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I am in a Japanese office setup sitting next to my boss. He often gets phone calls but most of the time he is not in his seat. How do I answer his phone say that "This is Mr. XX's seat and this is YY (my name) talking and Mr.XX is not in his place" in Japanese?

Dono
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Venkatesh Kumar
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2 Answers2

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I've found answering the phone at work follows a fairly fixed pattern.

I would answer the phone with something along the lines of:

株式会社ZのYYと申{もう}します。
This is company Z, MR Y speaking.

or just with the company name.

株式会社Zでございます。
This is company Z.

After they introduce themselves and said their "お世話になっております". You generally reply with something similar :

お世話{せわ}になっております。

If they ask for someone who is away from their seat (but probably return soon) you can say something like:

申{もう}し訳{わけ}ないですがXXさんは席{せき}を外{はず}しておりますが...
I'm very sorry but he has left his seat...

At that point they will either ask when he will be back, or say they will call back later.

Jeemusu
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    (Regarding the last line) Generally it is best to omit the -san for an employee within your company, even your boss, when talking to someone outside of your company. – Dono Sep 13 '12 at 06:52
  • Cheers @Dono . I was in two minds about adding it myself at first. So it's best to say XX rather than XX-san, or would you omit the name altogether? – Jeemusu Sep 13 '12 at 08:35
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    It is usually correct to use a surname without -san or any honorific suffix when you talk about person X in your company to someone outside of your company, because X is considered as a person on your side in relation to the caller, and you should not honorify a person on your side. If the caller is a family of X, the situation is different; you should refer to X with honorifics in this case. – Tsuyoshi Ito Sep 13 '12 at 20:04
  • Also it is usual to get the callers name and company lest you be unable to inform your boss of who called. Usually the conversation goes along the lines of `CALLER: ABC商事{しょうじ}、山田{やまだ}太郎{たろう}と申しますが`, `YOU: ABC商事の山田太郎様{さま}でございますね、いつも世話になっております`. I also find it usual to hear a 申し訳ございません、ただいまXXさんは席{せき}を外{はず}しております (as opposed to 申し訳ない which I have been told can be offensive to some callers). – The Wandering Coder May 22 '15 at 00:18
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Two cases:

  1. You answer saying "もしもし、JLU(の)クマーです", and the other person realises immediately you're not your boss

  2. First, just say もしもし, let them introduce themselves, and then reply something like "あ、どうもありがとうございます。申し訳ないのですが、現在部長が席を外してますが…"

Axioplase
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    It is highly unusual to answer an external call in a business environment with a simple もしもし. At least the companies I have worked for, have always answered the call with something similar to `株式会社[COMPANY NAME]でございます` at the least. Also instead of 現在 (the present) I have always been told to use and have only ever heard ただいま (currently)。 – The Wandering Coder May 22 '15 at 00:23