tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25568201.post4121744752386918203..comments2021-02-28T04:29:44.067-05:00Comments on 一期一会: 日本語Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04221434368220901841noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25568201.post-52515772852648211392009-09-10T04:26:55.199-04:002009-09-10T04:26:55.199-04:00I guess this is just all coming from my own experi...I guess this is just all coming from my own experiences, and it is ALWAYS important to understand where people are coming from!!! I totally agree.<br /><br />As to whether or not people are being sincere... well.. it's hard to say, really, when tatemae comes into play. What it boils down to are people's motivations for saying these things. Some people say them because... well.. they don't know what else to say, especially if they have never met a foreign person before. <br />I never think of anyone as a militant nationalist, because well, it's never ok to assume something like that about anyone. I guess what I was trying to say with this little piece was that sometimes.. it gets a little old hearing the same things over and over again.. no matter how long you've lived in Japan. I know I'll never fit in here, and I'm not trying to be Japanese, but I wish I wasn't always such an oddity... all the time. sometimes is ok :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04221434368220901841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25568201.post-45439263601730180132009-09-10T03:26:17.727-04:002009-09-10T03:26:17.727-04:00Very interesting post.
I don't know...If the...Very interesting post. <br /><br />I don't know...If the Japanese person who is complimenting you on your Japanese truly believes that Japanese is a difficult language, s/he may very well be ignorant(according to Dr. Smith et al.) but are they being insincere?<br /><br />My mother does the same thing when we are watching TV and they show a non-Japanese person speaking Japanese. "あら、すごいね" "日本語上手だねぇ", etc. I say to her, "There are many (non-Japanese)people out there who speak Japanese.", to which she counters, "I wouldn't know...I've never met one.".<br /><br />It's a whole different story in big cities like Tokyo or Osaka but in a place like Ashikaga, there are people who have spent their whole lives without meeting a single "foreigner". While I do know that there are those who comment on your Japanese, or your excellent chopstick skillz in condescending ways, I hope you realise that that is not ALWAYS the case and try to understand where each person is coming from.<br /><br />My apologies for the long-winded comment. It's just that I had gone through the same thing as a Japanese person in the US ("wow...your English is very good for a Japanese person", etc.)and I didn't want you to think my dear mother is an insincere, card-carrying militant nationalist should you ever come in contact with her somewhere in Ashikaga and she complimented you on your Japanese. lol Kaznoreply@blogger.com