Even if they wouldn’t have a characteristic accent, you could easily pick the Japanese people from within a group of English speakers. Why? Because their choice of words is… special. So, for your recognizing pleasure, and maybe also of use as 10 words (and phrases) of advice to the Japanese, Marina & Joost present the 10 most overused words and phrases by Japanese people speaking English. Not intended to insult anyone of course. 
- Let’s. Alright, so there’s a volitional form in Japanese that’s most often translated as “let’s”. But that’s no excuse for its gratuitous use in constructs like “let’s enjoy”. It just sounds too happy, and if you’ve ever been off the island you could have told by the lack of Hello Kitty paraphernalia that the non-Japanese just aren’t the extremely happy people you’re used to talking to back home. So remember, “let’s” is only to be used when making concrete plans that weren’t there before, or when you’re about to go somewhere (as in: let’s go).
- Enjoy. This is frequently found in conjunction with (1). Somehow, when making plans, one can’t just make a plan to do something, but the enjoying must be included in the plan. So if we were Japanese and planning on going out drinking and we’d send out an e-mail to our foreign friends, it would say “Let’s enjoy drinking (together)”. For people in whose native language implication and omission are the norm, that’s pretty explicit, don’t you think?
- Contact to me. I get my particles wrong all the time, and I wish someone’d tell me. So here’s free advice to all of you out there: “to contact” doesn’t take “to” before the object. Just “contact me” will do.
- Person in charge. There has to be a person in charge for everything in Japan. Undoubtedly there used to be some reason having to do with determining who’d be first in line to commit seppuku when the plan formed under (1) went south. However, it’s been a while since the Japanese made a habit of disemboweling themselves when they messed up, and the English speakers have never really taken to the practice in the first place. So please, limit the use of this term to situations where there actually is something that needs someone in charge. Hint: being in charge of opening and closing the elevator doors does not qualify, being in charge of the hiring and firing does.
- To be informed. If someone contacts (to) you, you’re informed. Duh.
- Issue. Everything in this place needs to be issued. Let’s enjoy buying a thesaurus!
- I see. It’s not necessary to confirm your understanding after our every sentence using “I see”. Really, we can tell simply by the presence or absence of a “blank stare” or the more obvious “huuuuuuu!?”.
- Refrain from. I’m sure it sounds better than “don’t do”, but appealing to a foreigner’s sense of self-restraint is asking for trouble. Just tell them what to (not) do, they’ll probably think you’re polite anyway because of the inevitable apologetic smiling and bowing.
- Dead line. If it’s not dead yet, we’ll kill it anyway.
- Inconvenience. It may seem weird if you’re from a country where you can get along without knowing how to do any normal stuff, such as preparing your own lunch or walking stairs, but we actually don’t mind a little inconvenience so much. Except when you’re performing maintenance on elevators; in that case we expect a glow stick man at the entrance of the elevator to help us refrain from using it.
So now that you’ve been informed, let’s enjoy talking together in English, and refrain from using any of the phrases mentioned above. If you don’t see, please contact to me. よろしくお願いします。
Danger! Inconvenience!
February 1st, 2009 at 20:44
Joosuto-san, thanks for citing me as coauthor in this awesome post! We can discuss over our fantastic dinners at the cafeteria about future ‘cooperations’.
February 1st, 2009 at 20:51
Ah yes, let’s enjoy talking more business!
February 1st, 2009 at 21:27
I see
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:54
”Ｐｌｅａｓｅ ｅｎｊｏｙ ａ ｌｏｔ ｏｆ ｓｈｏｐｐｉｎｇ ｐｌｅａｓｅ．” aldus de reisleidster die ik destijds in Tokyo had.
February 2nd, 2009 at 15:01
I would like to appeal also for the word ‘trouble’ which is a synonym for inconvenience of any sort (and usually human cause) and they use it in (regular) Japanese as well. Might as well add the word ‘nice’ which is over abused in all kinds of sports. But Engrish in everyday Japanese is a ‘whole different animal’.
February 16th, 2009 at 19:06
Very right you are. Especially the plural form of trouble troubles me.