Over the years, I have come to realize why English is a challenge for so many people in Japan. Whether it is pronunciation, grammar, sentence or argument construction, or listening comprehension, there are so many facets of the English language that will always baffle even the hardest-working student. In this entry I will review some of the reasons for their issues with the language and hopefully provide some insights into the Japanese language, too.
As many are probably aware of, pronunciation of English is a real issue for people in Japan. The reasons for this are two-fold: interference from the Japanese language and katakana. Now you may say that katakana is a part of the Japanese language, but I don’t think so. But that is for another entry.
In general, vowels are everything in the Japanese language. By this I mean that if you make even the slightest error with a vowel, you will most likely change the meaning of what you are trying to say. Even among native speakers of Japanese this is difficult at times. English on the other hand could care less about the correct pronunciation of vowels. Americans in particular love the sound “a.” Every vowel in English can be pronounced as “a” at one time or another. For people in Japan nothing could be more confusing or infuriating! Generally speaking, the way one spells Japanese is exactly the way it is pronounced. Being from America and fluent in Japanese, I still find myself having troubles with pronunciation. I have a habit of wanting to ignore the correct pronunciation of Japanese. On the other hand, in the Japanese language, no one cares about consonants. L or R, B or V, they are all the same. But in English, the correct pronunciation of consonants is vitally important. In this respect one could say that Japanese and English are kind of inverses of one another. The same applies to using the language.
The best teachers I have ever had the pleasure of studying under all had one thing in common: the value of proper and easily understood communication. Whether on paper or in front of a crowd, “simple is best” was the lesson to be learned. If you could write something in 20 words and not use 30 – then the former sentence was always preferable. If you started speaking thinking first of your audience and fitting your speech to their level, that was the sign of an excellent communicator. In Japan, this is either the sign of a simpleton or a super genius – I have been referred to as both. Why? Because in Japanese thinking of the listener is the last thing on someone’s “to-do list.” For many people in Japan the onus of comprehension is entirely on the listener and not on the speaker. Now there are some exceptions to be made due to gender, age, and power relations, but in my experience if someone can’t be understood, that’s their problem. The speaker has very responsibility for the situation. Again, English and Japanese are the opposite.
How about arguments or formal debate? In English they can be thought of as very structured and straightforward. There are rules and logic and values to being able to argue one’s opinion and change other people’s minds. In Japanese, I am not so sure. Again, in the culture of a language where the responsibility for communication is on the listener, then being able to clearly, logically, and concisely communicate is not “proper” communication. Therefore, many of you studying with the intent to speak fluent Japanese in order to communicate all of your opinions and ideas, could very well be wasting your time. It is sad but true. You needn’t be good at Japanese to communicate. Many people in Japan will try very earnestly to comprehend your broken Japanese or English.
So what does a “logical” argument in Japanese comprise of? In a word – whatever the old man thinks is important. Whether there are any facts to support his claims, whether he is making an objective assessment, whether he is speaking from personal experience, is all besides the point! You cannot imagine how many windbags are on TV in Japan and spout anything they feel like. The best is when they just start screaming at one another. That is “debate” in Japan. One of the best examples for you non-believers out there is a TV show called “TV Tackle.” Every Monday evening from 9:00 P.M. the oyajis, geezers (usually politicians), convene around a semi-circle and yell at one another. No one listens to anyone and it is the epitome of “communication” in Japan. Rush Limbaugh looks like a civilized person in comparison – that is how bad it gets!
In the end, people from Japan will find a language pronounced extremely differently from the way it is written and logically spoken with the listener first taken into consideration a puzzle wrapped inside an enigma and so on.
Thanks for reading,
GBUJ
