From: tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu ()
Subject: Re: Learning Japanese in Japan
Organization: clearer than blir
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 06:55:12 GMT

In article <1992Aug13.003629.15302@sj.ate.slb.com> danda@sj.ate.slb.com (Jeff Danda) writes:
>
>Have any of you other foreigners who are living/working in Japan had
>difficulties learning Japanese while in Japan?  What I mean is that
>have you had problems with the Japanese people speaking english to you
>when you start the conversation with Japanese?  I have found it quite
>anoying when you are talking in Japanese and the other person is
>responding in english.  Sure, you may say:" well they just want to
>practice thier english on you" but there are two sides to every coin,
>I want to practice my japanese on them.  Ok, you may say that the
>japanese dont get many opportunities to use thier english, but I say
>that I did not come all the way over here to practice MY english.  I
>have come to a point where if they start speaking english to me I have
>look at them like I cannot understand a word that they are saying and
>say "eigo ga wakaranai yo" It gets frustrating sometimes.  Has anyone
>out there got any good ideas on how to handle the 'speak japanese,
>respond in english' situations?

I have what I consider an excellent suggestion: make a game out of it.
See who gives up first. Continue speaking Japanese and see if you can
get the other person to switch to Japanese before you switch to
English. Move to subject matter that requires a firm grasp of
difficult vocabulary. As you use words whose English equivalent they
do not know they will invariably ask you how to say nani-nani in
English. This is a sign you're winning. You'll soon have them
following your lead and they'll be stuck with it. The longest I ever
saw a Japanese person stick strictly to English even though I was
speaking only Japanese was about 20 minutes. I still won out though.

>How about when you go into a restaurant with a japanese person and
>start ordering in japanese (perfect japanese) and the waitress
>automatically looks like she doesnt understand you and looks to the
>japanese person accompaning you?  What is the proper way to handle
>this type of situation?

Well, I must say that being polite is one of my weaknesses. If I'm
being treated rudely (and such waiters/waitresses *are* being rude) I
would interrupt them immediately and scold them: "I'm the one talking;
direct your questions and answers to me and me only, do you
understand?" It freaks them out, but it works. Rather than taking this
as a recommendation let's just say that's how I handled it.  Whether
you want to act that way is up to you.

>I would appreciate any input on how to handle the encounters with the
>people who want to practice thier english on you without affending
>them.

As I said above. Become the world's most stubborn person and
absolutely, positively stick with Japanese. When they begin to stumble
remind them that they can say it in Japanese if they can't think of
the English.  Soon half of what they say will be Japanese, then most,
and eventually all.

>

-- Tad Perry   Internet:    tvp@gibdo.engr.washington.edu
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