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There are several situations in which one of these words (phrases?) should be
used but there's not usually a 1:1 mapping between any two languages.

  * Get somebody's permission. English: "excuse me", "I beg your pardon"; Spanish: "disculpe"
  * Getting past somebody or through a crowd. English: "excuse me"; Spanish: "con permiso"
  * Apologising: English: "I'm sorry"; Spanish: "lo siento", "perdón"

In Japanese, which of "すみません" (sumimasen) or "ごめんなさい" (gomen'nasai) works for
each situation? (And did I leave out any situations or phrases?)
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word-choice nuances politeness interjections
Usage of すみません (sumimasen) versus ごめんなさい (gomen'nasai)
On a basic level, すみません is to apologize for something that you have a "right"
to do, such as when passing through a crowd or getting a waiter's attention at
a restaurant. ごめんなさい, on the other hand, is for when you have done something
inappropriate. So on the way through a crowd, you would say すみません to ask
people to let you through, but if you accidentally step on someone's foot
along the way, you would use ごめんなさい to apologize.

Incidentally, すみません is also for saying "thank you" when someone has gone to
the trouble of doing something for you, such as pouring a cup of tea. Although
some Japanese may consider it more honest (素直【すなお】) to simply say ありがとう, すみません
("I apologize [for having caused you to go to the trouble of doing this]") is
the more natural Japanese response in these situations.

申【もう】し訳【わけ】ありません (or 申【もう】し訳【わけ】ございません) is a more formal version of ごめんなさい
which literally means, "There is no excuse." Often you'll hear it at press
conferences when the latest company president to be caught up in some scandal
has to publicly apologize with a deep bow in front of the flashbulbs.

Both すみません and ごめんなさい have informal versions: すまん (or すまない) and ごめん. The usage
rules stated above do not change with these versions, but as with as with all
informal constructions, you should reserve them for casual settings or
situations where your position is above that of the listener's.
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すみません and ごめんなさい can be used interchangeably in some cases but there are some
differences.

> すみません:

  1. It's a bit more formal than ごめんなさい;
  2. In general, it's the one you use when you apologize to a senior or superior people (in this last situation, using "ごめんなさい" might sound childish - see the following point);
  3. It's used more by older people than by younger people;
  4. Apart from using it to apologize for some mistake, you can use it because you inconvenienced someone, expressing gratitude;
  5. Like Derek said, the informal alternative for this one is すまん.

> ごめんなさい:

  1. Among family members or close friends, it's the preferred choice;
  2. You can alternartive use ごめんね (casual) or ごめん (more casual);
  3. It can _not_ be used like すみません in point 4 (see above).

See [this
site](http://www.123japanese.com/index.php?cmd=lessons&menu=phrases1) which
has a good schematized explanation (similar to this one).
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Both すみません and ごめんなさい mean sorry. However, there is a slight difference:

ごめんなさい is an apologetic sorry. It's used when you've clearly done something
WRONG, and is a very straightforward, "I'm sorry".

すみません is a subtle sorry. You say this simply because you feel bad, guilty, or
even embarrassed. It's more of a "sorry for the inconvenience" or "sorry for
the trouble" kind of sorry. With this in mind, it can also be used in a
variety of situations:

  * You're pushing through a crowd of people, and you feel like you're causing trouble or being an inconvenience.

  * Someone gives you something or does something for you. You feel like they went out of their way to do this, and you feel bad.

  * You enter/leave a room, and feel like you're being disruptive.

etc...

Also, most people consider すみません to be more formal because it's a more
heartfelt. You're saying sorry because you feel like a douchebag, whereas
ごめんなさい is just a straight up "I'm sorry" and, depending on the situation, can
sound like a "oops, my bad" kind of sorry.
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very roughly speaking, すみません=excuse me and ごめんなさい= i'm sorry
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I also found out that すみません can be used to express "I am sorry" when doing
something wrong like unintentionally stepping on someone's foot.

And for expressing "pardon" if we don't understand what the interlocutor says
I think we can use 'はい?' with rising intonation. And 'はい?' here is a question
like "yes?" Or "I'm sorry?".
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