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When I travelled Japan I always started off talking to Japanese people with
the following sentence:

> すいません、私の日本語は下手です。。。

This would always get the typical "oh" and nodding heads in answer and then
they would start to blabber in their normal speed and difficulty. Of course
absolutely incomprehensible to me as a Japanese language beginner.

As it seems a typical construct (maybe as a form of politeness) to have little
excusing introductions in Japanese. I thought it might be so custom to a
Japanese person. That they just "overhear" what I'm actually saying and just
listen to the fact that I'm talking Japanese. Maybe similar to "sorry for
interrupting...".

Anyway, what do you think is a good way to actually make clear to a Japanese
person. That you really can't speak Japanese well and they have to talk slowly
and in simple sentences?
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2017-02-09T07:37:04.057
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2017-02-09T10:53:21.233
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question
english-to-japanese greetings
how to make clear that your japanese is bad?
> You: すいません、私の日本語は下手です…  
>  相手の日本人: えっ？ちゃんと喋{しゃべ}れるじゃないですか。それで十分ですよ。

If you can't follow the full sentence, say the sentence to the point where you
can understand following "なんですか？" with a troubled face.

> You: ちゃんと (pause) なんですか？

Then the Japanese can understand your hearing ability, and say slowly again

> ちゃんと 喋れる じゃ ないですか

Or at the beginning you can say

> すみません、私の日本語は下手です。ゆっくり話してくれませんか？
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2017-02-09T09:45:01.837
43333
2017-02-09T10:05:35.337
2017-02-09T10:05:35.337
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answer
すいません、私の日本語は下手です perfectly makes sense as a Japanese sentence, but I doubt it
works as you expect. What you say is not really important for native speakers
to judge your level of Japanese. Even if you don't say this, people can
understand your level of Japanese after they listen to one sentence or two
from you. As already pointed out, if you said this really fluently, it would
certainly lead to an adverse effect. If they still speak too fast after
listening to your question, that's their fault, not yours.

So I recommend that you get straight to business after saying すみません. If you
have missed something, just ask. Saying ゆっくりお願いします ("slowly, please") or even
ゆっくり ("slow!") should help.
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answer