of my juniors had some problems with a Rakuten merchant, then they wanted him to pay cash on delivery, which he couldn't cos he was in Singapore. So I was asked to call the merchant to explain and see if there was any way to work things out. During the conversation, I used Business Japanese with the merchant, like addressing him as ～様, etc. In the end, the problem was resolved.

The Power of 敬語！

Business Japanese can bring you a long way and can help you find a good job if you use them correctly during an interview. It did help me to get my current job! =)