"Are you sure?" WTF!

[AsahinaKimi]

69. "Are you sure?"..funny you mentioned that..

I was posting some stuff on another website about phrases in Japanese.. someone asked about how to say..."Are you crazy?" ...sure, in English we hear that all the time.. and no one considers it a real insult.


But in Japanese it can be insulting..

"Are you crazy?" = *anata wa kichigai ka ?

Rule of thumb:
Avoid using it! It is very, very rude!!

Instead use..

Anata wa shoki desuka ? = Are you sure?

Japanese is a language based on levels of politeness. What passes for okay in English, may not work
in Japanese, as shown above.

*just a note about "anata". Anata means "You", a personal pronoun. Its always best to use the person's name in Japan, rather than saying "you". That in itself can be considered rude. For example the above sentence might look like this... "Tanaka san wa shoki desuka?" (Mr. Tanaka, are you sure?) More polite. Of course if you don't know the persons name, than "Anata" could be used. Then again, you could always ask " Sumimasen, anata no Onamae wa nan desuka?" (excuse me, what is your name?)