How would you say ‘'no thank you’‘?

Especially, how do you pronounce the word, "no"?

No would 'iie, sorry but I can't remember how you would say no thank you. thank you= arigato

How is "iie" pronounced?

For saying "No thank you" in Japanese, the expression used is NOT literally "no + thank you." We'd say "Kekkou desu" if someone offers you something and you want to decline it.

But if you want to know how "iie," a Japanese word for "no," is, then it is like the [pronunciation of alphabet "e" = long sound] + and ["e" as in "pet" = short sound].

No thank you is ( as was said )pronounced ke ( as in keg ) ko ( as in COat ) and desu is ......drop the u and say it as though it were a double s ( as in mess ).
iie literally means NO its wrong.
If you are going to Japan get a phrase book.....it will be invaluable.

Zenzen heiki desu. Lit. "I'm fine."
Or even just, "Chotto..."
Or "Kekkou desu"
Not that in Japanese culture, No is not a very popular word. So, less straight foward ways are used.

so kekkou desu means its fine or its okay? is there ever a situation where, if someone offered you something and you said "kekkou desu" they would think that meant you wanted it?

I would not worry about being misunderstood in an instance when you are offered something. In that situation, "kekkou desu" can only be "no thank you."

The principal meaning of "kekkou" is "sufficient," "leaves nothing wanting," so that's why it can be:

- (A person) does not want (any more), whatever that is needed is already sufficient. Therefore, "I'm fine (without it)."
In an instance someone offered something to you, and you don't want it.
or
- (Something is) very good that it leaves nothing wanting. "It is good."
For example, suppose some acquaintance of yours invited you to their home and served you a cake they baked themselves, you eat it, and when asked how it was, you might say "kekkou desu" to signify that it was good.

If someone (let's say a pushy salesperson) persists, ignoring your response, you can always say "IIE, kekkou desu (No, really, I'm fine without it)" :)

so is kekkou desu ever seen as rude? i know iie is. im going to be an exchange student soon and im really worry about being rude when i need to say no to something.

also a related question. if your asked an opinion question such as, "do you like this band?". if you wanted to say no to that how would you do it? it iie still rude?

there is only one occasion I can think of where 'iie' is acceptable. When someone thanks you and you want to say 'it's nothing' or 'don't mention it' - you can say 'iie.' That is the only time I ever say it.

As for when people ask you if you like something (XX suki desu ka?), the most direct way to say you don't, is to say 'suki ja nai' (lit. 'not like')- but a more conversational and less direct way would be to say 'ammari...' (this literally means 'really' but in this case, implies 'not really...')
or 'betsu ni...' - which means 'not particularly'. These are not exactly hyper-polite ways of speaking, but they are more natural-sounding than 'iie.'

when talking about music, you could just say something like 'I prefer XX' and skirt the question altogether. (XX no hou ga suki)

If you are going to be an exchange student, no one will expect everything you say to be perfect - just keep your eyes and ears open, and don't be too hard on yourself if people react strangely to things you say. (if they make a really bad face, just look surprised and go 'heeh? gomen! nani?!?' and make them explain what you said wrong) I'm sure you won't do any long-term damage! Just try to learn from your mistakes and you will be fine!

I was taught that the more polite no thank you would be "Iie, chotto" which means like "No, a little" [Doesn't exactly make sense Eigo de, but it would just imply that you'd rather not.

I'm an exchange student here. Iie is a rude way to say no thankyou. In formal situations say Kekkoo desu, in informal situations say dijobou (spelt how it is pronounced) or ii des which means literally, I'm good, or ok.
Don't worry too much about being rude because foriegners aren't expected to know all the complicated Japanese hierarchies of speech!

No thank you in Japanese is "kekkou desu"....
i hope that helps ^.^

As people have said

no thank you in most places you will use it, like if someone tries to give you a reciept in a shop or more water
kekkou desu should work,(if they are pushy ''iie, kekkou desu'')

if its saying no to someone about going somewhere doing something ''chottoooo....'' relates to ''well..ermmm'' and they will get the idea to change topic

if it is about saying do you like something you don't, informally you can use suki jya nai (not like) but this is only to mates
i think you can also say ''maa maa desu'' for ''it's just ok''

for formal, think in any country, if your being polite and someone asks ''did you like my band'' you always just lie and say yes anyway.

A good one is ''sou desu'' lit ''that is so'' but actually means pretty much nothing and a good get out of jail free card!


Maint hing i found is, if you are a forienger they won't care if it is wrong, just that you are trying, my first trip i used Iie in shops all the time (do the hand crossing gesture they always do too!) and i was always understood and smiled at so i think they felt sorry for my bad Japanese rather that thought i was insulting them!

(the one time i used kekkou desu he didn't know what i meant!)

Literally, "kekko" is something like OK, and "desu" is Is. So "Kekko desu" just means "it's OK". You can use this phrase for either acknowledgment or decline, meaning in the later case it's OK if you wouldn't do that. This becomes somtimes too ambiguous even by Japanese standard, and it is often disputed in court whether "kekko desu" meant an agreement or not. I would advise you to say "iie, kekko desu" even if most Japanese don't say this way, if you want to decline politely.