Undo Kai Pictures and Plain Talk in Japanese

I've started working on pictures from the Undo Kai last weekend. I'll post more soon and a new gallery page, so come back to see. These are two of my favorites so far. Click on them to see them full size.

I feel like I haven't discovered much new about Japan in the past few days. I have reasons: being busy, studying my language books, juggling projects, sick kids, sick self, maybe too much "camera time" etc. But I've got to keep my head out where I can see and learn.

I meet with a Japanese tutor a couple of times a week, and we've been having a conversation about "plain talk" and "polite language." This is a complicated topic, but it's something everyone learning Japanese runs into. You realize pretty soon that the Japanese you are learning in books doesn't match the Japanese on TV or that workers and friends seem to speak to each other. That's because books start off teaching more formal Japanese, and both books and language schools continue to emphasize the kind of language you need for university study and/or working in a Japanese company. But outside of prescribed situations (which make up a significant percentage of the time, to be fair), Japanese people often speak more plainly to each other (depending...).

My tutor says that her students usually want to rush toward learning and using "plain talk," but it's a mistake. She says that to communicate well -- even in friendships -- you need to be 'bilingual' (within Japanese), able to move back and forth from formal to familiar language. Plain talk is not equal to familar language, in her opinion. She sees another category of language suitable for rough conversation play and work relationships but not adequate for developing real, human relationships. She thinks more and more Japanese are losing the ability to communicate deeply. By the way, I'm not quoting my tutor because she's my teacher, but because she's a very sharp and well read person.

I don't know whether I can agree with her yet though.

It's obvious that I must be able to move move back and forth from formal to familiar Japanese. I was reminded of this today when I answered the phone. When my wife asked who called, I told her that I had roughly suggested that the person call back later. After seeing my wife's expression, I knew I needed to improve my phone manners and asked her to coach me for next time. Using formal Japanese shows honor and respect, and at least you can say it's the beginning of most relationships.

On the other hand, I've seen my wife and others related with their friends. My wife uses very plain language almost exclusively with her close friends, and she has very deep relationships with them. She even uses plain language with her more recent friends from my daughter's preschool. Of course, if she's speaking with a close friend about a boss (an older or high status person), for example, and others can overhear the conversation, then she would definately use honorific language in reference to the boss (even though she's speaking to her friend). In life here there are many situations where you have to switch back and forth on the run.

I've opened up this topic but barely touched the surface. I'll have to come back to it later. Feel free to share what you've learned about all this.

Posted by jw at October 23, 2004 11:24 AM