GREETING AND FAREWELL SPEECH ETIQUETTE IN JAPANESE AND ENGLISH: A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Keywords:
speech etiquette, greetings, farewells, Japanese language, English language, intercultural communication, politeness, pragmatics.Abstract
Speech etiquette reflects the cultural values, social norms, and communicative
practices of a society. Among its various aspects, greeting and farewell expressions
are fundamental components of interpersonal communication, as they establish,
maintain, and conclude social interactions. This paper presents a comparative analysis
of greeting and farewell speech etiquette in Japanese and English. It examines the
linguistic forms, cultural meanings, levels of politeness, and contextual usage of
common expressions in both languages. The study demonstrates that while English
greetings and farewells are generally direct and relatively informal, Japanese
expressions are deeply influenced by social hierarchy, respect, and situational context.
Understanding these differences is essential for successful intercultural
communication, foreign language education, translation studies, and cross-cultural
business interactions.
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