いただきます "Itadakimasu!"

There are many words and phrases in Japanese that don't quite translate.　いただきます　”itadakimasu" is one of them.

いただきます "Itadakimasu" is a phrase used before eating food together.  Literal meaning of the phrase is "I will have them". Unlike Buon  Appetito which means enjoy your food in Italian, Itadakimasu is about you starting your meal.

Perhaps it all comes back to the Shinto believe that all things living or non-living have a spirit/god thus saying this phrase before dinner is to not only talk about act of eating itself but also to thanks the food.

With such a pherase like this, it is quite difficult to translate it in English. In the way it could mean "Let's eat" but in this does phrase does not quite cover the whole meaning of the word. "I will eat thee" would not really work either because phrase has a tone of not only thanksfulness but also spiritual cultural meaning. 

We hope to discuss more phrases and words that do not quite translate well.
If you have any suggestions of phrases and words to be discussed, let us know.