Hi! Welcome back to my blog. Today I'm going to talk about language issues I had here in Japan.
Disclaimer: Now I will be talking about a sensitive issue because there are a few race-related subjects (and/or jokes) that I will write here. So if you're easily butthurt and easily offended, please watch this song from Avenue Q. (And if you're still offended after seeing that video, please do not proceed reading this blog)
Video source: Youtube channel //Joseph Frazetta
Another Disclaimer: Although stereotypes are there for a reason, this post is NOT to mock Japanese people or to make fun of them, I’m simply telling you some of the experiences I had here. Other people’s experiences may be different than mine because we can’t generalize a whole country of people from just a couple of experiences.
Now that we got that out of the way, Let's move on. Shall we?
For those of you who don't already know, I am Asian. I was born and raised in Indonesia (South-east Asia) so my nationality is Indonesian, but racially speaking, I am Chinese (East Asia). If it’s too confusing for you, I look like this:
You get where this is going, don't you? haha. Whenever non Asian people say that all Asians look alike, I DON'T BLAME THEM, BECAUSE WE DO! lol. For example, In Indonesia, I live in an apartment complex full of Koreans and some of them think I'm Korean too (Once a Korean lady even approached me to invite me over for a Korean get-together).
And I do that sometimes too. I often talk to people in my language only to find out I've made a fool of myself because they’re Filipino or Thai or from other South-east Asian Countries. I mean, we even get each other mixed up, we don't blame you. Really.
And so, because my face is similar to Japanese (and apparently Korean) people, I'm often mistaken as a local here. Well, at least until I open my mouth and speak Japanese as fluent as a 2 year old Japanese toddler (to those of you who don't speak sarcasm, my Japanese is bad. Real bad).
Here’s a little story, A few weeks ago, just a few days after I came here, I went to a family-mart (convenience store). When I was at the cashier, a girl complimented me about the tote bag I was wearing. I was wearing an Ice bear tote bag and this girl thought it was cute.
Now, you might be thinking, “ so what’s the problem , then?”.
Oh lemme tell you, child. When a Japanese speak to other Japanese, they speak SO FAST. Faster than a late Shinkansen train trying to stay on schedule. And they don’t use the language that you read in Japanese lesson books, oh, no, no, no, my friend. They use slanks and slurs and speak so quickly you won’t even get a chance to get it in your system. Especially when you’re not use to hearing actual Japanese conversations, like me. So in the end, I was too afraid to talk back to her so I ended up ignoring her, paying my groceries as fast as I could, and powerwalked out the door. To this day I feel so sorry for that girl, I bet she was so confused at that time.
So at first I thought that every foreigner here experienced the same thing I did at some point. But apparently not!
Later that week my husband and I bumped into his coworkers, one of them is French, the other is Italian. And, as you’ve probably guessed, they’re Caucasian (in other words, white. Potato-Tomato).
They told us that until that second, they don’t speak a word of Japanese. And they’re doing well as far as I can see. Why, you ask? because when the locals see them, they Immediately know they’re foreigners and by default try to speak to them in English, or at least easy Japanese phrases.
So for them, communicating with locals goes like this:
Easy Japanese Phrase --> English--> Sign language
If they don’t understand the first time, people will immediately switch to English (or sign if the people they’re talking to can’t speak English).
As for me and my husband, the tier of the conversation will go something like this:
Difficult (local level) Japanese --> Difficult Japanese (Louder) --> Difficult Japanese (Slower) --> Easy Japanese --> Easy Japanese (Slower) --> English --> Sign language.
EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Sometimes they skip the English and go straight to speaking with their hands. lol.
But I get it, I look Asian, if I don’t understand them the first time, they think that I just didn’t hear them, and then say it again louder and slower.
I have a video here from the Youtube channel “Helpmefindparents”. It’s a commercial where there are 5 people eating in a Japanese restaurant. Of the five people, 4 is non Asian, born and raised in Japan, speaks fluent Japanese (because they’re technically locals) and there’s this Asian looking girl (born and raised in America, speaks no Japanese whatsoever) and yet the waitress keeps talking to the Asian girl in Japanese and completely ignoring the fact that the others are Japanese.
Now I know that this video is an exaggeration. But it’s so funny and relate-able to my current condition.
Again I have to emphasize that this post is not to mock Japanese people or to make fun of them, I’m simply telling you some of the experiences I had here because I think it’s interesting and relate-able to those who’ve had the same experience here. It’s the kind of experience that although awkward and cringey now, will be laughable in the future and worth telling to my kids and grandkids.
And the silver lining here is, because of this, I am more encouraged and determined than ever to learn advance Japanese. Because if people here just speak to me in English right off the bat, I will not learn the language because there would be no need for it. So being forced out of a comfort zone is not so bad.
PS: Although language barriers can be quite a pickle, not speaking fluent Japanese sometimes can have its benefits too. Such as avoiding unwanted solicitors by pretending not being able to speak Japanese (I have a whole story about this and will write about it on my next post. I’ll put a link below when it’s up).
That’s it for this post, I hope you are somewhat entertained reading this, if you’re not, sorry I’ve wasted your time. And if you’re hate-reading this just to make your life feels better, well ... did you? if you did then you’re welcome.
Until next time!
Kisses
R