Which language - and who chooses?

[snowbender 3]

OK we've probably all been in this situation... talking to a Japanese person who can speak almost no English, you can speak much better Japanese than their English - but they insist on speaking to you in their bad English.

 

Have some friends and colleagues whose English level is probably about the same as my Japanese and sometimes it gets confusing what to speak. Often ending up a silly and very bad mix of English and Japanese. If I know they can speak both I often wait to see what language they want to go in and follow along.

 

What do you do?

[bushpig 0]

I just get annoyed with their bumbling and go on in Japanese.

[kintaro 0]

I have a French friend that refuses to speak English and I can't speak French so we always speak in Japanese. Japanese people often look at us as strange.

[Ezorisu 0]

My Nihongo "speaking" is terrible, but my "listening" is good: Most of my friends' Eigo "speaking" is cryptic but "listening" is fine. I speak in English, and they respond in Japanese, and everything works out fine.

 

In December I had a gondola-ride-long chat with an older Nihonjin gentleman in this manner at Sapporo Kokusai...

[nzlegend 1]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Kintaro:
I have a French friend that refuses to speak English

now there is a first....

[indosnm 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by snowglider:

 Quote:

Originally posted by Kintaro:
I have a French friend that refuses to speak English

now there is a first....

Memories! I travelled thru Indo with 2 frenchies that spoke perfect english but insisted on French.. Maybe they were planning to ditch me!?

On topic, I usually speak a mixture of J & E depending on who I am speaking with

[gamera 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Kintaro:
I have a French friend that refuses to speak English and I can't speak French so we always speak in Japanese. Japanese people often look at us as strange.

Kintaro, probably because they don't know your mother languages are different - English for you and French for your friend. Perhaps they feel like " why don't they speak English? Practising Japanese?"

I usually speak Japanese but if needed, speak English - but guess probably sounds terrible lol....

Hard thing is when I speak English, it's hard to switch back to Japanese quickly if someone talks to me in Japanese. Opposite case is easier. I don't know why - maybe because I need a lot more concentration on English language than Japanese language when I speak it.

[kintaro 0]

That's it Gamera...two foreigners speaking only Japanese to eachother seems odd.

 

My French friend often invites me over to watch movies in his home theatre (and a splendid theatre it is!). It's always English Hollywood movies. He understands it, just won't speak it. It's fine with me.

[me jane 0]

When I lived in Germany I had a few Turkish friends and one from Venezuela. We all talked in German to each other & no-one thought it was strange but then things are different in Japan...

[Andrew_D 0]

I tend to just use the Japanese. I wonder though if it frustrates some of my friends that speak English very well. Once, I was told by a friend of a friend that "I speak English, please speak English to me". I replied to him "I speak Japanese, so please speak Japanese to me". He didn't care too much for my response though. I felt it was appropriate though because we were all together and he wasn't speaking English to anybody else that was Japanese and neither was I.

 

I used to see a Brazilian girl that didn't speak English and chose to speak to me Japanese. When she couldn't think of what to say in Japanese she used Spanish because I don't speak Portuguese.

[gamera 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by snowbender:
Often ending up a silly and very bad mix of English and Japanese. If I know they can speak both I often wait to see what language they want to go in and follow along.

What do you do?

If this happens with colleagues, perhaps your work won't go ahead as quick as expected? What do you do when you don't understand them, snowbender? Do you try to picture some or...?Both of you need to learn the other's language if you work together, I guess.
And I think you can say " Nihongo de onegai shimasu" (of course you need to understand what they say though ) if their English were so bad!

Kintaro - I think some French people are very proud of their language that's why your friend would not speak English?

Me jane - I think it should be normal when people speak different languages. But when Japanese people hear some other languages going on around, they tend to pay much of their attention on the direction where the conversation is going on. Japan is still not used to different things from their own.

[echineko 1]

 

That's funny!

 

I think usually person with best language skills will depend on which language used. Can't explain well. If my friend can speak Japanese more than I English then maybe it is Japanese.

[Ezorisu 0]

Echineko,

 

That makes perfect sense. I have some college-age friends in Tokyo who are not confident with their Eigo, so we use Nihongo mostly. My Nihongo isn't that good (kids in youchien ar probably better than me!), but it makes them more comfortable - I think they feel obligated to use Eigo if I speak Eigo. I usually end up saying something wrong or funny. They are always surprised that I know all the naughty words...

[cheesewoman 0]

We often feel that cheese is almost a language in itself. It's fun for all as well as being delicious and nutritious.

[Yuki's Passion 1]

 Quote:

Originally posted by snowglider:

 Quote:

Originally posted by Kintaro:
I have a French friend that refuses to speak English

now there is a first....

same, my French mate went back to France but he refused to speak English with me too. So, we used Japanese. It was weird on trains with J-peeps lookin at us like we were freaks. It wouldve been fine if his level was decent but it was low intermediate at best makin me have to speak hyojungo, slowly, and repeat myself many times and explain things which was a pain in the @ss. Wish I could speak French or wish he spoke English to me...

[Jackie 0]

If I sense that a Japanese person wants to speak English I usually speak English with them regardless of their level. However, if I find them irritating or if I'm not in the mood I'll stick with Japanese. My choice of language also depends on the other people involved in the conversation. By that I mean I want them to understand rather than wanting to show off my linguistic prowess.

 

Here Is proof that not all French people refuse to speak English. When I lived in Paris I was good friends with a Swiss girl whose first language was Swiss German. She used to get really frustrated when she talked to French people in French and they replied to her in English. Even though she was speaking the national language in the mother tongue of the listener sometimes people replied in a language that she couldn't understand at all!