How to Speak on the Phone in Japanese

Video Transcript

"We have a special greeting for phone conversations. Moshi moshi. Repeat after me, moshi moshi. It sounds a little bit strange. Moshi used to be a word for Japanese to say "speak". So when a Japanese person gets on the phone, a long time ago, people would say moshi, moshi, I'm speaking, I'm speaking. That's where it comes from. So moshi, moshi twice. So now we've touched this one before onegai shimas, means please give me. So now we can use this to ask for someone or somewhere you want to speak to. For example, I want to talk to Mike. I would say moshi moshi, Mike, onegai shimas. Sounds simple right? Another example would be, I want to talk to Hilton hotel. moshi moshi, Hilton hotel, omega shimas. Lets practice. Think of a word, who you want to speak to. Repeat after me. Moshi moshi, (who you want to speak to omega shimas. Sounds perfect!"