Exercise 1: Cross-cultural
Comparison of Apologies
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Japanese
apology expressions used in the dialogue were: ごめんなさい gomennasai, 申し訳ありません moushiwake arimasen, （本当に）すみませんでした (hontouni) sumimasen deshita.
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You may find that Japanese speakers repeat the apology several
times. One or two times may not be
enough for a serious offense. The key strategy to learn from this
exercise is that repetition is an important sign of sincerity in formal or
serious offense situations, and that different apology expressions, not just
one, are likely to be used repeatedly in formal apologies.
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Also
notice how emphatically the speakers give apologies. As they are pronounced, vowels in
apology expressions are often lengthened hesitantly. This speech feature will often
communicate a tone of sincerity.
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