More common mistakes in keigo

Back with more common mistakes when using polite Japanese (keigo).


Example 4: Did I give you permission?

Wrong: 当社ではIT商品を中心に開発させていただいております。 (tousha dewa IT shouhin wo chuushin ni kaihatsusasete itadaiteorimasu)
Right: 当社ではIT商品を中心に開発しております。 (tousha dewa IT shouhin wo chuushin ni kaihatsushite orimasu)

The sentence itself means "Our company focus on developing IT products."

This example is not a mistake in all cases. Nevertheless, using the first form shows a shaky command of keigo - more especifically, of kenjyougo (謙譲語). In short, "you know something, but not enough."

Kenjyougo is used to humble oneself or parts more related to oneself than to the listener (one's own family or company, for example). Some verbs have special forms (like the 拝見する in an example in a previous keigo post), and those one can't help but remember. For most others, there's a general rule similar to the one for sonkeigo explained in the previous post (お／ご～になる).

The general rule for kenjyougo verbs consists of placing the affix (接辞) お or ご in front of the verb in the continuative form (連用形). So far, it's the same as sonkeigo. But after the verb, we add する; or いたす - the humble form of する - for some extra politeness.

But there's a catch. Not all verbs can be transformed that way. In general, verbs that deal with feelings (laugh / 笑う; cry / 泣く; be disappointed / がっかりする) and verbs that deals with actions related to the self (return / 帰る; marry / 結婚する; sit / 座る) can't be "humbled" through the form above. Actually, since they refer to one's self, there's officially no need to run those verbs through kenjyougo.

Still, many Japanese people want to show politeness even with those verbs. Others get confused with the special forms. So they resort to one different form: （さ）せていだだく.

The magic of this form is that it can be used with any verb. And there are no special forms, so they all follow the same basic structure: the verb in the causative form (使役動詞) followed by （さ）せていただく. Thus "eat" (食べる) becomes 食べさせていただきます; send (送る) becomes 送らせていただきます; sit (座る) becomes 座らせていただきます.

There's only one problem. This form is (correctly) used mostly in situations where one asks for permission or receives it. Although it may also be used to show manners towards other people present, as it has the connotation of asking for/receiving permission, those who overuse it are not only seen as having insufficient knowledgle of keigo (if using this form in cases when one of the other forms would be preferable), they also might be seen as people who "do things as if they've received permission from others when actually they didn't".

In the initial example, the listener might think: "I don't remember giving you permission to focus on IT products..."


Example 5: Half a right is not a right.

Wrong: 先生はおられますか。 (sensei wa oraremasu ka?)
Right: 先生はいらっしゃいますか。 (sensei wa irasshaimasu ka?)

This one has a good range of possible translations: "Is the teacher here?", "Is the professor present?", "Is the doctor there?"... But you probably got the idea. The same sentence in a less formal way would be 先生はいますか (sensei wa imasu ka).

Let's check the polite forms for the verb いる (to be, there is/are, to exist):
尊敬語 (sonkeigo)：いらっしゃる (irassharu)
謙譲語 (kenjyougo)：おる (oru)

Wait a second... Why is the humble form (おる) being used towards a professor/teacher/doctor? In this case, there is an attempt to turn the humble form into something that shows respect towards that person. That is the られる form.

Most known for indicating passive voice, られる may also be used to express respect toward the listener or a third person when the subject is someone who is respected. Also, if させていただく is the magic form for kenjyougo, られる is its equivalent for sonkeigo. There's little variation from the basic structure: the same for conjugating verbs in the passive voice (受身), which makes it simpler.

Nevertheless, combining a kenjyougo form with られる doesn't just fail to turn the result into sonkeigo, it is also grammar mistake.

(And even if it did, use of られる is considered less polite than the other forms of songeigo. It is looked down less often than させていただく, still one shouldn't overuse られる either.)

Reasons for that mistake in my opinion is basically a combination of two factors:
1- Some people either don't know that いらっしゃる is the sonkeigo form of いる or they may know, but not be confortable with it because of the most common use of that verb: when a customer enters a store, it is normal to hear from the employees いらっしゃいませ！ ("Welcome! May I help you?").
2- The られる form actually can't be combined with neither special kenjyougo verbs (おる, 拝見する) nor sonkeigo verbs (召し上がる, なさる), but the verb いる is not much used in its passive form (there's some discussion on whether いられる exists or not in modern Japanese. Some sources I found say it is not acceptable and others say it's only not usual. None is totally reliable, though), おる doesn't have that problem.
(The mistake of combining られる and sonkeigo verb is known as a form of redundant keigo, or 二重敬語)

Thus, おられる becomes a failed attempt to produce a new sonkeigo verb.


Example 6: What's the alternative?

Wrong: ご注文の方は以上でよろしいですか。 (go-chuumon no hou wa ijyou de yoroshii desu ka?)
Right: ご注文は以上でよろしいですか。 (go-chuumon wa ijyou de yoroshii desu ka?)

The good thing of reusing an example is that you don't have to explain it all over again, but I will anyway... by copy-and-paste.

The correct version means "Will that be all?" or "Is there anything else you'd like to order?" As the translation itself indicates, this sentence is said after a customer orders something as a mean to verify if there's nothing else he/she would like to order.

This time, the mistake is different, though. The use of の方 in this sentence just isn't correct.

Grammatically speaking, の方 has two main uses:

1- When comparing things. Example: りんごよりバナナの方が好き ("I like more bananas than apples")

2- When indicating vicinity (approximation). Example: その店は駅の方にあります ("That store is near/around the station")

So, which one is the の方 used in this example? If we assume comparison, what is the order being compared to? Is the person asking if I'd like to order or do something else? And if we assume approximation it gets even worse... I can't even make a joke for that one.

Why this happens? Again, my best bet is the frenzy for indirectiveness when speaking politely in Japanese, based on the second meaning. An "approximation" is more vague, thus might be considered more polite.

Searching for sources on this one, I found something interesting. This link leads to a pdf file with some discussion about the use of 方. And to describe uses of の方 the author uses the word ぼかし (bokashi), which can be translated as "making something vague".
(That's the "approximation" use I guess... That's why you need examples in things like dictionaries.)

Wow! A word that says on its description it makes things vague. No wonder it is used for politeness...

Thanks to Claus for remembering this one.


Aftermatch

I plan to finish my posts about polite Japanese for now. And one thing I have to say is even though the examples I've shown are regarded as mistakes nowadays, since languages are modified by people continuously, they may become standard Japanese someday.

But, for now, they should be avoided by people who want to give a good impression when using polite Japanese.