"Excuse me/I'm sorry"

[MFoogle]

Ok, I've heard countless ways to say sorry and excuse me, but I don't quite understand when to say them and who should say them. I understand that Sumimasen can mean both sorry and excuse me. Gomenna is for guys, gomenne is for girls. Gomennasai is used by little kids and girls with their girlfriends, my textbook says, but I always thought it was just a really polite way to say excuse me. And all the sudden chotto comes up...
Are some more polite than others?


(Excuse me)
Chotto
Sumimasen
(Sorry)
Gomen
Gomennasai
Gomenne
Gomenna

[somenube]

You forgot one; gome.
I don't know how to use all of them either. :\

[MFoogle]

Well I know there's a ton more (suimasen...etc.), but I'm not trying to list them all out. I'm just asking when to use those.

[Yudan Taiteki]

You forgot one; gome.

That's a new one to me and I've been studying for over 10 years.

[becki_kanou]

How about メンゴ、メンゴ ?

[AJBryant]

I don't know what you're drinking, but I want some.


Effingham

[Harisenbon]

How about メンゴ、メンゴ ?

Isn't that 芸能語？ I have a couple other words like that, but they're not family friendly.

I also can't believe no one has mentioned the over-used in movies: すまん

But really, there are so many ways to say sorry in Japanese that's it's almost futile to try and list them all.

[becki_kanou]

How about メンゴ、メンゴ ?

Isn't that 芸能語？ I have a couple other words like that, but they're not family friendly.

I also can't believe no one has mentioned the over-used in movies: すまん

But really, there are so many ways to say sorry in Japanese that's it's almost futile to try and list them all.

Yeah, that was supposed to be a joke, not a real suggestion to the OP. My husband and I sometimes use it with each other, though, as well as 「ごめんちゃい」.

[Wakannai]

heh, I used to have a cat avatar with the caption Gomenchai, I might be able to find it somewhere even.

ahh here we are.

[Yudan Taiteki]

The base problem, though, is that you can't divide the Japanese words into categories based on the English meanings of "excuse me" and "I'm sorry". Sumimasen, for instance, has both meanings. Gomen nasai is pretty much just "I'm sorry" but it's more casual and not usually used with superiors. "warui" is another "I'm sorry" used in casual conversation. etc.

[two_heads_talking]

The base problem, though, is that you can't divide the Japanese words into categories based on the English meanings of "excuse me" and "I'm sorry". Sumimasen, for instance, has both meanings. Gomen nasai is pretty much just "I'm sorry" but it's more casual and not usually used with superiors. "warui" is another "I'm sorry" used in casual conversation. etc.

doesn't ご免 mean "your pardon, permission?" And when saying ご免なさい you are begging pardon/permission for something. I know it is commonly accepted that it mean I'm sorry, but I think if you dig into the nuance it's more of a begging or pleading rather than an apology. In other words rather than the emphasis being on you for apologizing, (not really good enryo is it?) It puts the emphasis on the other person to pardon or otherwise give you permission or forgiveness for your actions. (be they good, bad or indifferent)

[Bucko]

A couple more:

These three literally mean "there is no excuse" and are used when you really inconvenience someone
申し訳ございません (moushi wake gozaimasen) very polite
申し訳ありません (moushi wake arimasen)
申し訳ない (moushi wake nai)

There's also 恐れ入ります (osoreirimasu) used when you "regretfully" say something. Something like "I'm afraid..." or "I regret to say..." or even on the telephone when asking to speak to someone "sorry to be a bother but is Jimmy there?" etc

Yet another one which has a similar meaning to the above is 恐縮ですが・・・I'm sorry but...

すみません　can also be shortened to すまん if you're taking to an inferior.

[MFoogle]

So what about chotto? I've only seen it in a textbook--it's not in any dictionary or anything that I know of. When would you want to use that (informal or formal conversation, etc.)?

[monkeykoder]

Doesn't chotto just mean a little bit? So possibly it has a connotation of "just a little bit of your time?" Watching dramas you hear "chotto ii desu ka" a bit which could probably be shortened to chotto. This is just me guessing of course.

[MFoogle]

My book also had "chotto ii desu ka"--translated into "excuse me, can I ask you something?"