# Can I make an appointment?



## blinky502

Hello,
I am living in Japan and I really need a haircut!  Can someone tell me how to say, "Can I make an appointment?" in Japanese?  
thank you!


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## Flaminius

Hello,

I'd say:
予約をいれたいんですが。
yoyaku-o iretain desu ga


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## Polak2008

rihatsuga hosiidesuyo ! (I don't have Japanese font at this time)


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## Flaminius

Hello *Polak2008*,

Maybe few languages make this distinction but, if _hoshii_ (I always prefer Hepburn transcription) governs a noun, the noun is thought of as a concrete, tangible, physical object.  Since _rihatsu_ is not an object but a service that you want to get from someone, the sentence should be written as below in order to be grammatical:
rihatsu shite hoshii desu.
I want to get a haircut.

Perhaps you might want to use _sampatsu_ in place of _rihatsu_, which is rather out-dated.


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## brighthope

Hi guys,
To add something to flaminius's post;

Sampatus is used by older men, and never by women. I don't know why.
Also, even with "sampatsu", the sentense "sampatus shite hoshii desu" might sound a bit awkward, because you obviously want a haircut. (Unless you are at a beauty salon where people want more than a haircut, however it doesn't match with the word "sampatsu".)

It is grammatically correct though.


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## lammn

brighthope said:


> Sampatus is used by older men, and never by women.


 
That's interesting. Then what should be the word used by women?


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## brighthope

From my experience in Japan (29 years, so I think you can trust me  ), usually women just say "Kami wo kiru" meaning literally "cut hair" or "Biyo in（美容院） ni iku"、meaning going to a beauty salon. 

There are 2 types of places to have your hair cut in Japan. One is "Riyo in (理容院）"　and the other is "Biyo-in （美容院）". Technically speaking, even though it is not strictly followed, the rule(law) says that razors can be used only at "Riyo in", and that's why mainly men go there. If you got haircut at Riyo-in, you usually say "sampatsu shita　(I did sampatsu)". 

Biyo-in was more important for women because they put an emphasis on "hair styling" than just "cutting". Well, I guess it is very similar to the difference between "salon" and "barber". 

By the way young men too might use the word "sampatsu" if they don't care so much about fashion. Men's fasion  in Japan is a bigger deal than in North America in my experience.
A lot of young men in Japan go to a salon (Biyo in) these days. Cosmetics are popular to use among them and they(Cosmetics for men) are sold even at a convinience store.
Actually this was one of the culture shock I had when I came to Canada. Hair sprays and hair mousse for men are very difficult to find here in Canada....


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## lammn

I see the difference now.  Thanks for your reply, brighthope.


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## ty604

You can use appointment, hair, haircut, hair stylist and salon and Japanese will understand. (Good rhyme) -> Say it slow and they will know. If you say English words that are common such as navigation, telecom, hair, coca cola, design etc slowly, the resulting pronunciation will be very close if not exact to the pronunciation/katakana they use for foreign/loan words. 

Many people neglect kanji study. kanji is not difficult. In fact it is VERY convenient and not difficult to read. It is the number one tool for me, to increase my vocabulary. Hit those kanji books.

理容院 - riyouin [barber shop] 理=arrange 容= appearance 院=public place/building
美容院 - biyouin [salon] - 美=beautiful/pretty 容=appearance 院=public place/building

Do not confuse the pronunciation of 美容院 biyouin [salon] with 病院 byouin [hospital].

Me: I'm going to the hospital today.
Friend: Oh really? Why?
Me: My hair is too long.
Friend: What?


Now it's easy to remember why 美容院 is used mostly for women.

To expand on rihatsu and sampatsu. I hope you don't mind. I'm sure it will help others in their kanji studies. I've only been here just over a year and only know about 1,000 kanji so I'm obviously not an expert.

理髪 rihatsu [haircutting] -> 理 ri=arrange 髪 hatsu=hair
理髪師 - rihatsushi [hairdresser/barber] -> 理 ri=arrange 髪 hatsu=hair 師 shi=master/teacher

髪の毛 kaminoke [the actual hair on your head not just the noun hair] - uses the same kanji for kami 髪 as it does for hatsu 髪 (see above). kami is the Japanese pronunciation [kunyomi] and hatsu is the Chinese pronunciation [onyomi] but we won't get into that here. ke 毛= hair; fur; wool. So put it all together and there you go.

散髪 - sampatsu [haircut] - 散=messy/scattered 髪=needs no introduction because it is the same as hatsu above. The 'h' simply changes to a 'p'.

See how convenient even the word 'messy/scattered' is? It makes the entire word easy to remember. To tell you the truth I just learned this word right now. I LOVE kanji.

I want to mention a couple of things incase beginners are confused about some spellings.

The glottal stop "n" can also be pronounced as the plosive "m" in the middle of Japanese words. If you're using a phone or PC and you try to spell a word using 'm' it won't work. You need to use 'n'.

Thousands of years ago, syllables now represented by hiragana for "h" + vowels were pronounced as "p" + vowels. That's why those hiragana with voiced sound marks have the sound of "b". For example, hashi [bridge] becomes bashi when saying the name of a bridge such as nihon*b*ashi. After the pronunciation of "p" shifted to "h", the semi-voiced sound mark (゜) was invented to stand for the sound of "p" eg.ぱ.


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## lammn

Hi, ty604, I agree that understanding the meaning of individual kanji is helpful in understanding Japanese words.

However, I have to slightly disagree with you on the following:



ty604 said:


> 理容院 - riyouin [barber shop] 理=reason/pretext 容= appearance 院=public place/building
> 理髪 rihatsu [haircutting] -> 理 ri=reason 髪 hatsu=hair
> 理髪師 - rihatsushi [hairdresser/barber] -> 理 ri=reason 髪 hatsu=hair 師 shi=teacher


 
I believe the character 理 as in 理容院, 理髪, and 理髪師 means 整理, or "arrangement", instead of "reason", which has nothing to do with the hair.

Also, 師 can also mean "master", not just "teacher".


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## ty604

Oh wait a minute. You mean as in arrange a hair style not arrange a meeting right? Oh ok. I'll edit my post above to reflect that.

Thanks

師匠 ししょう as a word also means master. 師i also means army and missionary but not useful for our example.

My female Japanese friends say ヘアアポイントメント　hair appointment anyway which blows everything above out of the water so go figure lol


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## brighthope

Hi guys,

One thing to add to my last post, women might say "katto (cut) suru" meaning "doing (hair)cut". 

So to make an appointment, you can make a call to a 美容院 and　say something like

「カットをお願いしたいのですが。。。（予約できますか？）」　

"Cut wo onegai shitai no desuga (yoyaku dekimasu ka?)" or 
"I'd like a  (hair) cut, (are you available for an appointment?)." 

English part is my best literal translation (I know it sounds funny) and the part with ( ) is often omitted in Japanese, leaving the other party to fill in the blank.    

By the way, my Japanese dictionary 「広辞苑」 says 「師」　means "someone whose job needs a special technique or techniques" and "理容師" and "医師(ishi, medical doctor)" are put as examples. 

The dictionary says "a teacher" as one of the meanings, but not in this case. "Master" is not there as a meaning of "師", but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. 
"Master" sounded right as one of the meanings to me and I had to consult a dictionary! (And I'm a native Japanese speaker)    

広辞苑　is like "Oxford English dictionary" in English and it is the dictionary most reffered to.


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