Accepting Compliments in Japanese

Accepting compliments in Japan is a lot different than in America. Due to the different cultures, many different types of responses are fine in English, but that's not the case for Japanese. In America, when you receive a compliment, it's customary for the person receiving a compliment to accept it and say "thank you" or "that's nice! [insert an additional compliment of the other person here]"  If you deny the compliment and say it's not true, people might think you don't have very high self esteem or your self confidence is very low. 

In Japan, that's completely the opposite. If you get a compliment, it's considered arrogant and rude to say "thank you." Instead, it's important to say something that would be considered self-deprecating to Americans. In Japan, humility is seen as a very important virtue. If you just accept a compliment, it's seen as not having any humility. No matter how true the compliment is, in Japanese it's important to reject it somehow. Here are some examples below:

まだまだです　mada mada desu - meaning "I'm not quite there yet" 

そんなことはないよ！ son na koto wa nai yo! - meaning "That's not true/you're incorrect"