a few questions

[WalterWills]

Rather than create a bunch of threads with my stupid questions, I've decided to put them here.

1. Is it true, that some Japanese people might feel embarrassed if you speak to them in Japanese, as they feel that they should be able to speak English? I read this in the book I have about Japanese. It describes a scene where someone is trying to ask for directions, and one person says "I'm sorry, I'm busy", and it goes on to explain what I just said. It is an up-to-date book which is written by someone who must know what they're talking about, but I was just wondering what experiences people have had who have been to or actually live in Japan.

As a native English speaker, I'm obviously used to many foreign people speaking English. I think it's a shame that many people in the UK cannot speak another language, but I've always thought that, due to the spread of English around the world, and the influence of countries like the US, it's an inevitability. I don't know how I would feel if English was almost exclusively spoken in my own country.


2. This might sound strange, but I've always thought that I could tell apart a Japanese person from say, someone from China. Compared with China I've always imagined Japan to be a more fashion-conscious nation and that this would be reflected in how they dress. I'm not normally one to generalise but this is how I've always seen it. For example, when I go grocery shopping I always see this Oriental woman and her daughter, and I'm pretty sure they're Japanese. Why, I don't know. I've heard them talking but only enough to know that it's not English.
I certainly don't mean to say there's racial differences, it's more about the other information that people use to naturally form first opinions of people they've just seen. If anyone knows what I'm talking about, why do you think this is?

3. Is it just a coincidence that "namae" is similar to "name", or is this an example of Japanese words for western things? It would seem strange if that were true, but the more I learn about Japanese the more I realise how different another country can be.

4. Could someone please translate something to Japanese for me? I have a Japanese penpal of sorts- I'm learning Japanese and he's learning English. We don't say much. We certainly haven't been discussing the works of Dostoevsky. He seems to know English better than I know Japanese, and I wanted to say to him, "If you have any questions about English, don't hesitate to ask me." Or something along those lines. Mainly a gesture of friendship for one thing. Also it would be good for me to learn what more complex sentences in Japanese look like.


Thanks very much to whoever can answer any of my questions.

[Cielo]

3. It is indeed a coincidence that Japanese 'namae' is similar to English 'name'.

4. You can write this to your pen pal:

もし何か英語で分からないことがあったら、聞いてください.

moshi nanika eigo de wakaranai koto ga attara, kiite kudasai.

in case there's something you don't understand in english, please ask me.

But sending such a sentence to your pen pal is risky, I think, as you might get back some complicated questions written in japanese asking you to explain things about english grammar. ^^;

Oh well. Hope this helps.

[Ulver_684]

Rather than create a bunch of threads with my stupid questions, I've decided to put them here.

1. Is it true, that some Japanese people might feel embarrassed if you speak to them in Japanese, as they feel that they should be able to speak English? I read this in the book I have about Japanese. It describes a scene where someone is trying to ask for directions, and one person says "I'm sorry, I'm busy", and it goes on to explain what I just said. It is an up-to-date book which is written by someone who must know what they're talking about, but I was just wondering what experiences people have had who have been to or actually live in Japan.

As a native English speaker, I'm obviously used to many foreign people speaking English. I think it's a shame that many people in the UK cannot speak another language, but I've always thought that, due to the spread of English around the world, and the influence of countries like the US, it's an inevitability. I don't know how I would feel if English was almost exclusively spoken in my own country.


2. This might sound strange, but I've always thought that I could tell apart a Japanese person from say, someone from China. Compared with China I've always imagined Japan to be a more fashion-conscious nation and that this would be reflected in how they dress. I'm not normally one to generalise but this is how I've always seen it. For example, when I go grocery shopping I always see this Oriental woman and her daughter, and I'm pretty sure they're Japanese. Why, I don't know. I've heard them talking but only enough to know that it's not English.
I certainly don't mean to say there's racial differences, it's more about the other information that people use to naturally form first opinions of people they've just seen. If anyone knows what I'm talking about, why do you think this is?

3. Is it just a coincidence that "namae" is similar to "name", or is this an example of Japanese words for western things? It would seem strange if that were true, but the more I learn about Japanese the more I realise how different another country can be.

4. Could someone please translate something to Japanese for me? I have a Japanese penpal of sorts- I'm learning Japanese and he's learning English. We don't say much. We certainly haven't been discussing the works of Dostoevsky. He seems to know English better than I know Japanese, and I wanted to say to him, "If you have any questions about English, don't hesitate to ask me." Or something along those lines. Mainly a gesture of friendship for one thing. Also it would be good for me to learn what more complex sentences in Japanese look like.


Thanks very much to whoever can answer any of my questions.

1. Not all Japanese feel ashame because they don't speak English! It's a A+ for them if you speak Japanese too.

2. You should be able to know the difference between a Chinese, Korean and Japanese. It's not only the language but the apparence too even if alot of people say that Asians all look the same.

[JonB]

I had been in Japan for a year or so and was sitting on my mates boat in Barcelona when 6 asian guys came towards us. My mate said "why don't you say something to them?" to which I relied that I don't speal Chinese - and this is before we could hear them talking.

Also I think you will find most Koreans and Chinese are also very fashion conscious so don't equate scruffy with not Japanese....

[WalterWills]

Thanks very much, Cielo, for the translation. I trust you haven't wrote anything rude as a joke!

Thanks for the replies Ulver & JonB. I always imagined I could tell the difference, but didn't want to sound like a bigot, so I tried to word what I said very carefully.

[Javizy]

I don't think he's generalising all non-Japanese Asian countries as unfashionable, but rather pointing out the fact that being up to date with whacky fashion trends seems to be much more of a focus within contemporary Japanese youth culture. On top of that, different countries obviously have different ideas of what is fashionable, and Japan's seems to be a lot more distinctive.

Anyway, it's usually quite easy to tell the different nationalities apart; there are fairly obvious differences in skin tone and facial features, but of course these differ within each country as well. The real challenge is guessing the region and introducing yourself in the given dialect. I'm sure that would win you some brownie points with a cute Japanese girl

英語の助けが必要な場合はいつでも聞いてくださいね。
eigo no tasuke ga hitsyou na baai wa itsu demo kiite kudasai ne.
If you need help with English, please feel free to ask.

That is my best effort but I'm still a beginner myself, so I don't know if it's the most natural way of saying it.

[Ulver_684]

I don't think he's generalising all non-Japanese Asian countries as unfashionable, but rather pointing out the fact that being up to date with whacky fashion trends seems to be much more of a focus within contemporary Japanese youth culture. On top of that, different countries obviously have different ideas of what is fashionable, and Japan's seems to be a lot more distinctive.

Anyway, it's usually quite easy to tell the different nationalities apart; there are fairly obvious differences in skin tone and facial features, but of course these differ within each country as well. The real challenge is guessing the region and introducing yourself in the given dialect. I'm sure that would win you some brownie points with a cute Japanese girl

英語の助けが必要な場合はいつでも聞いてくださいね。
eigo no tasuke ga hitsyou na baai wa itsu demo kiite kudasai ne.
If you need help with English, please feel free to ask.

That is my best effort but I'm still a beginner myself, so I don't know if it's the most natural way of saying it.

Javizy-san!

ummm I like what I hearing "I'm sure that would win you some brownie points with a cute Japanese girl " I'm also a beginner so I agree with you!

Your make my day Javizy-san, keep up those great posts!