Speaking Japanese
How to raise a noise problem with a neighbour, in Japanese
If you are in the chair right now
夜の音のことで少しご相談があるのですが。
There's something about noise at night I'd like to talk over with you.
If that gets brushed off
毎晚遅い時間まで音が続いていて、眠れなくて困っています。
The noise goes on late every night, and I can't sleep, which is a real problem.
ご相談 — a consultation — is the magic word: you are not complaining, you are asking their advice about a problem you share. The trailing のですが leaves the next move to them. Nobody has been accused of anything, and the conversation is already cooperative.
No conversation in this course has less room for error. In Japan the noise complaint is famously done through the building manager precisely because doing it face to face is so delicate — which is exactly why being able to do it gently, yourself, is worth rehearsing before you need it.
If you need more than one line
softest
夜分、ちょっとよろしいですか。
Sorry to disturb you — do you have a moment? The doorstep opener.
neutral
夜、音が少し響いているようでして。
At night, some sound seems to carry. 響く blames the building's acoustics, ようでして makes even that a guess.
neutral
毎晚、十一時ごろからのことが多いです。
It's mostly from around eleven, every night. The specifics turn a grievance into a schedule.
firmest
来週、一度お話できないでしょうか。
Could we talk it over once next week? Ends with a plan rather than a complaint.
Two things worth knowing
You will pass this person in the corridor tomorrow.
Frame it as ご相談, not a complaint
苦情 is the word for a complaint, and nobody wants to receive one. ご相談 asks for a conversation instead: here is a situation, what shall we do about it? The move flatters rather than accuses — it casts the neighbour as the person who helps solve the problem, and people generally play the role they have been handed.
Let the sound travel by itself
Notice what 音が続いているようなので avoids saying: that anyone makes the noise. The sound continues — by itself, apparently — and よう files even that as your impression rather than a charge. Japanese lets you report the entire problem without a single agent in any sentence, and in this conversation that grammar is the difference between an apology and a feud.
What Hiroshi actually said
What you have to get done
- Bring up the issue gently
- Explain the specific nights and times
- Arrange something for the next week
Hiroshi
Hello! Is something the matter?
You
Hello. Actually, I'd like to talk something over with you about noise at night — it seems to go on late every night, so could we perhaps think about a solution amicably?
Hiroshi
I see — I hadn't realised, I'm sorry.
You
Not at all — I'm sorry for turning up out of the blue. If possible, could I have some of your time next week to talk about what to do going forward?
Hiroshi
Of course. Let's talk next week. Thank you for letting me know.
The whole conversation, unedited
A real run in the app, nothing scripted on Hiroshi's side. The transcript above is taken from this recording, and the objectives tick off on screen as they are met.
Turn sound on to hear it.
Now say it yourself
Reading that is not the same as producing it with someone waiting, which is the entire difficulty. You can have this exact conversation in the app: Hiroshi is a third of the way through, and you have three things to get done.
It is free, it takes about a minute to start, and the first attempt is allowed to be terrible.
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