Japanese not wanting you to speak Japanese? Wha..?
 

Okay. I am excited to go to Kyushu. I count down and everything. (12 days left.)

I recently saw my friend. She is American born, mostly black, but her grandmother is from Japan so she has some experience with the culture, and goes to Tokyo once in a while to visit her family in the area. She is the only one to say this so far, but she said that if I went to a big down, they will frown at me for even attempting to speak Japanese. (And I know mine is not that bad. I can hold a conversation well enough to last awhile... and getting better at being more formal in speech...)

I just want to know if anyone could understand why she would say this? Because I really found it odd, and none of my non-Japanese friends who went mentioned a sort of thing. (She went on to say that in Tokyo, they prefer us, as Americans, to speak English...then shrugged and said it was "different story" when I told her I was going to a small town in Kyushu.)

I just wonder...

I don't think so. They still prefer Japanese and will really appreciate someone who will try. Some people will try to speak in English to you to help them practice their English ability, some establishment have some english guide to to make the explanation faster.

Just don't be bothered with , Go and Enjoy Kyushu. Its a very lovely place :vsign:

I call bullshit on your friend.
I've never heard of anything like that in all my time in Japan

Sounds like your friend has a bit of 'myjapan' going on and doesn't want your japanese to be better than hers.

The only time I have heard of anything even vaguely similar to this was a case of a certain host family being told that their host student was going to teach them English, so insisted on using English with them.

People do NOT look down on anyone for using Japanese. Location doesn`t matter. Your friend is crazy.

Well I wouldn't go that far! Her friend is ''crazy!'' Can you imagine if her friend read this?

I think all of our personal experiences are different. What is true for one person might not necessarily be true for another.

Her friend is saying that in big towns, they prefer non-Japanese to NOT speak Japanese. She says that the friend regularly visits Japan.
That isn`t some singular "personal experience" of a limited scope. Being as this sort of thing doesn`t happen, and I have only heard of one single event where an exchange student found that their host family wanted them to speak English with them in all the years I have been in Japan... And have never heard of anyone being "looked down upon" for attempting to speak Japanese...

I`d say that I am not in the wrong to say that it`s pretty out there. If her friend reads this, maybe she`ll realize that whatever she said has been called out as untrue and that she`s not the only source of info. I couldn`t care less what someone who spreads incorrect info thinks of my opinion of them.

I wonder if it has to do with her friend being related to Japanese people but very distinctly American. Like a clash in expectations, possibly even a few older people being like 'oh you don't have to force yourself to speak Japanese'. or else thinking "oh boy, another foreigner trying to piggyback as 'Japanese'."

Who knows. Maybe she speaks badly, presents herself wrongly and generally makes a massive tit of herself wherever she goes. Or maybe she's only met urban jerks.

But it's definitely not the norm.

I'm totally with Nyororin on this one. NEVER had that experience at all in years of frequently traveling to Japan.

Use your Japanese to the best of your abilities...... unless it is the "exception" that Nyororin mentions.

best,

.............john

I have known and known of quite a few mixed race / of Japanese descent foreigners who have visited or moved to Japan.
The complete opposite is true. There is always a pretty high expectation that they WILL be able to speak Japanese, especially with the older generation.

Most definitely not the norm, and not even into the "rare but it happens" level.
I find it doubtful that she could find that many urban jerks... So it could have been the way she behaved, I suppose.

Yeah, I thought so. Cause again, no one else said it, and I have a lot of friends that go to Japan often. (Her Japanese is not that good as well, so...whoever mentioned that...probably?)

I really thought it was odd, cause I also never heard this. Thanks for helping me know I am not crazy.

Maybe your friend thinks "上手" (Jouzu) means "shut up"...
When I was first learning, and totally sucked at Japanese, I still got heaps of comforting and nice remarks about it.

Or maybe she overheard some Japanese people discussing among themselves the fact that English accents sound SO BAD in Japanese!! hahaha

Possibility on the second part. I tried to speak with her to practice and...well...yeah...it did not sound good. (It does not help that she still pronounces the "Ah" sound as "Ay/Eh" sound...)


But yeah. One person also told me later on that they think she is jealous because she sees me using it a lot with other Japanese friends, but I do not think it makes sense...

If you combine what Nyororin said about Japanese people expecting mixed race people to be able to speak it well with the idea that she goes there with a 'I'm one of you' attitude and yet poor Japanese, she might be actually speaking to people with inappropriate tone/ familiarity, which would put people right off. Perhaps they assume that as someone with Japanese blood she should know better. And if she is that jealous, then yes, that would make sense for her to irrationally tell you random crap to make you nervous about going. 'My Japan' attitude. You're taking away her special.

Okay...now I see what you mean. She never mentioned it before I bought my ticket so...Yeah...maybe its jealousy...

Just so we're not merely assuming she's a massive cow, could also be worry rather than out and out spite. If she's established herself as your Japan expert, you're not going to need her as much if you go there yourself and figure things out from your own perspective. To a certain extent she'll loose status and control in her socialising. Maybe she's insecure and feels she needs to be like that for you to keep you as a friend. Not saying that's a nice way to go about things, just throwing it out there for perspective.

I never used her as my "japan" expert. We just talk about it, since I talk to actual Japanese nationals too. I only just found that sooo weird of her to say, and was so confused because that was a first. I was talking to other Japanese friends about it but they merely shrugged...So I dunno. Was just realllllllly confused on why she would say that.

Maybe it's because she thinks your Japanese isn't good enough....

Sometimes you go to a foreign country, you speak their language to a local and they look at you like you're speaking gibberish to them....yeah....that usually means something...

Or the worst...you speak Japanese to a native....and they respond in English...yeah...they usually means they don't think your Japanese is good enough to converse.

I never had that with the Japanese students here... I converse daily in Japanese...

Sometimes with some friends we do this deliberately. I get to use my Japanese....... and they get to use their English. If we don't understand something, we can each correct it. "Best of both worlds", so to speak.

A long time ago I was in an international artist's program in Japan and met a Korean Buddhist monk who was there to give a presentation. He spoke no English. I spoke no Korean. But both of us spoke a little bit of Japanese. So that is how we (barely) conversed. A rather fun experience.

best,

..................john

Maybe she just happened to be around a lot of racist old people. Who knows.

I think your friend is the one who experienced such thing and doesn't want to admit it. haha! I know Japanese people are not like that. They will get delighted when they know that you are making effort to speak their language. :)

i think it really depends on the person. but i dont fully agree with the statement, i just going to add my personal opinion into the mix. going to university in kyoto the is alot of japanese people wanting to practice their english. it does from time to time get upsetting because if you explain that your interested in speaking in japanese, they tend to "disappear". but not all are like that of course. a met a few who would as least speak half english half japanese. just my 2 cents.

But wouldn't correcting each other be the best way to learn???

I do this with my Uncle and a couple of Japanese friends all the time. Even through email. I will write in Japanese, then I wll also write the same thing in English giving them a sense of what I was saying. They will correct mine and do the same thing but in Englih with Japanese explanation

As far as my experieince goes, people really appreciate foreigners who try to learn their culture and language

correcting is always good too,and often i get corrected in japanese sometimes in english. as long as the friendship is a geniune and not just basic on using the other for language practice only. sometimes people just want to be friends just to practice the language some because your foreigner but every case isnt the same tho. there are who want to be friends basic off of interests but whatever case thats life.

I've had a couple of instances in Tokyo where I would say something in Japanese and I'd get replied to in English for a brief conversation, because they didn't want to speak Japanese to me. A couple of instances were Japanese people, and the biggest problem I have is an Indian fellow who works at my local McDonalds. We always have these weird exchanges because he can speak Japanese (working with Japanese customers all day) but whenever I go up to him he immediately tries his hand at English, which isn't so bad. I just start in Japanese, because I don't want to be treated differently, but he refuses to speak Japanese to me so we have really awkward Japanese-English conversations.
But this really isn't a regular thing, and most Japanese people will be really glad that you're trying to learn and speak their language.

Not sure if its related, but if my Uncle is involved in a conversation with a foreigner that has difficultieswith Japanese, he will switch to English in hopes that it will be easier for the other party, and just so it won't confuse them. He did this solely out of sincerity and courtesy..

None of these exchanges were due to a lack of my language ability. I knew what I was saying. If a Japanese person's English is better than an English speaker's Japanese, then go ahead. That's why a large majority of gaijins can't speak Japanese; because they make friends who speak better English. But my experiences weren't like that.

Thats why I said it may not be remotely close to being the same situation. Jut pointing out the circumstances where my Uncle will choose to use English with a foreigner..

yep i have to keep explaining to people that i was born and raise in american and the only language i do know is english! but people still dont believe i can speak english because i am too africa american. I cant wait until my japanese get good enough to sit down and give them a history lesson about africans and slavery in American,because they really dont know i think.

but i guess that something you have to deal with when living here.