Exercise 9: Simulation Exercise for
Apologizing – 1
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Strategies for apologizing that we have seen in this
exercise are:
¨ Providing an
appropriate reason
¨ Being aware of
how to appropriately present the reason (providing a detailed excuse only when
asked in causing a serious infraction to someone of higher status)
¨ Communicating a lack of
intention to cause the infraction
¨ Using an
appropriate intensifier and pronouncing it emphatically
¨ Knowing and using
an appropriate number of apology expressions
¨ Using an
appropriate level of politeness in apology expressions and in the language in
general
Note
an additional strategy!
¨
Since you have learned that apology expressions are
likely to be repeated in Japanese, you may wonder how you go about concluding
your apology sequence. Here is a
strategy Japanese speakers often use.
As
you see in the sample dialogues in this exercise (and in Exercise 10 as well), speakers use the present tense of the apology expressions,
and then shift to the past tense (e.g., sumimasen deshita, moushiwake arimasen deshita) to conclude the
conversation. In this exercise, the student says, Konkaiwa taihen gomeiwaku okake shimashita.
However,
the usage of shitsurei
shimasu/shimashita is a bit different and complex. In a nutshell, the present tense, shitsurei
shimasu is often used to signal an upcoming small offense/impoliteness. For
example, you say it before/when entering a
professor’s office (as this can be seen as an invasion to his/her space), or
before answering a phone call if it disrupts an on-going conversation. In contrast, the past form, shitsurei
shimashita can be used as an apology for some infraction committed in the
past.
For
more details, see Okamoto
& Tamon (2000).
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