Is it rude to ask a Japanese person using keigo to speak less formally? How to do it politely?


This has mostly to do with me not understanding Keigo well, so when I enter
restaurants or other service-based businesses, and they talk in Keigo to me, I
hardly ever understand, which is why I always struggle my away around the
convos somehow.

So, would it be rude to ask the staff, which actually _has_ to talk in Keigo
to you, to change to Teineigo, so I understand?

And to further generalize: Is it even _ok_ to ask the conversation partner to
change the speaking form he's using?




Asking someone to speak in plain Japanese is not rude if it's done nicely.
However, asking someone to speak in Teineigo seems strange, I would say.
Because it sounds like a challenge.

Keigo(敬語) is composed of Sonkeigo(尊敬語), Kenjogo(謙譲語) and Teineigo(丁寧語). So, a
Teineigo-only conversation sounds like a sorting Keigo quiz or something.

How about asking them like this?

> 「すみません、[簡単]{かん・たん}な[日本語]{に・ほん・ご}でお[願]{ねが}いします。」

or

> 「すみません、簡単な[言葉]{こと・ば}でお願いします。」

These sentences are polite and don't specify what kind of speech to use. So
they might reply in plain casual Japanese, or probably in very simple Keigo.

I think they, waiters/waitresses or some other kind of staff, want to
communicate with you to do their jobs. It's nice to tell them that you know
basic Japanese words by asking them to speak in plain Japanese. I guess that
they will be happy to use simple Japanese phrases for you, because it's much
easier for them to speak Japanese than to speak other languages such as
English, Chinese, French, etc.




Asking someone to speak in plain Japanese is not rude if it's done nicely.
However, asking someone to speak in Teineigo seems strange, I would say.
Because it sounds like a challenge.

Keigo(敬語) is composed of Sonkeigo(尊敬語), Kenjogo(謙譲語) and Teineigo(丁寧語). So, a
Teineigo-only conversation sounds like a sorting Keigo quiz or something.

How about asking them like this?

> 「すみません、[簡単]{かん・たん}な[日本語]{に・ほん・ご}でお[願]{ねが}いします。」

or

> 「すみません、簡単な[言葉]{こと・ば}でお願いします。」

These sentences are polite and don't specify what kind of speech to use. So
they might reply in plain casual Japanese, or probably in very simple Keigo.

I think they, waiters/waitresses or some other kind of staff, want to
communicate with you to do their jobs. It's nice to tell them that you know
basic Japanese words by asking them to speak in plain Japanese. I guess that
they will be happy to use simple Japanese phrases for you, because it's much
easier for them to speak Japanese than to speak other languages such as
English, Chinese, French, etc.

