English in Japanese: 英語 (eigo)
English in Japanese is 英語 (えいご, eigo, “English (language)”), written えいご in hiragana. To ask "Do you speak English?", say 英語を話せますか (eigo o hanasemasu ka).
英語 is two kanji. 英 is short for 英吉利, an old way of writing イギリス (England), and 語 means "language". So the word is literally "England language". It's the name of the language, not of the country or its people. Those are separate words (below).
The same word turns up in many compounds. 英会話 (えいかいわ, eikaiwa, “English conversation”) is the usual name for English conversation lessons, and 日本語 (にほんご, nihongo, “Japanese (language)”) is the matching word for Japanese. Any language is a name plus 語, and 外国語 (がいこくご, gaikokugo, “foreign language”) is "foreign language".
Do you speak English in Japanese: 英語を話せますか
Here are the ways to ask, all polite and all safe with strangers. The most natural are the 話せますか forms (can you speak it?), with は after 英語 or a pause:
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 英語、話せますか | eigo, hanasemasu ka | Can you speak English? |
| 英語を話せますか | eigo o hanasemasu ka | Can you speak English? |
| 英語が話せますか | eigo ga hanasemasu ka | Can you speak English? |
| 英語は話せますか | eigo wa hanasemasu ka | Can you speak English? (as for English) |
| 英語を話しますか | eigo o hanashimasu ka | Do you speak English? |
| 英語が分かりますか | eigo ga wakarimasu ka | Do you understand English? |
| すみません、英語を話せますか | sumimasen, eigo o hanasemasu ka | Excuse me, can you speak English? |
The verb is 話す (はなす, hanasu, “to speak (a language)”). 話します is its polite present form, and 話せます is the polite form of 話せる (はなせる, hanaseru, “to be able to speak”). So 話せますか asks "can you speak it?" and 話しますか asks "do you speak it?". Rosetta Stone teaches 話しますか, and it's grammatical. But 話せますか is the question people tend to ask in practice, and 話しますか can sound stiff to a stranger.
There's no word for "you" in any of these. Japanese drops the subject when it's clear, and あなた with a stranger is best avoided: it can sound pushy.
を or が?
You'll see 英語を話せますか, 英語が話せますか and 英語は話せますか. All three are grammatical and used. The を and が versions simply ask the question. は marks English as the topic ("as for English, can you speak it?"), and in speech people often leave the particle out, as in 英語、話せますか. Pick one and use it.
Start with すみません
Open with すみません (sumimasen, “excuse me”). It gets the person's attention and softens the question. Many people who studied English at school still don't feel comfortable speaking it, and you may be the first foreigner they've spoken to, so a polite opening helps.
分かりますか: understand
分かる (わかる, wakaru, “to understand”) asks about understanding, not speaking. 英語が分かりますか fits when you want to know whether someone can follow a sign or a form, not hold a conversation. A person who reads English well may still be shy about speaking it.
How to answer: yes, a little, no
The answer to these questions is short.
- Yes: はい、話せます (hai, hanasemasu), or just 話せます. People often add 少し.
- A little: 少し話せます (sukoshi hanasemasu). 少し (すこし, sukoshi, “a little”) is the standard word for "a little".
- No: いいえ、話せません (iie, hanasemasen). いいえ (iie, “no”) is "no", and 話せません is the negative of 話せます.
Many people answer with ちょっと (chotto, “a little”). It means "a little", and it's often said with a small shake of the head. Many Japanese people answer ちょっと even after years of English at school, because they don't feel comfortable speaking it. Don't read it as a flat "no".
How to politely say you don't speak Japanese
The natural way to say it is 日本語は話せません (nihongo wa hanasemasen), "I can't speak Japanese". To soften it, say 日本語はあまり話せません (nihongo wa amari hanasemasen), "I can't speak Japanese much", or 日本語は少ししか話せません (nihongo wa sukoshi shika hanasemasen), "I can only speak a little". These use 話せる, "able to speak", just like the question above.
Two other phrases work for "I don't understand": 分かりません (wakarimasen) and 日本語が分かりません (nihongo ga wakarimasen). Some phrasebooks give 日本語を話しません, but without the "able to" form it can sound like "I don't speak Japanese by choice", close to a refusal. Use 話せません instead.
Two small additions make you sound kinder:
- Start with すみません.
- Add ゆっくり (yukkuri, “slowly”). ゆっくり話してください (yukkuri hanashite kudasai) asks someone to speak slowly, and もう一度言ってください (mō ichido itte kudasai) asks them to say it again.
The word もう一度 (もういちど, mōichido, “once more”) is the "again" in the second line.
イギリス, イギリス人 and アメリカ人: England, English people and Americans
英語 only names the language. For countries and people, Japanese uses other words:
| Japanese | Reading | Romaji | Meaning | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| イギリス | イギリス | igirisu | United Kingdom; UK; Britain | The UK or Britain. Often used for England in speech too |
| 英国 | えいこく | eikoku | United Kingdom; Britain; Great Britain | The same country, in a more formal, written style |
| イギリス人 | イギリスじん | igirisujin | British person; Briton | A British person. Used for an English person too |
| アメリカ人 | アメリカじん | amerikajin | American (person) | An American |
イギリス comes from the Portuguese word for "English", brought by Portuguese traders who reached Japan in the Warring States period. A Dutch-based form, エゲレス, was also used in the Edo period. In the late Edo and Meiji eras, England was written 英吉利, and 英国 is the short form of that. This is where the 英 in 英語 comes from too.
The last part, 人, is "person" and is read じん here. Add it to a country to name its people. English is spoken in many countries, so 英語 tells you the language and nothing about where a person is from.
English words in Japanese: 外来語 (gairaigo)
Japanese has borrowed thousands of English words. The general name for borrowed words is 外来語 (がいらいご, gairaigo, “loanword (in Japanese, esp. one of Western origin)”). In the narrow sense it means words of Western origin, and they're usually written in katakana. A few are written in other scripts: たばこ (tobacco) is in hiragana, and 瓦斯 is an old way to write "gas".
Some of the oldest loanwords are not English. パン (pan, “bread”) and ガラス (garasu, “glass”) came from Portuguese and Dutch in the 16th and 17th centuries. English became the main source after the Second World War. About 80 to 90 per cent of loanwords are said to come from English today.
How English changes
English words are reshaped to fit Japanese sounds. Japanese has no consonant clusters like the "ks" in "taxi", so a vowel is slipped in. "Taxi" has two syllables in English. タクシー (takushii, “taxi”) (takushī) has four beats in Japanese. New katakana combinations such as ティ and ファ let newer words keep sounds that older katakana could not write.
Long words get cut short. Four examples:
| Japanese | Reading | Romaji | Meaning | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| パソコン | パソコン | pasokon | personal computer; PC | From personal computer |
| リモコン | リモコン | rimokon | remote control | From remote control |
| デパート | デパート | depāto | department store | From department store |
| コンビニ | コンビニ | konbini | convenience store | From convenience store |
Plenty of others stay whole, such as ホテル (hoteru, “hotel”) and ドア (doa, “door”), with the sound adjusted. Once you can read katakana, many of these words are ones you already know. The difference between the scripts is worth knowing first.
和製英語 (wasei-eigo): English words Japan made up
Careful: not every English-looking word is English. 和製英語 (わせいえいご, waseieigo, “Japanese word constructed of elements from one or more English terms”) means "Japanese-made English": words built from English parts in Japan. They may not exist in English, or may mean something else there. An English speaker won't necessarily understand them.
| Japanese | Reading | Romaji | Meaning | When |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| サラリーマン | サラリーマン | sarariiman | office worker; company employee; company man | An office worker paid a salary |
| マンション | マンション | manshon | condominium (usu. mid or high-rise); apartment building; apartment house | A condominium or apartment in a mid- or high-rise building, not a large house |
| ガソリンスタンド | ガソリンスタンド | gasorinsutando | gas station; petrol station; filling station | A petrol or gas station |
| コンセント | コンセント | konsento | (electrical) outlet; (wall) socket; power point | A wall socket |
| バイキング | バイキング | baikingu | smorgasbord; buffet | A buffet, from "Viking" |
| ベビーカー | ベビーカー | bebiikā | stroller; buggy; pushchair | A pram or stroller, from "baby car" |
| マイペース | マイペース | maipēsu | (doing things at) one's own pace | Doing things at your own speed |
Wasei-eigo is not a mistake. These words are Japanese, and they're natural to Japanese speakers. The difficulty is only that they look like English.
A related case is ホッチキス (hotchikisu, “stapler”). It isn't made from English words: it began as a trademark, and it became the everyday word for a stapler.
The word スキンシップ (sukinshippu, “physical contact (between friends, mother and child, etc.)”) is another example. It seems to join "skin" and "kinship", and means touching between close people, such as a parent and a child.
Practise the English words in Japanese
Take the Japanese loanwords quiz
Spot which Japanese words came from English, Portuguese, German and more, and learn how each one is written.
When you can read katakana, an English loanword is the easiest Japanese you'll ever learn. For the full plan from your first lesson, see how to learn Japanese step by step.
Questions about English in Japanese
What is the Japanese word for English?
The Japanese word for English is 英語 (eigo). It means the English language. The country is イギリス, and an English or British person is イギリス人.
What is eigo in Japanese?
Eigo (英語) is the Japanese word for the English language. It joins 英, short for 英吉利 (an old way of writing イギリス, England), with 語, "language".
What is English in Japanese hiragana?
English in hiragana is えいご (eigo). The usual spelling is the kanji 英語.
How do you say "English" in Japanese?
Say eigo (英語). Use it for the language, as in 英語を話せますか, "can you speak English?".
How do you ask if someone speaks English in Japanese?
Say 英語は話せますか (eigo wa hanasemasu ka) or 英語を話せますか (eigo o hanasemasu ka). Both are polite. 英語が話せますか is just as good, and the spoken 英語、話せますか is common too.
How do you say "Do you speak English?" in Japanese?
Ask 英語は話せますか (eigo wa hanasemasu ka), literally "can you speak English?". Lessons also teach 英語を話しますか (eigo o hanashimasu ka), which is correct but more textbook, so 話せますか is the safer choice.
How do you say "Excuse me, do you speak English?" in Japanese?
Say すみません、英語を話せますか (sumimasen, eigo o hanasemasu ka). Starting with すみません makes the question politer and gets the person's attention.
What does "Eigo ga hanasemasu ka" mean?
Eigo ga hanasemasu ka (英語が話せますか) means "Can you speak English?". It's the same question as 英語を話せますか, with が in place of を.
How do I politely say I don't speak Japanese?
Say すみません first, then 日本語は話せません (nihongo wa hanasemasen) or 日本語が分かりません (nihongo ga wakarimasen). Both are polite. To ask someone to slow down, add ゆっくり話してください (yukkuri hanashite kudasai).
What does "I suki you" mean?
"I suki you" is a joke mix of English and Japanese: 好き (すき, suki, “liking”) (suki) is a Japanese word for "liking", so the line means "I like you". It isn't real Japanese or grammatical English. For what people really say, see I love you in Japanese.
How do you say "what the f..." in Japanese?
Japanese has no single match, and the strong words depend on the setting. A mild, informal option is 何これ (なにこれ, nanikore, “what the?”) (nani kore), which the dictionary marks as colloquial. 何だ (なんだ, nanda, “what the heck”) (nanda) is a similar exclamation. Avoid copying crude words from videos until you know who you're talking to.
Sources
- Readings and meanings: JMdict (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Asking "Do you speak English?", answers and the opening すみません: Alex Rock in Japanese, How to Say Can You Speak English in Japanese; JapanesePod101, Survival Phrases: Can You Speak English? and 3-Minute Japanese: Do You Speak English?; Rosetta Stone, Learn To Ask Do You Speak English in Japanese; Hills Learning, How to say Do you understand English in Japanese.
- "I don't understand", "say it again" and "speak slowly": FluentU, Japanese Travel Phrases.
- Where イギリス, 英国 and 英 come from: Japanese Wikipedia, イギリス.
- Loanwords, the katakana convention and where they came from: Japanese Wikipedia, 外来語; English Wikipedia, Gairaigo (vowel insertion, shortening and the share of English).
- Wasei-eigo: Japanese Wikipedia, 和製英語; English Wikipedia, Wasei-eigo; Tsunagu Japan, Wasei-Eigo: Curious English Words That Have a Totally Different Meaning in Japanese.
- Reviewed independently; the points about asking strangers for English, ちょっと as an answer, 日本語は話せません and the casual exclamations are waiting for a native speaker's check.