When speaking in English, why Japanese people get embarrassed?

          -This is only my opinion. I’m so sorry, in advance!!!

I have been asked why some Japanese people get embarrassed when speaking English. If you have talked with some Japanese people who are not very good at speaking English, you would agree with the question and say that you don’t expect Japanese people to speak English fluently. The answer is that “we are not embarrassed, but intimidated by you”. They dare to say “I’m embarrassed” because they are too scared to say “You scare me.”

There are three major reasons.
1. When talking with people from foreign countries, many Japanese people get frustrated by rudimentary Japanese. So, most of us can’t help believing that we have to speak fluently when speaking in English.
2. Faces seem to be very fierce when you say “What?”
3. People from foreign countries don’t seem to even try to understand what I mean.

The first reason:
Most Japanese people haven’t seen adults who speak in rudimentary Japanese. Since we don’t know how to speak in rudimentary language, we can’t help feeling we have to speak fluently, even in English.
Can you imagine this? If you haven’t had neighbors who are not native or haven’t heard rudimentary English, you may still have some acquaintances that are not native speakers. Their English might be kind of strange and sometimes sound rude, but you are used to their way of talking. You don’t think they are strange or rude, do you? However, Japanese people can’t help feeling apprehensive, thinking that we may say something rude and you may get angry.
Here's an example:
One of my aunts went abroad for the first time and met a woman there. My aunt doesn’t speak any foreign languages and the woman spoke rudimentary Japanese. The woman said my aunt looked a lot like her mother, and called my aunt “Mama-san”. “Mama” is from the English word, and “san” is kind of Mr. and Mrs. The woman obviously said it with affection, but my aunt became very angry. Japanese people say “Mama-san” when referring to a barkeeper, and my aunt is biased against that kind of woman.
The problem is that we are not used to talking with people from foreign countries.

The second reason:
Would you say “What?”, if I say your face is very fierce when you say it?
Frankly speaking, your face is sometimes frightening to me.
I often hear that Japanese people are expressionless, while your face is too expressive. Your smile is great, but some other expressions are a little bit terrifying sometimes. The problem is that we are not used to talking with people from foreign countries.

The third reason:
Since Japanese language is so different from English, learning English is very difficult for Japanese. Schools tell students that “yes” = “hai”, and “no” = “iie”, but in particular situations these words often exchange meanings with each other. This means that English words “yes” and “no” (and other words in English) may be very complicated to understand for Japanese people. Also, English has many sounds that Japanese people can’t catch. The coup de grace is that you speak too fast to follow! When speaking in English, I feel like I’m an idiot and you are becoming angry.
Among Japanese people, it is the listener’s responsibility to understand what the speaker means; while in English, it is the speaker’s responsibility to make what you say understood. When Japanese people speak English, they are trying to overcome a lot of great difficulties but you don’t seem to even try to understand what we mean at all. Even in English conversation schools located in Japan, I have heard this problem from friends many times. They commented that teachers who were native English speakers didn’t try to understand what they meant at all. They were not be able to communicate these difficulties to the teacher because they didn’t know what to say in English.
I know that my problem is that I’m not used to talking with people from foreign countries, but I’m still, to be honest, very nervous.

Thank you!


Koir, thank you!

Odawara Castle

I went to see cherry blossoms and Odawara Castle in Odawara city. This castle was constructed in 1417, and its ownership has changed several times.
Around the Warring States and Azuchi-Momoyama periods (1467-1600), there were a lot of chatelaines called “daimyoh” in Japan. They were fighting for supremacy. This sounds similar to the U.K.’s history, the one difference being Japan had Tennoh(Emperor) since the 7th century. You might know of the word “Shohgun”; this title was given to “the leader of a samurai clan” (the winner among chatelaines) by the Emperor. Even so, Tennoh’s authority has been artificial.

Anyway, Japan has a lot of beautiful castles. Come and take a look at these cool donjons!
Thank you!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odawara_Castle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_castle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sengoku_period

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azuchi%E2%80%93Momoyama_period

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_of_Japan

(Koir, thaks!)

Tea?

As you may know, when flying in a plane, the flight attendants will ask you several times what you would like to drink.I used to say, “Tea, please”. They used to give me a cup of green tea.

I always wondered why they gave me green tea despite my asking for tea.
However, this mystery has finally been cleared up. One day, I said “Tea, please “ as always, the flight attendant replied, “green or English?”　At last, I realized that I should have said “English tea, please.”
If you are a native English speaker, this sounds very odd. But I’m sure that most Japanese people believe when you say “tea”, you mean English tea. It must be a uniquely Japanese notion, but when Japanese people want green tea they say green tea, not just tea.
This is a trivial matter. But now I’m a little bit afraid to speak in English because I might have a lot of perceived notions causing confusion. Learning English is still very hard.
Thank you!



Koir (Canada) : Very interesting post, Yuri. It definitely illustrates how the Japanese culture has different preconceptions compared to Western countries. I do admit to being confused about the central concept in the first few read-throughs however. This showed me that I also have preconceptions about the basic meaning of "tea", a very useful thing I should be aware of.
Even in Western countries such as Canada and the United States there are preconceptions. Years ago, I was in the U.S. and was surprised at the confusion between "chips" and "French Fries". I was at a restaurant and ordered a sandwich with chips. I said that expecting to get French fries, but when my order came, on the plate with the sandwich was a small bag of potato chips.
This happened once or twice afterwards until I started saying "French fries" when I ordered a meal. No wonder the server looked at me oddly...I was ordering something she wasn't familiar hearing in that context.



Columbine (UK) : Thats interesting. Maybe it depends on where you are flying from or to. When I was flying to Japan before, I had to go from London to Bangkok first. When the air hostess asked me "tea or coffee?" I was given black english tea. But when I flew from Bangkok on the same air-line just a few hours later, I was given green tea and when I flew back it was the same. Even when I started in Bangkok, when I was flying to England, I was given black tea again.
Now that I think about it, it's quite confusing!

atheistwithfaith（UK）：　When I was flying with JAL, they automatically assumed I meant english tea (I am English). I think most people realize not to make assumptions about language when speaking to a non-native speaker.

Congratulations!

My friend, Naomi, gave birth on 5th of February.

Her son’s name is Manato.

Noami, congratulations!

Is this peculiar to Japan?

One of my Japanese friends (whose husband is American) once said that when American people go to visit the home of an acquaintance, they don’t bring a calling present.

If you are American, tell me if this is true.

If you are not American, do you bring a hospitality gift? I want to know if this is a custom peculiar to Japan.

I usually bring sweets or fruits which costs about 2000 or 3000 yen. This depends on our relationships.

When you have guests in your house, you need to provide some sweets to serve your guests. If you haven’t had time to buy anything, you can serve the gift the guests offered, saying “I’m sorry; this is what you have brought.” (“Omotase de sumimasen.)

Do you have any customs when you visit an acquaintance?



Thank you!





Koir(Canada) : Being from Canada, I can say bringing a gift is dependent on the situation. If it's a party with other guests, most of the time bringing something like food or dessert is preferable to ensure everyone has enough to eat. Other times, bringing gifts when you visit an acquaintance isn't a common practice.



I don't visit acquaintance that much in their homes...mostly because my acquaintances are quite far away. Perhaps another person who does have acquaintances closer to them can provide more insight.





Klint(The US) : Well, like Koir said, most of the time when people here meet up for things like cookouts, football games, and even movies, it's better to bring food and drinks with you. I guess this is often seen as a way to relieve the host from having to supply everyone with food on their own. It's really just a social convention that most people will choose to follow though. Therefore, it's not entirely necessary to bring anything at all, especially if you're going by yourself or don't plan on staying too long.



In my experience, the only real gift giving is done around the more obvious, major events (Christmas, Birthdays, Valentines Day...) although it's typical for one to receive gifts during other important stages of their life as well (graduation, buying their first home, getting married, having kids, getting promoted, retiring, etc...).



I hope this has been helpful.





Columbine(UK) : For me, it depends on the circumstances. If I had never been to their house before, I might take something, especially if I was invited for a sit-down dinner. A bottle of wine or flowers, or some chocolates. It's not compulsory though.



If it were just a casual visit with a friend, I might take some DVD's with me we could watch or if i'd done some baking, some of that in a tupperware box. Often I don't bring anything, but then it's more normal to return an invitation with an invitation. So I might not bring anything, but then they would visit my house another day instead.



If it's a party, I would offer to bring something when I accepted the invitation. Obviously if it were a birthday party, i'd bring a card and a gift relative to how well I knew them.



If I have a guest visiting, it's generally polite to offer them a drink, and if they stay longer, something to eat. Like if a friend of relative pops around, i'll always offer tea and a biscuit. If it's later in the evening, I'll offer other things.







Koir, Klint and Columbine, thank you!

And, Koir, thanks for the revision as always.

Evidence of Poverty?

Several days ago, a Japanese TV news program said that some American people were proposing hanging out laundry to dry in the sun. At first I didn’t understand the point because most Japanese people hang out their clothes, except those who don’t have a balcony or a yard in which to hang things.

The news reader continued that hanging laundry is seen as evidence of poverty in the US, so some people protested against hanging the washing out to dry. They don’t like their town appearing to be poor.

I was shocked to hear this. We’ve always hung laundry outside, as we believe that using a dryer is a waste of electricity. Nobody here protests against what we do. We have a drying tumbler, and we use it when the weather is bad.

So then, when American people come to Japan, do most of us appear poor to you? Do I appear very poor?



Thank you.



http://www.alachuacounty.us/documents/bocc/agendas/2009-04-28/d229954f-7b85-4b9d-afbf-0498ee48fd2c.pdf



Klint(in Massachusetts ) : No, I don't see hanging laundry outside to dry as any sort of sign of poverty. My family and most other people where I live also hang our laundry out to dry, whether they're rich, poor, or somewhere in the middle.



Koir : Although being Canadian, I do have trouble imagining people preferring to hang their clothes out to dry in the sun when a dryer usually is fairly affordable for most people. But by no means does that mean I think all countries must believe the same thing. Again referring to past anime series I have watched (specifically To Aru Majutsu no Index and Toradora), it appears both practical and "exotic" (for lack of a better word) to hang laundry out to dry in the sun or using a tumbler to dry clothes.





Klint and Koir, thank you!

A Happy New Year!

A Happy New Year!

It was very nice this morning.

We call New Year’s morning “gantan”. During gantan, we eat food called “osechi”.

Pictured above is osechi that I made.

This is not for just one person, but for a family.

Usually osechi has three boxes. We start with the food in the first box drinking “toso" (a sort of sake). The second box mainly has vinegared food and grilled fish. The third box has boiled food.

We don’t finish all the osechi at one time. Osechi includes a lot of food that can be kept for a long time, and we eat it until about the third day. However, eating osechi at each meal is tiring, so after gantan we often eat something else with osechi.



Thank you.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osechi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toso



Koir, thanks!