Exercise 10: Responding to Thanks

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Strategies and Expressions in Response to Thanks

u Since the expression of thanks is the acknowledgment of indebtedness, the recipient of thanks often denies the thanks in an attempt to equalize the relationship.The less indebted the person doing the thanking actually is, the more likely the recipient of thanks might be to accepting the thanks.

u The phrase,zenzen, is normally accompanied by a negative such aszenzenmondainai‘No problem at all’ orzenzenkamawanai‘I don’t mind at all’ and intensifies the force of the utterance.However, it is often used with affirmative structures, especially among younger speakers (e.g.,zenzeniiyo,zenzenheiki,zenzendaijobu), still emphasizing that there was/will be no problem.

u Thanks and apologies in Japanese can be responded to in a similar way, just as the expressions of thanks and apologies often overlap (Coulmas, 1981).

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