How do you politely tell someone to write to you in Japanese?

[klingon 10]

There's this one colleague of mine who has himself down as a whiz in English but in fact he can't speak anything that is understandable. His writing is worse. It's like he puts his Japanese through some automated cheap translator then replaces half the words with other words at random. And then moves them all about. You can sometimes get a slight jist of what he means but sometimes it just comes over as total gobbledeegook.

 

Problem is my Japanese is not perfect, though I know that it is certainly better than his English. And he's a very proud older dude. So it's difficult to ask him to quit the mad Eigo and write in Japanese, especially when I'm not flient.

 

Any good ideas on how to get the message across tactfully?

[RobBright 35]

Just ask him to write in Japanese because you wish to practise, and you think that as a guest of Japan, the onus is on you to make the effort more than him.

[klingon 10]

That is a good one!

Though he does make a point of how much he likes to practice his English.

[RobBright 35]

You could correct him, you know, a subtle nudge here, or there.

[klingon 10]

Unfortunately that seems to encourage him!

[RobBright 35]

Ah, go for the previous option. Put the onus on you learning from him. Should make him proud.

[Thundercat 60]

Answer everything back to him in Japanese... people tend to be pretty lazy with language so once he realizes that your Japanese is better than his English he'll get lazy and just start using Japanese.

 

Or, fight fire with fire. Write an email back to him in English and translate it through Babel fish into Japanese. He'll get an email from you that won't make sense... at this point if he confronts you about it you can turn the conversation back on his crappy English!

[thursday 1]

I think the point was to be polite about it.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Yup. Polite. Rob is the winner.

[Thundercat 60]

C'mon, its all in the delivery anyway...

[indosnm 0]

Originally Posted By: Black Mountain

Write an email back to him in English and translate it through Babel fish into Japanese. He'll get an email from you that won't make sense... at this point if he confronts you about it you can turn the conversation back on his crappy English!

Go with the above! He will appreciate it.

[Thundercat 60]

Yeah, seriously though, if you want to be polite in a Japanese way you should just put up with the crappy emails without complaining Ignore the elephant in the room. Sometimes suspension of disbelief is the only way to go.