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Japanese - Asking to reserve a (train) seat.?
I know some Japanese, but I am unsure of the appropriate thing to say after you, say, approach the reservations counter in order to ask to reserve a seat.
I've come up with this:
すみません。席を予約したいんですが。
I'm fairly sure that this is both grammatically and idiomatically correct, however I have a feeling that it may be a bit too direct and therefore a little but rude. Could someone suggest a better way to phrase it or a better thing to say?
I did consider simply asking for whatever ticket I wanted, but since the actual train ticket and the specific seat reservation ticket are often issued as two separate tickets, I thought that perhaps I would need to specify that I wished to reserve a seat (rather than getting an unreserved ticket). But I suppose in any situation where I'd need to reserve a seat, seat reservation would probably be compulsory, so I'd get both tickets as a matter of course.
Is this something I need to worry about - specifying that I want to reserve a seat, rather than getting an unreserved ticket?
2 Answers
- 薫Lv 68 years agoFavourite answer
reserve a *train* seat >>> Hmm... if you're talking about buying a train/Shinkansen ticket at "JR 緑の窓口", we normally say like
-すいません。新大阪から東京までの『のぞみ』(の)指定券[一枚。/ お願いします。/ 一枚お願いします。]。
-すいません。東京までの(新幹線の or『ひかり』) 指定券[一枚。/ お願いします。etc.]
-すいません。10時32分の『のぞみ』で、東京まで指定券[一枚。/ お願いします。etc.]
-すいません。((新大阪から)東京までの)新幹線のor『 ひかり』の指定席を取りたいんですが。
(or すいません。JR(or新幹線)のキップ(or指定券)を買いたいんですが。at a JTB office.)
etc., rather than 席を予約したいんですが... (it would make sense but I don't think we really use this phrase when buying a train ticket... I think we say 予約したいんですが when making a reservation at a restaurant, though)
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To Additional details
I did consider simply asking for whatever ticket I wanted
>>> I think you can say like...
「すいません。ハリーポッター、大人2枚。」when buying movie tickets,
「すいません、大人1枚、子ども1枚。」for concert tickets,
「ワンデーパスポート、大人2枚。」at Disneyland,
「すいません、ディズニーランドのチケット買いたいんですが。」for Disneyland tickets at a convenience store, JTB or JR緑の窓口...
etc...
I thought that perhaps I would need to specify that I wished to reserve a seat (rather than getting an unreserved ticket).
>>> When you have a choice and wish to have a reserved ticket/seat then I think you can say like
「指定席で(お願いします)。」「指定券2枚(お願いします)。」
when you'd like an unreserved ticket you can say like
「自由席で(お願いします)。」「自由席(で)2枚(お願いします)。」
(We don't say 自由"券")
But I suppose in any situation where I'd need to reserve a seat, seat reservation would probably be compulsory, so I'd get both tickets as a matter of course.
>>> Yes, in (probably newer) movie theatres and often at classical music concerts I think a seat reservation is compulsory...
Is this something I need to worry about - specifying that I want to reserve a seat, rather than getting an unreserved ticket?
>>> Yes, when you buy a Shinkansen ticket for example, you'd need to specify that. We have:
-自由席 -- unreserved seat (You'd buy 乗車券 and 特急券, but not 指定券)
-指定席 -- reserved seat (指定券=seat reservation ticket; so you'd need 乗車券, 特急券 and 指定券)
-and グリーン車... which is like "First Class" in the UK (but with no free wifi or free refreshments)
Source(s): Native Japanese http://siby.sakura.ne.jp/beginner.html http://my.stust.edu.tw/course_open.php?courseID=65... - Anonymous8 years ago
I think "ãã¿ã¾ãããå¸ãäºç´ããããã§ããã" is pretty good and not rude at all.
If you want to say it more politely, you can use "ãã¿ã¾ãããå¸ãäºç´ãããã®ã§ããã"
Source(s): native
