Sumimasen

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The average Japanese person says one word about 40 times a day. https://x.com/japan_nobunaga/status/2064014348901859435

Sumimasen.

It is usually translated as "excuse me" or "I'm sorry." Both translations are wrong, or rather, both are correct only a third of the time.

Sumimasen is the word you use to call a waiter.

Sumimasen is the word you use to thank a stranger who held the door.

Sumimasen is the word you use when you bump into someone on a train.

Sumimasen is the word you use to interrupt your boss to ask a question.

Sumimasen is the word you use to apologize for crying at a funeral.

One word. Five completely different jobs.

Why? Because in Japanese culture, all five of those situations share a hidden core: you have caused, or are about to cause, a small amount of inconvenience to another person. Even being thanked involves accepting that the other person spent effort on you.

The literal meaning of sumimasen is closer to "this is unresolved between us."

Once you understand that, you understand half of how Japanese people think.

Other languages have words.

Japan has one word that carries the entire ethics of being a polite stranger.