Not Being Understood
(in either language)
"I was speaking Japanese... I swear I was."
"I was speaking Japanese... I swear I was."
If you've ever tried to learn and actually speak a second language in a foreign country, you know that fate will inevitably find you in an unavoidable, frustrating and awkward circumstance. Yep, sometimes you will not be understood at all. No matter how hard you try, no matter what you point to in your phrase book or dictionary, at times you will fail miserably to get your point across. Asian languages in particular pose daunting pronunciation and grammar issues for Westerners, and Japanese is no exception to this axiom.
However, just because you are not being understood doesn't necessarily mean that you are not speaking correctly. Let me introduce you to a very special case of cross-cultural semantics... "Being Japanized." I honestly don't know what else to call this situation - a friend of mine called it this once and it stuck...
For those of us who have experienced "Being Japanized," we know that it's not just simply a case of being misunderstood......... It's something even deeper and more mysterious.
It's an absolutely confounding scene. While it's happening and long after, you will explain it away by simply assuming that the Japanese person couldn't quite understand your wicked foreign accent. You may even think that perhaps you used the wrong words or that your grammar was piss poor. Sometimes this will be the case, but believe me, sometimes it absolutely will not.
Enter Ron Burgundy --- "I don't speak Spanish."
When I saw Anchorman again a few years ago, this scene killed me.
The only reason that I can say that this happens for sure is that it happened to me many times. The first time I verified it was when after a waitress melted down and started saying "No English," she ran to get her supervisor. They both came back, then I said the exact same thing in Japanese to the supervisor and had no problem what-so-ever. After this first time, I noticed it much more frequently.
Let me attempt to explain how it usually goes down. Bear with me.
When you are in Japan, you will of course have ample opportunity to speak Japanese to many native speakers. So, you will take the opportunity to slowly but surely gain command of an arsenal of phrases that you can and do use in many situations. However, on occasion you will find yourself not getting your point across. Even though you are saying something you've said hundreds of times and you're convinced that you are saying just fine, you just can't get the person to understand you.
It's frustrating for sure! We've all been there. You will usually blame your own mistakes for the mix-up (as well you should). HOWEVER, there will be one time, one time when you will swear that whoever you are talking to thinks you are speaking ENGLISH!!! Welcome to the club....you've most likely been............... Japanized.
Could it be? Nah......no way!!! But it's true......Believe it...... It happens...... And more frequently than you will notice!
The situation will become absolutely bizarre because they will start to have what amount to full blown panic attacks. They will shake, grunt, utter strange phrases, avoid any kind of eye contact and appear to be ready to pass out. Finally, they'll say something similar to "No English" or "English No," then attempt to get away. If they are working in a store or shop, they will bolt to get someone to help them.
I know that it's hard to believe, but it actually happens quite often. If you have the ability, watch for it.
I'm assuming that it's prerequisite for the people who Japanize you to have no ability to speak English at all, because they seem to automatically assume that they can't understand you.
Can I get a psychologist please??!!?? Why does this happen? This could be a good place to start if you want to look into this bizarre behavior a little more in depth and scholarly.
I don't even pretend to understand this phenomenon. It ranks way up there with Hello...Bye, Bye in its magnitude of strangeness, but being Japanized occurs much more rarely.
Do you have a question about Japan or a topic that you are interested in that you haven't found on this blog? If so, please tell me about it in a comment. I will get a post up about it as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!!
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