Why do the Japanese answer the phone saying"moshi moshi"? it doesn't mean hello!!?

Answer 1

In French, when you pick up the phone, you say "Allô". it doesn't mean "Hello" ("Bonjour") but that's what you say when you pick up the phone. Sometimes, people say "Allô bonjour". But it's a bit redundant as, even if it "allô" doesn't mean "bonjour" strictly speaking, that's the way to say "bonjour" when you pick up the phone.

Answer 2

"Moshi" is an archaic Japanese word meaning 'excuse me'. There's an ancient story / rumour that when a spectre creeps up behind you it says 'Moshi' and when you turn around you get frightened to death! So, when you want to use 'moshi' as 'excuse me' you have to say it TWICE, because ghosts don't bother - they just say it once!!

When people use 'moshi moshi' on the phone - or in person (which is less common) - it's not really a 'hello', it's more of an apology for disturbing someone and taking their attention!!

Answer 3

"Moshi moshi" is used strictly on the telephone and has come to be used as "Hello". The following link (see "Source(s)") suggests that "moshi" an shortened version of the Japanese verb "moushimasu" (honorific/humble form).

The verb actually means "say" or "going to say" (there is no distinction between present and future tense in Japanese), so it seems perfectly reasonable to think that this term came about around the same time as the telephone was introduced in Japan.

Answer 4

Moshi moshi in japanese means hello so if they answer the phone they used that word.

Answer 5

I'm sorry, are you a fluent speaker of Japanese? Some expert linguist? Anyone other than a silly girl? Are you trying to say that when an entire country for decades have been using THEIR native language that THEY'RE wrong?

Japanese have varying degrees of politeness and special words for special occassions. "Konnichiwa" isn't the only hello in the Japanese language.
To them, it's not exactly polite to just say "hello" to a person you might not know who's on the other end. What if it's your boss; your husband's mother; your child's teacher? It's not exactly very feminine--or polite--for you to just randomly spurt out "good afternoon" (or ohayo / konbanwa when the time calls for it) when God only knows who you could be insulting.

Answer 6

for the same reason why many spaish speaking people answer it saying alo.

Answer 7

Are you Japanese? Why do you care?

您好!
مرحبا!
Ciao!
Hallo!
¡Hola!
Bonjour !
こんにちは!
여보세요!

Answer 8

then what the hell does it mean?
i hear that if it is pronounced different
it means bug bug