For those who have encountered Japanese on any occasion, you probably have heard of someone answering you “I don’t speak Japanese” when you were trying to start a conversation. Twitter user @takah1yt shared his sad story when a foreigner started chatting with him.
A Twitter user shared his trauma:
“A foreigner started hitting on me, and when I said ‘I don’t speak English!’, the foreigner replied ‘then you should study’ (ベンキョウしろ) in Japanese. I was so embarrassed and traumatised.”
【悲報】外国人に話しかけられて、とっさに「I don't speak English!」と言ったら「ベンキョウしろ」と日本語で返されたこのダメージが消えそうにない
— YT(о´ω`о) (@takah1yt) December 21, 2019
While other Japanese seem to share similar experiences:
“I once got replied with ‘what? Not even a single word’ (エッ、ヒトコトモ？) in Japanese. -_-”
わたくしは
「エッ、ヒトコトモ？」と
日本語で返されました😑
— utchie! 🌝 (@utchie) December 22, 2019
“It would be awkward when someone replied ‘aren’t you speaking English now?’ in Japanese”
日本語で「話せてるじゃねえか！」って返された時も凹んだわ
— ちぃ (@chi____chan_) December 22, 2019
“When I was at the New York Airport Passport Control, I told the guy ‘No English!’, and I got praised, ‘Your English (is) Very Good’ lol”
ニューヨークJFK国際空港のパスポートコントロールで「No English！」って言ったら「Your English Very good！」って褒められたら松笛たかおみです・・・(^｡^;) (笑) #外国人 #英語 #English #ニューヨーク #JFK
— 松笛たかおみ＠地域で一番爽やか好青年 (@sarondekuma) December 22, 2019
Why would Japanese tend to emphasise “I don’t speak English” before asking if a foreigner speaks Japanese?
Some foreigners who have learnt Japanese for years concluded several reasons as below:
Firstly, the majority of Japanese still thinks Japanese-speaking foreigners are very few. However, with the rapid globalization and growing popularity of Japanese culture, the number of Japanese learners has drastically increased in the last decade. Yet, some Japanese still have the strong stereotype of “foreigners only speak English”.
Secondly, hospitality and responsibility take place. Japanese tends to treat foreigners as guests, and providing with heartwarming hospitality would always be their essential task. Therefore, if Japanese assume that they could not provide the best service or assistance to a guest due to language barrier, they will usually sincerely apologise by saying “sorry, I don’t speak English.”
Lastly, the Japanese might feel embarrassed by their level of English. As far as you know, although English teaching in Japan is trying to catch up with the international standard, it takes time for long-term improvement. To prevent misunderstanding and odd moment, the Japanese may try to shield up at the beginning of a new conversation.
Indeed, while the Japanese might feel traumatized by English-speaker, foreigners who studied hard just to start a friendly dialogue with a local may have a hard feeling as well.
Here is a funny episode illustrating how Japanese might treat foreigners differently even if they speak Japanese.
If you do not look Japanese, even if you speak Japanese, they tend to treat you as a guest. This actually might disappoint some foreign Japanese learner.
Perhaps this would be a piece of advice for Japanese who feel nervous when talking to foreigners:
“When I was a security guard near a tourist spot, many tourists stopped by to ask for their way. For those who tried hard to talk to me in Japanese, I think answering in Japanese by simply saying ‘yes, how may I help you?”‘(はい、どうしましたか？) would be the right thing to do.”
自分が警備員やってた時、観光施設近く(の駐車場入口)で色々な人種の人に道を聞かれましたが、頑張って日本語で受け答えできる人もけっこう居るので、正しい応答は「はい、どうしましたか？」と『まず日本語で聞き返す』事ですネ。(-_-)
— guldeen/父は要介護5/求職中 (@guldeen) December 22, 2019
Possibly while both sides learn to be more open-minded and show more respect, this vicious cycle will eventually end with a bilingual conversation.
