Quote:
Originally Posted by cheyannew
"The Japanese believe their language to be so difficult that it counts as something of an impertinence for a foreigner to speak it."
Is that true?" When I started trying to teach myself so's to talk to my mother in law better, I NEVER used Japanese around her, other than teaching the cubs to call her "Obachan", which she was absolutely tickled by. he said just me making the effort would mean a lot to her.
|
Yes it is.
A foreigner can speak one word of Japanese and get the auto response of;
'nihongo wa jouzu desu ne?'
No matter where you're at in the country, you'll hear it. At some point, it begins to feel patronising.
They also beleive that we cannot use chopsticks or eat any of their food (well there's a few common items that gaijin tend to hate)
- If you've lived there for less than a year or just visit as a tourist and pull off basic convo sentences, they cannot mentally comprehend why we can speak the language without having lived in the country for at least 5 years.
It's their own language complex with English working against them at the end of the day.
Quote:
I mean I want my son to learn it, seeing as he wants to go into robotics engineering and IMO Japan's the place to go (plus he's 1/4 japanese ffs), but is it really viewed as an affront for non-japanese to speak it?
While we're on the subject, are half-breeds and the like (aka my hubby and kids) still looked down on?
|
Let him learn it.
They appreciate when they don't have to resort to English, they visibly breathe a major ass sigh of relief when they find out that I can more or less handle daily convo level, it's a huge weight of their mind and they relax better, so learning is all good.
- As for half breeds, it's probably harsher if they hold a Japanese surname, look Asian but were born/raised in the West.
Your kids would be considered American, your hubby may have a harder time with it, but they'd check out his name first before investigating further.
At the least he'd have to deal with preconceptions (well, we all do), but as to what kind, depends on his experience in the future.