An ATM screen says お引き出し, お預け入れ, and 残高照会. All three concern money, but they ask the machine to do different things. Recognizing the word for “bank” will not tell you which one matches your purpose.
This guide teaches Japanese learners to read those choices, follow short instructions, and distinguish an amount from a fee or balance. The practice screens are invented and involve no real account. Study with a bank's public guide before using a machine; for an actual transaction, follow the operator's instructions and your card issuer's guidance.
Identify the transaction before reading the details
Start by answering one question: what action does this screen offer? Learn the core labels as a contrasting set:
- お引き出し（おひきだし） / 引出し: withdrawal; taking money out.
- お預け入れ（おあずけいれ） / 預入れ: deposit; putting money into an account.
- 残高照会（ざんだかしょうかい）: balance inquiry; checking the balance.
- お振り込み（おふりこみ） / 振込: transfer; sending money to another account.
The polite お does not change the transaction. Different spellings can name the same action: 引き出し and 引出し are both worth recognizing. Seven Bank's Japanese-English banking glossary, on printed page 19 of its service manual pairs these terms with their English meanings. Use that glossary for vocabulary, rather than treating an older manual as today's fee schedule or universal operating sequence.
For practice, write “out,” “in,” “check,” and “send” beside the four labels. Then cover the English and identify them in a different order. Keep 残高照会 separate from 引出し: seeing a balance and receiving cash are different outcomes.
Check whose card and whose instructions apply
A screen can offer services that are unavailable for your card. キャッシュカード means cash card; 海外発行カード means a card issued overseas. 口座（こうざ） means account. Those labels establish context before any instruction tells you what to enter.
Seven Bank separates ATM information by financial institution and card category. Its overseas-card walkthrough is distinct from domestic account services. Japan Post Bank's International ATM Service page likewise describes withdrawals for overseas-issued cards and explicitly says balance inquiry is unavailable for that service.
The reading lesson is that a familiar label does not establish eligibility. Before studying a sequence, record “operator,” “card category,” and “transaction.” If the source describes a different card category, use it to learn words while checking the appropriate instructions for your situation.
When an English interface is offered, it can help you confirm the task. You can study Japanese beforehand without making a real withdrawal into a timed vocabulary test.
Read short prompts by finding the requested action
ATM instructions often end in ください, a polite request. Locate the object and final action together:
- カードを入れてください。 Please insert the card.
- 金額を入力してください。 Please enter the amount.
- 内容を確認してください。 Please check the details.
- カードをお取りください。 Please take your card.
These are original practice sentences. 入力（にゅうりょく） means input, 確認（かくにん） means checking or confirmation, and 取る（とる） means taking. A request to take something is different from a request to put something in, even if both sentences mention カード.
The Japan Foundation's IRODORI Elementary 2, Lesson 14 includes an ATM assistance dialogue with instructions and a receipt question. Practice identifying the action in a single line, then explain what object it applies to. Keep a complete prompt in your notes rather than saving ください alone.
暗証番号（あんしょうばんごう） means PIN. Learn the label without recording an actual PIN in a notebook, screenshot, or learning tool. If the screen asks for information you do not understand, pause and consult the bank's instructions rather than guessing from the number of boxes.
Keep every number attached to its label and unit
金額（きんがく） is an amount of money. 円（えん） identifies yen, while 千（せん） and 万（まん） mean one thousand and ten thousand. A money expression can therefore use units instead of displaying every digit.
Compare these invented reading examples:
- 1万円: 10,000 yen.
- 2万5千円: 25,000 yen.
- 25,000円: the same amount written entirely in digits.
Do the conversion on paper, away from a live machine. Circle 万 and 千 before writing the expanded number. A small unit changes the amount far more than a decorative heading does.
Next identify what the amount belongs to. お引出し金額 concerns the withdrawal amount; 手数料（てすうりょう） is a fee; 残高 is a balance. In an invented exercise showing 金額：20,000円 and 手数料：XXX円, the second field remains unknown. The placeholder is deliberately not a quoted bank fee.
Japan Post Bank's ATM service-hours and charges page separates services, ATM types, and conditions. For a real transaction, check the applicable current information. Reading a displayed charge correctly does not establish every charge your card issuer might apply.
Distinguish amount selection from currency selection
An amount screen asks how much. A currency screen asks which currency is used for a particular calculation or settlement. Do not treat them as the same choice just because both contain money symbols.
Useful words include 日本円（にほんえん）, Japanese yen; 通貨（つうか）, currency; and 選択（せんたく）, selection. Read the sentence surrounding these labels. Does it concern the cash amount, or the currency used to calculate billing?
Seven Bank's Japanese overseas-card walkthrough describes amount selection and a separate billing-currency step. Its English explanation of the same withdrawal flow explains the distinction under Dynamic Currency Conversion. Compare the two pages to check which question each screen asks.
For study, write two headings: “cash being withdrawn” and “billing-currency choice.” Put each phrase under the appropriate heading. Leave exchange rates and costs to the actual disclosure and issuer information; a vocabulary translation alone cannot calculate which option costs less.
Read confirmation, correction, and cancellation differently
Three control words deserve deliberate comparison: 確認 means confirmation or checking; 訂正（ていせい） means correction; 取消（とりけし） / 取消し means cancellation. 終了（しゅうりょう） means end. Their precise effect depends on the screen and the transaction's stage.
Before a confirmation, recover the transaction, amount, and any displayed charge or condition. If something differs from your intention, read the available correction or cancellation route. Do not assume a button labeled 取消 can reverse money movement already completed.
Also read the question above はい and いいえ. They mean yes and no, but neither has a fixed transaction meaning. “Yes” might answer a receipt question rather than authorize a withdrawal.
Try this invented prompt: 明細票は必要ですか。 It asks whether a transaction slip is needed. 必要（ひつよう） means needed; 不要（ふよう） means not needed. Explain the question before assigning a meaning to either answer. This is a useful habit for any Japanese confirmation screen.
Follow the final prompt and recognize a problem message
At the end, distinguish 紙幣（しへい）, banknotes, from カード and 明細票（めいさいひょう）, transaction slip. The English Seven Bank walkthrough reminds users to collect cash, card, and receipt. Read the actual machine's prompts rather than assuming every operator returns them in an identical order.
Negative language can interrupt an expected sequence. ご利用いただけません means the service cannot be used in that context. 取り扱いできません means it cannot be processed or handled. Find the subject and any explanation instead of translating the message as “try again.”
If a card or cash is not returned as expected, use the operator's support route. Seven Bank's account-holder support page groups ATM and account problems separately. Select guidance that matches the operator and your card; do not repeatedly enter uncertain information while trying to learn the error message.
Test your reading on an invented screen sequence
Imagine these three practice screens, unrelated to any specific bank:
Screen A：お引き出し / お預け入れ / 残高照会
Screen B：お引出し金額：2万円 内容を確認してください。
Screen C：明細票は必要ですか。 はい / いいえ
First, label A's choices as withdrawal, deposit, and balance inquiry. Next, read B as a withdrawal amount of 20,000 yen followed by a request to check the details. Finally, read C as a receipt question. It does not ask for a second amount.
Now name what this sequence leaves unstated: card eligibility, charges, currency choices, and whether a transaction actually completed. The exercise deliberately supplies no evidence for those conclusions. Cover the explanations and describe each screen's job in one sentence.
Practice with a public guide before using an ATM
Choose an operator's public walkthrough, not a photograph of someone else's account. Study one screen at a time:
- Record the operator, card category, and transaction described.
- Circle the transaction label and underline the requested action.
- Keep each amount beside its unit and field name.
- Explain the full question before translating yes or no.
- Check your interpretation against the operator's English explanation when available.
- Later, identify the same words in a different public example.
Keep three complete phrases that resolved a misunderstanding. 金額を入力する, 内容を確認する, and 明細票は不要 retain a useful action or decision. Use public examples or carefully redacted text; omit PINs, account identifiers, and personal transaction details.
Kotoru is a local-first language-learning tool for studying real audio, media, text, captions, photos, PDFs, and documents. Try Kotoru without creating an account with a public guide passage you have the right to use, and keep the Japanese attached to its original context.