Presenting your work at the office: Answering questions after the presentation

💬 先 here means "previous", so 先週 (senshū) is "last week". But "last year" breaks the pattern and is 去年 (kyonen).

💬 先月 (sengetsu) uses 先 for "previous", and 来月 (raigetsu) uses 来 for "next". The same pattern works for weeks: 先週 "last week" and 来週 "next week".

🇯🇵 A neutral way to acknowledge an answer: it shows you heard and accepted it. In a Q&A it's often the cue that the questioner is satisfied.

💬 教える usually means "to teach", but 教えてください is the everyday way to say "please tell me" when you're asking for information like a phone number or a schedule.

💬 も replaces を here and adds "too" or "also". Compare 予定を教えてください "tell me the plan" with 予定も教えてください "tell me the plan too".

🇯🇵 お客さん is the friendly, everyday word for customers. In formal writing or when speaking to clients directly, the more respectful お客様 (okyakusama) is used.

💬 Borrowed from the French word enquête, not from English, so English speakers won't recognize it by sound.

💬 Many nouns become verbs just by adding をします: 電話をします "make a phone call" and 説明をします "give an explanation".

💬 します with no future marker still covers future plans. The time word 来月 at the front is all it takes to show the plan is upcoming.

💬 ね at the end invites agreement, a bit like "isn't it?" in English. Without it, いいです can actually mean "no thanks" when you're turning down an offer.

💬 で after a noun shows the means or tool you use. For example, 電話で "by phone" and 電車で "by train".

💬 Putting もらえますか after the て form of a verb is a polite "could you do this for me?" For example, 見せてもらえますか "could you show me?"

🇯🇵 Asking for the slides or materials afterward is common and polite after an office presentation. It shows interest, and presenters usually expect it.

💬 中 (jū) attached to a time word means "within" that period. For example, 今週中に (konshūjū ni) means "by the end of this week".

🇯🇵 Promising a specific deadline is the reassuring answer in a Japanese office. You're then expected to keep it exactly.

🇯🇵 Presenters say this with a small bow right after announcing they'll begin. It asks the audience for their attention and goodwill, and skipping it can feel abrupt.

💬 To say "easy to do", drop ます from a verb and add やすい: わかります becomes わかりやすい. For the past, the ending changes to かった, as in 読みやすかった "was easy to read".

🇯🇵 In a Japanese office this works as an all-purpose greeting, not only thanks after work. Colleagues say it in the hallway, at the start of meetings, even at 10 a.m.