「たまたま」と謙遜 Tama tama and the Art of Modesty
「たまたま」って聞いたことがありますか？
「たまたま見つけたカフェがとても居心地が良かった」、「たまたま駅で彼に会った」など、偶然何かが起きたことを指します。「テレビをつけたら、たまたま放送していたアニメがすごく面白かった」とか。
また、日本人は相手に対してよく謙遜します。褒められてもすぐに「ありがとう」とは言わずに、「そんなことないです」と一見否定的な言い方をしますが、これは一般的な礼儀作法。
ここでもよく「たまたまです」が使われます。「よく試験に合格できたね、すごい！」と言われても、「いや、たまたまです（偶然です）」と謙遜することがよくあります。
これは相手の言葉を否定しているように見えますが、本気で言っているわけではなく、そういう言い方をするのが礼儀だから。
逆に否定せずに「ありがとう」と言うのは、自分で「自分はすごい」と言っているようで恥ずかしい感じがします。
ちなみに私は10代の頃イギリスで育ったので、全然恥ずかしくないですが（笑）、英語式の会話に慣れるまでは恥ずかしかったのを覚えています。
皆さんも「日本語上手ですね」と言われたら「そんなことないです」と返すと、「おおー、この人日本語上手だ！」って思われますよ。
Have you come across the word tama tama?
It means something happened by chance — a happy accident, a coincidence. The café I stumbled into happened to be incredibly cozy. I ran into him at the station by chance. I turned on the TV and happened to catch an anime that was really good. That's tama tama.
Now, Japanese people also tend to be quite modest when receiving compliments. Rather than simply saying "thank you," the typical response is something like sonna koto nai desu — "oh, that's not true at all." It might sound like a denial, but it's actually just good manners.
And tama tama fits perfectly into this. If someone says "Wow, you passed the exam — that's amazing!", a very natural Japanese response would be: iya, tama tama desu — "oh no, it was just luck." Not because they genuinely believe it was luck, but because saying so is the polite thing to do.
It can look like the person is brushing off what you said — but they're not disagreeing with you. They're just following an unspoken social script.
On the flip side, simply saying "thank you" without any deflection can feel uncomfortable for many Japanese people — almost like announcing I know, I'm great, which would be embarrassing.
(Personally, having grown up in the UK during my teens, I got over that embarrassment pretty quickly — 笑. Though I do remember finding it awkward at first, before I got used to the more direct English style of conversation.)
So — next time someone tells you Nihongo jouzu desu ne ("Your Japanese is so good!"), try responding with sonna koto nai desu. I promise, they'll think: wow, this person's Japanese really is good.
