Read a product position, not the whole row
Start with the drink itself, then look immediately below or beside it for the temperature, price and availability indication. A machine can sell both warm and cold drinks. Nearby products may have different settings. Do not assume a whole row has the temperature of the first item you noticed.
The first diagram shows a cold tea, a warm coffee and a sold-out drink. They are deliberately generic products with sample prices. Use the text as your primary cue; color is helpful when present, but reading the label works when colors, lighting or layouts differ.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 冷たいお茶が欲しいです。 | Tsumetai ocha ga hoshii desu. | I would like cold tea. |
| これは温かいですか。 | Kore wa atatakai desu ka. | Is this warm? |
Hot, cold and the stretched-out lettering
Cold drink labels commonly use つめたい, tsumetai. Warm drink labels use あたたかい, atatakai. You may see decorative lengthening such as つめた〜い and あたたか〜い. That is presentation, not a different dictionary word. Read the underlying adjective.
Atatakai is useful for a comfortably warm drink; atsui describes something hot. If a purchased drink is lukewarm when you expected it to be hot, nurui is the useful word. For ordinary conversation, ocha ga atatakai means “the tea is warm.” You do not need to reproduce the stretched label aloud.
| Label or word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| つめたい | tsumetai | Cold to the touch; cold drink |
| あたたかい | atatakai | Warm |
| 冷たい | tsumetai | The kanji spelling of cold |
| 温かい | atatakai | The kanji spelling of warm for a drink |
| 熱い | atsui | Hot |
| ぬるい | nurui | Lukewarm |
| 売切・売り切れ | urikire | Sold out |
| 準備中 | junbi-chū | Not ready; preparation in progress |
Sold out is different from not ready
Urikire says the item is sold out. Junbi-chū says preparation is in progress. On a drink machine, that can involve getting products ready at the intended temperature, but the exact reason depends on the model. In either case, do not treat the product picture as a promise that the position can dispense a drink now.
The chū in 準備中 means that an activity or state is ongoing. You will see the same ending in other signs, such as 点検中, tenken-chū, inspection in progress. The useful response is to choose an available option or follow the machine’s own instruction; you do not need to diagnose its internal process.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| これは売り切れですね。 | Kore wa urikire desu ne. | This one is sold out. |
| 別の飲み物にします。 | Betsu no nomimono ni shimasu. | I will choose a different drink. |
| まだ準備中みたいです。 | Mada junbi-chū mitai desu. | It looks like it is still getting ready. |
Payment: follow the machine in front of you
A traditional cash machine may show your inserted amount before you select a drink. Other machines ask you to choose the product first and then pay. A touchscreen may add a confirmation screen. Treat an on-screen instruction as more important than a remembered sequence from a different machine.
For cash, check the displayed coin and note denominations. For cashless payment, check the supported payment marks. Acure’s official FAQ points users to its supported-method list and notes that availability can differ across machines. A reader alone does not establish support for your particular bank card or wallet.
| Prompt | Reading | What it asks you to do |
|---|---|---|
| 商品を選んでください | Shōhin o erande kudasai | Choose a product |
| お金を入れてください | Okane o irete kudasai | Insert money |
| タッチしてください | Tacchi shite kudasai | Touch or tap the indicated place |
| 確認 | kakunin | Confirmation; check the choice |
| 取消 | torikeshi | Cancel |
| 残高不足 | zandaka busoku | Insufficient balance |
Return control, change opening and drink opening
Henkyaku means return. On a cash machine, it can label the control used to return inserted money when canceling. Otsuri means change, while henkyakuguchi is a return opening. The drink comes out at the toridashiguchi. The fact that two openings both return something does not make them interchangeable.
The diagram separates the action from the collection point: a control requests a return; an opening is where you collect something. A real machine may use a lever instead of a button. A cashless cancellation or payment problem must be handled according to the machine’s instructions; do not expect bank-card funds to emerge as coins.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| おつりはどこに出ますか。 | Otsuri wa doko ni demasu ka. | Where does the change come out? |
| 返却のレバーはこれですか。 | Henkyaku no rebā wa kore desu ka. | Is this the return lever? |
Drink words that help you choose
You can often narrow the choice before reading the whole product name. Mizu is water, ocha is tea, and kōhī is coffee. Mutō means unsweetened or without sugar in the product’s labeling context; bitō indicates a lightly sweetened product. Check the actual product label if ingredients or nutrition matter to your choice.
Burakku, black, refers to coffee without milk in everyday use. It is not a substitute for reading the sugar or ingredient information on a specific product. Do not treat every bold word on the front as a complete ingredient description.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 無糖のお茶はどれですか。 | Mutō no ocha wa dore desu ka. | Which tea is unsweetened? |
| Word | Reading | Useful meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 水 | mizu | Water |
| お茶 | ocha | Tea |
| 緑茶 | ryokucha | Green tea |
| 麦茶 | mugicha | Barley tea |
| コーヒー | kōhī | Coffee |
| 無糖 | mutō | Unsweetened / no sugar wording |
| 微糖 | bitō | Lightly sweetened wording |
| 炭酸 | tansan | Carbonation; fizzy drink context |
Report a problem with three clear details
Give the location or machine identifier, the item or amount involved, and what happened. Kanri bangō is the management or identifying number printed on the machine. Acure asks customers who did not receive a product, received a different product, or found it insufficiently warmed to check this number and contact its support service. Other machines may have different operators, so use the contact details on the actual unit.
For practice, the example below uses a fictional machine identifier and an example amount. In a real report, preserve your payment record and describe what you observed. Do not shake or tip the machine to try to retrieve a product.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 飲み物が出てきません。 | Nomimono ga dete kimasen. | The drink is not coming out. |
| 百八十円を入れました。 | Hyakuhachijūen o iremashita. | I inserted 180 yen. |
| おつりが出てきません。 | Otsuri ga dete kimasen. | The change is not coming out. |
| 違う飲み物が出てきました。 | Chigau nomimono ga dete kimashita. | A different drink came out. |
| 管理番号はU-012です。 | Kanri bangō wa yū, zero ichi ni desu. | The machine identifier is U-012. |
Notice the difference between “came out” and “does not come out”
Deru means to come out. Demashita reports that something came out; demasen reports that it does not come out. Dete kimashita adds the sense of emerging toward you. A short contrast is enough for the operator to understand why you are calling.
In “chigau nomimono ga dete kimashita,” chigau modifies nomimono: a different drink. In “nomimono ga dete kimasen,” the problem is that nothing is arriving at the opening. Practice the two reports without changing every other word, so you can keep the distinction clear when stressed.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 飲み物は出ましたが、おつりが出ません。 | Nomimono wa demashita ga, otsuri ga demasen. | The drink came out, but the change did not. |
| 温かい飲み物を選びましたが、ぬるいです。 | Atatakai nomimono o erabimashita ga, nurui desu. | I chose a warm drink, but it is lukewarm. |
Five questions to test your reading
Use the two diagrams and answer before looking at the explanation.
- 1. You want cold tea. Which temperature word are you looking for?
- 2. A product picture remains, but 売切 is lit. Does the picture mean you can buy it?
- 3. Which label refers to change: おつり or 取出口?
- 4. A terminal has a contactless reader. Does that prove it accepts your payment method?
- 5. You received a different drink. Should your report say 出てきません or 違う飲み物が出てきました?
1. Tsumetai, つめたい or 冷たい. 2. No: the availability label says sold out. 3. Otsuri. Toridashiguchi is the product opening. 4. No: check the supported payment marks and instructions. 5. Chigau nomimono ga dete kimashita: a different drink came out. Saying only that no drink came out describes a different problem.
Sources, scope and a final speaking challenge
Operator-specific payment and support information was checked against acure’s official FAQ on September 29, 2026. All diagrams, products, prices and dialogues in this lesson are original teaching examples. They do not reproduce a particular operator’s screen or guarantee the procedure at another machine.
For your final speaking challenge, describe one successful purchase and one problem in two sentences each. Start with the temperature and drink, then say what came out. If you can explain that clearly, you have learned something more useful than merely recognizing a product picture.