This article discusses the expression of gratitude in spoken English by Japanese and American college students in the United States. Five hypotheses were tested: (1) Advanced non-native speakers would find expressing gratitude difficult in the target language; (2) A verbal expression of regret would occur whenever the Japanese speaker believes he is imposing upon another person; (3) Foreign students would exhibit numerous errors in lexicon and grammar; (4) Native English speakers would not verbalize regret; (5) Expressions of gratitude by Japanese females would be longer than those of their male counterparts, and the responses of American males and females would be similar in length. A 15-item questionnaire designed to create situations of status, social gravity and the rendering of a valuable service was administered to the students. Results indicated the following: American males expressed regret more often than expected and American females less so; responses of American males and females were similar in length and formality; responses of Japanese males were usually of native speaker quality and shorter than those of Japanese females; responses of Japanese females were replete with lexical and grammatical errors. Appended are the questionnaire, samples of native male vs. female responses, samples of Japanese responses, examples from a rating system, word counts, table of acceptable responses, and a T-test analysis of Japanese learners. (Contains 22 references.) (CK)