wakarahen vs shiran… wakarimasen vs shirimasen
Posted At: Thu 31 May 2007	Posted By: Derek Nobuyuki信幸 Wallace
Categories:life , japan

Because I always make mistakes with this one, i thought i’d post this useful bit of information i found…

Wakarimasen vs Shirimasen (Confusing Expressions)
Many of you may wonder why Japanese people often say “Wakarimasen” for “I
don’t know”. “Wakaru” usually means “to understand”, but they often
use the negative form of this verb instead of saying “Shirimasen”(meaning
“I don’t know”). How do they distinguish the two? This question was taken
up by Jen, one of the former editors of this newsletter.
We, the Japanese think that “wakaru” (to understand) means “to make
effort and find out the answer”, while “shiru”(to know) means “To have
the information”. So, when we make effort but cannot find the answer, we
say “Wakarimasen”, while we say “Shirimasen” for the situation that we
are not in the position to get the answer. Sometimes, “shirimasen” has the
feeling “I don’t care”.
If you are confused which, “wakarimasen” or “shirimasen” should you use,
It is safer to choose “wakarimasen” except when you are questioned “xxx o
shitte imasu ka.?”.
If you are asked “xxx o shitte imasu ka?”, you should answer
“Shirimasen”. However, in general, “Shirimasen” may cause the other
party upset, because it often implies “It’s not my concern”, and
“Wakarimasen” gives softer and warmer feeling to the listener.

So, to stop offending people with my kankenai/kinishinai attitude, i will strive to learn to use wakarahen and shiran properly… erh… i mean… *with a polite sounding voice* wakarimasen and shirimasen….