Hotels and ryokan
Booking, checking in and asking for things at a hotel or a ryokan. Staff use very polite Japanese (keigo, covered in Everyday Japanese 6); the table below turns their common lines into plain Japanese so you can recognise them. Tap to hear any line. The bar at the bottom plays a hands-free drill for walking.
G
25 hotel words
Each card shows a word, the form used and a sentence you'd say or hear at a hotel or ryokan. Cards marked "heard" are what staff say. Nine reuse words from earlier lessons.
M
What the front desk says
Common lines from hotel staff, what they mean, and the plain Japanese you already know.
| You hear | Meaning | Plain Japanese |
|---|
- Shoes off at a ryokan. Leave your shoes at the entrance. Slippers in the corridors, socks or bare feet on tatami.
- Dinner is at a set time. Ryokan serve dinner at fixed times, so tell them if you'll arrive late.
- Answer plainly. Reply with です and ます. Nobody expects keigo back.
C
Three patterns to use today
Z
Say it in Japanese
Say each one out loud before you reveal the answer. Getting close counts.