Now for the most part staff at most places speak and possibly understand zero English. At least that's what they'll insist. It's been practically ingrained in the culture here to be bashful, unbearably shy and afraid to make mistakes at all costs. Even when Japanese people speak in their own native language, also known as Japanese they tend to talk at a volume that cannot be explained. It's half a notch above whisper level. Men and women tend to look down and cover their mouthes and do other seemingly weird things but it's all a matter of cultural differences. As always this doesn't apply to everyone and is most commonly seen with women and both preteens and teenagers.
Back on subject!
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| MIYACHI -Wakarimasen (music video) |
For some unknown reason a trend has emerged where Japanese people (workers and civilians) now insist that the only way to talk to a non-Asian with emphasis on Asian is to use English.
This seems harmless. You might not think anything of it, but let's think about it. Japanese people can't differentiate "other Asians" themselves.
If you are Chinese or Korean and have ever been to Japan usually staff will speak to you like any other Japanese citizen unless your loudly speaking Chinese, or "look different". Because you look and probably are Asian, it's assumed that you are Japanese unless you have more exotic or darker features, or your behavior is rude and against cultural norms here. As long as you appear to be Asian you'll generally be perceived as a Japanese citizen/native.
When I've hung out with both my Chinese female and male Korean friends, even although I spoke and read better Japanese than my friends, simply because I don't "look" Japanese they were still spoken to over me and expected to be my interpreter and translator. Might add my Japanese sucks!
Of course we can use stereotypes such as skin color, eye and face shape, and weight to determine an ethnicity, but it isn't foolproof. I have Japanese friends who look Korean and some who look like they're Chinese and have even said so themselves!
However what I really want to talk about is making purchases at stores or ordering food at restaurants. I really hate it when cashiers or waiters speak to me in English. Why? Because it's rude and embarrassing! Also I'll add that above anything it is ignorant! I'm no scholar. My Japanese is poor at best, however not every foreigner in Japan speaks English. English is not most foreigners first language here. Singling out non-Asian looking people is embarrassing. It may seem cool to you to test out or practice your English speaking skills by trying to use English number names when telling me what my total or change is or even a simple "thank you" but let's reverse the roles here.
Imagine you're a Japanese person and you just moved to America. You can't wait to learn and improve your English speaking, reading and writing. At first sure you might feel a bit uncomfortable with speaking listening to or reading in English so when you come across people who are fascinated with or familiar with your home country Japan, and native language Japanese you might feel at home or excited to be able to communicate more easily and fluently. However as time goes on you'll soon find this to be annoying.
In fact let's paint a more realistic picture. Imagine that you're in America and because you're in a major city everyone assumes that you are Chinese or a Chinese tourist and so you must speak Chinese because 8/10 foreigners who are Asian are of Chinese decent or speak Chinese in America (this is a made up statistic on purpose). Well sure you're Asian, but you're not ethnically Chinese! You're Japanese right? You can speak English and even if it's not perfect you'd like to try at least learn to wouldn't you?
Wouldn't you find it very embarrassing if you went shopping and your cashier spoke to you in bad and broken Chinese every time you said anything. Even when giving you back your change having to be spoken to in Chinese simply because they assumed that since you're Asian and the other 6 customers before you were speaking Chinese, so you must be with them or from the same place as them.
The problem with this is that you're no longer being seen as an individual. You're just a living walking breathing stereotype. Just because the other tourists in front of you were loud and obnoxious and couldn't understand or speak in English everyone thinks you can't either so they don't even try.
Just yesterday I was taking the JR to Osaka on a crowded train and the woman behind me wanted to pull down the spare seat that I was unknowingly blocking. Well in broken English she said "sorry" maybe 3-5 times before I finally turned around and realized that she was attempting to talk to me and should have said "excuse me" or simply used her native tongue and said sumimasen which I would have instantly understood and reacted too. It sounded like she was saying "so-dee". I'll make another post about this confusion about when you should say excuse vs. sorry as I noticed Europeans and other Asians seem to do this a lot too but I was so angry and triggered the whole ride home. I was contemplating if I should use Google translate to tell her sorry in Chinese. Then she had the nerve to put her bags on the seat besides her so I nor anyone else could even sit next to her! The train was packed and she was taking up an extra seat! She was maybe about 40 years old and while she didn't seem rude (she asked very politely for me to move) she assumed that because I wasn't Japanese I couldn't possibly understand a basic tourist word such as "sumimasen" so she figured her bad English was the only way to communicate with me.
This was also embarrassing because I didn't understand her or know that she was trying to get my attention. I appeared to have been ignoring her. The train was silent so obviously hearing anything yet alone English being spoken grabbed everyone's attention.
I'm not even white! I'm a black woman. She has no idea what language I speak or even country that I come from. I have a French and Danish friend here in Japan who encounter this problem all the time.
My French friend can't speak English at all. She only knows basic words and she actually speaks and writes Japanese at an N2 level! Because her hair is bright red and curly she can't be Asian so she mustn't speak Japanese according to Japan. Yes! Most tourists here in Japan speak English fluently or very well even if it isn't their native language but I'm sure most would also prefer to be spoken to and serviced the same way as a normal Japanese person.
Universal sign language is just fine pointing to show where or what you want or need and shaking your head yes or now a smile and bow for thank you and gratitude.
Of course for me English is my native language, but it's rude and embarrassing to make differences and single me out. Don't assume that everyone is the same!
My simple rule is speak to me in whatever language I use with you. Unless I personally request that you use English, please always speak to me in Japanese.
I get it. I see foreigners here all the time who never use any Japanese and always use English even for the three basic words of travel "excuse me", "please", and "thank you". I am not the person before or after me in line. I'm not the woman you saw yesterday, just like you aren't the Chinese girl I met 2 years ago who didn't understand "excuse me".
I understand that there's no way to tell if someone is a tourist or living in Japan. There's no way to tell what my first language is sure, but I can say the same about you by that logic!
Most people in the world and Asia are Chinese and speak Chinese. I can even say that you look Chinese. You would be very offended if I said "nihao" to you so why do you bother to tell me "hello, thank you" or "sorry" in English if me using the Chinese equivalent of these words would make your blood boil(Japanese people REALLY hate being confused with other Asians especially Chinese people and it's pretty racists but people here don't see it)?
It's only okay to use English if the foreigner that you're speaking to specifically asks for you to do so or if they clearly can't comprehend simply ask "do you speak/understand English or "is English okay?". Never assume my language and I won't assume yours! Please do not take it upon yourself to decide for me. Even if we can't speak perfect Japanese you have to start and learn from somewhere. Sure it's not your job to be the person to have the patience to deal with me, but in casual settings where my replies are "hello, yes, no, and thank you" (or even telling me my change) there's absolutely no need for you to use English when talking to me. It's rude and very annoying. Sometimes all you have to do is speak slower and use some universal gestures it's much easier for everyone involved.
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