Need help not being a stiff, robotic gaijin...

[andrewrudoi7594]

こんにちわ、みんなさん！

Hi everyone.

A little background, before I go into the details of my problem. I've been studying Japanese for three semesters. I know a lot (I think?) of the basic and intermediate grammar topics, and I have about the first 175 kanji memorized (the last ones I learned were 世界).

I'm spending the upcoming Spring semester studying in Tokyo, and I'm really worried about sounding natural, like someone who has actually been trying to learn Japanese and not someone who watches a lot of anime and picks up phrases (no offense to those who do). It could be because I haven't had a lot of experience speaking with people who aren't my professor.

Are there any little tips, or maybe nuances I should be on the lookout for when trying to communicate with native speakers? Maybe that's a little vague. To any native speakers, what are some things that foreign speakers tend to do that make them seem like they're foreign speakers?

I appreciate any and all help. ありがとうございます！！

[Tracel]

Hello there,

In a natural Japanese conversation the interaction between the participants is a little different from native English speakers. You will notice a lot of head nodding, and also interjections from the others that "don't have the floor" so to speak. This is called あいづち the kanji is 相槌. The speaker is actually looking for your acknowledgement that you are listening. If you do nothing but listen politely without saying things like へえ、そうですか、ううん、はい、then the speaker will think that you do not understand them. These words do not mean you agree. They just mean you are listening and understand. You should at least nod your head if you don't say anything. You say these things softly enough not to interrupt, but loud enough to give encouragement.

In Natural Japanese, often the sentence endings are left dangling too. You may notice that someone else in the conversation may finish the sentence for the speaker. This also shows they are listening carefully to what you are saying and are engaged. If you feel confident enough in your Japanese, you can also finish others' sentences sometimes. Not too much of course, and make sure they really have stopped speaking and you aren't interrupting.

Lastly, in English, when we need to think or hesitate, we say um a lot. Try to use the Japanese versions of this: ええと、あのう、えええ instead. You can get the gist when you listen a bit to a natural conversation (usually not textbook because that is rehearsed).

Mostly, just relax and have fun,

Tracel

[andrewrudoi7594]

Hello there,

In a natural Japanese conversation the interaction between the participants is a little different from native English speakers. You will notice a lot of head nodding, and also interjections from the others that "don't have the floor" so to speak. This is called あいづち the kanji is 相槌. The speaker is actually looking for your acknowledgement that you are listening. If you do nothing but listen politely without saying things like へえ、そうですか、ううん、はい、then the speaker will think that you do not understand them. These words do not mean you agree. They just mean you are listening and understand. You should at least nod your head if you don't say anything. You say these things softly enough not to interrupt, but loud enough to give encouragement.

In Natural Japanese, often the sentence endings are left dangling too. You may notice that someone else in the conversation may finish the sentence for the speaker. This also shows they are listening carefully to what you are saying and are engaged. If you feel confident enough in your Japanese, you can also finish others' sentences sometimes. Not too much of course, and make sure they really have stopped speaking and you aren't interrupting.

Lastly, in English, when we need to think or hesitate, we say um a lot. Try to use the Japanese versions of this: ええと、あのう、えええ instead. You can get the gist when you listen a bit to a natural conversation (usually not textbook because that is rehearsed).

Mostly, just relax and have fun,

Tracel

Thanks so much! That's basically the information I was looking for.

[Jaseysmail3934]

Tracel is pretty much on the dot here. I guess it's a matter of paying respect to the listener and giving them your time and showing them that you are paying attention to them and not off in your own world.

Body language of course is also important. Sometimes being too expressive (wild and arms flailing) may be a bit too much for more conservative people. One thing that I've found as a good piece of advice in Japan, is:
"When in Rome.." or I guess "When in <Japanese City>..."

I'm quite observant, it's interesting to see how people interact with one another from colleagues to university students to parents and their children - There are interesting dynamics in all aspects. It may not be seen on the surface, but its definitely there

[community.japanese]

andrewrudoi7594-san, Tracel-san, Jaseysmail3934-san,
kon'nichiwa
Thank you very much for insights and your kind considerations!

There are basically two types of Japanese:
1. people who just get "scared" and speak weirdly when they see foreign people regardless of language(s) they speak; and
2. people who don't care how you look and/or where you're from and anyway talk in Japanese with natual way...

When you try to communicate with anyone (in the world) in foreign language, you need to know that native speakers
might or could assume that you'd naturally understand "everything" you're supposed to know.
This also includes "nodding" that Tracel-san mentioned. However, if your Japanese sounds even a bit like
"Japanese learner", people natually have more (or wider) capacity of patience. For this reason, I actually
don't see why you need to worry so much

On the other hand, there are also people who don't like (or just don't think it's even necessary) all those "natural
Japanese filler like ええと and so on" if you're not seriously very fluent.
All those words like "uh..." and/or "hmm..." are called "filler" (i.e. words to fill the gap or silence)
and those are not important at all. If you are not fluent enough to say these words natually coming out
of your mouth, there's absolutely no need to say that properly either.

Hope this also helps

Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com