Turning Down the Hanami Invitation Without Turning It Down
You have been with your host family in Nagoya for three weeks. On Thursday evening your host mother, Kawai-san, says: 「土曜日、家族で花見に行くんだけど、いっしょに来ない？」 You genuinely want to go, and she is standing in the kitchen waiting for your answer.
Your week: soccer club practice 9:00–12:00 on Saturday, which you cannot skip - the coach has already spoken to you once about absences - and a 2:00 pm hospital appointment about a cough that has lasted two weeks. Sunday is completely free. Your teacher has said to keep it 'polite but warm: she is not a teacher and not a stranger', and you do not know the Japanese word for 'appointment'. The exchange is spoken and unscripted, and Kawai-san will answer you.
1. Give your spoken reply in Japanese (with romaji) and annotate each move.
Read the worked answer
「せっかくお誘いいただいて、ありがとうございます。とても行きたいのですが、土曜日は9時から12時までサッカーの練習があって、休めません。それに、午後2時に病院へ行かなければなりません。日曜日はひまですが、日曜日はいかがですか。」
Sekkaku osasoi itadaite, arigatou gozaimasu. Totemo ikitai no desu ga, doyoubi wa ku-ji kara juuni-ji made sakkaa no renshuu ga atte, yasumemasen. Sore ni, gogo ni-ji ni byouin e ikanakereba narimasen. Nichiyoubi wa hima desu ga, nichiyoubi wa ikaga desu ka.
Why each move: せっかく〜 signals that you know the invitation is a compliment, which is what makes a refusal warm rather than a rejection. 〜たいのですが with が leaves the sentence open and invites a reply instead of closing the topic. 〜なければなりません gives a duty rather than a preference - 'I can't', not 'I don't want to'. それに stacks the second reason without a heavy pause. Ending on いかがですか hands the turn back. Register is ですます plus いかがですか - polite enough for a host parent, without the sonkeigo you would use with a teacher.
2. You do not know the word for 'appointment'. What do you say, and which two options should you reject?
Read the worked answer
Use what you own. 病院へ行かなければなりません ('I have to go to hospital') is complete and true. 医者と約束があります also works - 約束 ('arrangement, promise') is well within Level 2 and covers an appointment. 病院で用事があります is the fallback paraphrase. Reject option one: dropping in the English word as アポイントメント and hoping. A host mother will not reliably decode it and the interruption breaks your own flow. Reject option two: silence, or えーと stretched over five seconds. In an interaction assessment, audible breakdown costs more than an imperfect paraphrase, because the standard rewards 言いかえ (rephrasing around a gap) as a strategy in its own right. Prepare two or three general-purpose escape phrases before the assessment - 〜なければなりません, 用事があります, 約束があります - so that a missing noun never stops the turn.
3. She replies 「じゃあ、日曜日の午後は？お昼ごはんを食べてから行こうか。」 What do you say next, and why not simply はい、お願いします？
Read the worked answer
「日曜日の午後、お昼ごはんのあとですね。何時ごろ出発しますか。何か持っていきましょうか。」
Nichiyoubi no gogo, ohiru gohan no ato desu ne. Nanji goro shuppatsu shimasu ka. Nanika motte ikimashou ka.
〜ですね repeats back what you heard, which is a repair check: days and times are the first things to be misheard under pressure, and confirming them costs one second. Asking the departure time gets you the detail you actually need. Asking whether to bring something shows initiative and keeps your turn alive. Add どこで待ち合わせますか if no meeting place has been named. Answering only はい、お願いします ends the exchange on a one-word turn: it is not wrong Japanese, but it gives an assessor nothing to credit and leaves the plan half-made. In a conversation task, the candidate who asks the second question is the one who scores.