IceCream Wrote:luckily, ive never had the chance to embarass myself in such a way,
*makes mental note NEVER to do this.

lol
=D

Make sure your accent is up to scratch (日本人そっくり）and then reply in a mildly ruffled, typical yakuza-tone: "何言ってんだよオメエ！舐めてんじゃねえぞ此の野郎！英語が出来る訳ねえじゃん！？”

I get this all the time, but i usually speak English for a while especially if they are polite.

owenjd Wrote:The only time I find this really annoying is when I'm a customer. If I order my meal perfectly comfortably in Japanese I don't want to hear broken English mumbled back struggling to ask me if I want it "for here or to go" etc.
.

Ive been here 5 years and that still drives me nuts. I know it shouldn't. It depends on my mood. Somedays Im cool and I'll say to them in Japanese "wow your enlgish is really good" and if Im feeling a bit cheeky I might add "did you live aborad?" or something know full well they didnt.

But there are also many days where I just cant be botherd and I just say "nani?".

It used to drive my german friend nuts to, and he could speak good english. He was always resopnd to them in german.

zazen666 Wrote:

owenjd Wrote:The only time I find this really annoying is when I'm a customer. If I order my meal perfectly comfortably in Japanese I don't want to hear broken English mumbled back struggling to ask me if I want it "for here or to go" etc.
.

Ive been here 5 years and that still drives me nuts. I know it shouldn't. It depends on my mood. Somedays Im cool and I'll say to them in Japanese "wow your enlgish is really good" and if Im feeling a bit cheeky I might add "did you live aborad?" or something know full well they didnt.

But there are also many days where I just cant be botherd and I just say "nani?".

It used to drive my german friend nuts to, and he could speak good english. He was always resopnd to them in german.

I was planning to start responding in Swedish after I was annoyed by this once, but it actually never happened to me again so I didn't get the chance. I think I was lucky, I only got the "tourist-reception" a few times during the year I was there.

I wonder if it's related to location. There's obviously a lot more foreigners in places like Tokyo, so there might be a lot less "let's talk with that person!" type of moments.

I never had this problem when I was in Japan, I guess it was probaly me being in the rural areas. So if you want to avoid this just move to a remote area.. (I advice sasayama!) aslong as you dont mind Japanese people running away from you because they intially think that you dont speak japanese then its all fine!

Lol, REVIVE YE OLDEST POSTITH!

Sorry, but I wanted to add that most people I know outside of work try to speak to me in English, but just give up after like 5 seconds. Even the ones who are high level and will slip into Japanese at some point and only slip back when I can't say what I want or to say I'm making no sense. Most people talk to me in half-half at this point because it's faster for both of us. I've never really had an English OP happen to me, but I guess if it was a person I didn't feel like talking to I would just make an excuse in English (as they are likely not able to understand the exact nuance of my "Go awayness" in Japanese, which may have been the OP's problem?)

A good MO would probably be:
1) Change to English.
2) Use way too much slang (go back to those teenage years - my students are fluent in "Man", "Buddy", "YO whatz up?", "Howz ya day?" and so on.)
3) Speak too quickly for them or speak way, way, way too slow (In the first situation they won't understand, in the second this will offend them if they are way up their in the advanced levels or take so long that the lower levels will just give up "HHHHHOOOOOOWWWWW AAAAAAAARRRRRRRREEEEEEE YYYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU?" <--- Read it out loud: That's how fast you want to go.)
4) Every time they say something say, "Sorry, I sort of understand, what does that mean in Japanese?" (Point out a word that you know, but that they used correctly and ask them what they mean and then say "doesn't it mean XXX" <--- insert totally wrong word. Then let them explain in English and say, "I don't understand, what did you say in Japanese?) This is called comprehensible input 101.
5) The ULTIMATE RESENGAN is: Tell them their English pronunciation is too hard to understand and start drilling them on one word for more than 5 minutes, breaking into Japanese and telling them "not like that, like this (pointing to mouth)." Try to get a little loud, so people notice. If someone comes to help, tell them they are great, then keep drilling the other guy until he feels like poo and never speaks to you or another foreigner hoping for another English OP again. <--- Seriously, don't go this hard on people, as this will break a Japanese person down because they are just too fragile on the most part to handle this sort of public embarrassment. Oh, if they try to say, "It's ok, don't worry about it" DON'T ACCEPT IT. PUNISH, PUNISH, PUNISH ("It IS important, this is MY language, aren't you learning ENGLISH, now... let's keep on! ONE MORE TIME: "CONVENIENCE STORE".)

Please don't use 1-5 with anyone unless you really want to break them and get rid of them without saying, "Go away." You will shatter their soul.

Example of wrong word: "Come" in English, as in "come here". They say ｢来る」<---{くる}. You say 「え？”poo"？」(くる is a long way off the swear word I'm talking about, but, oh well, gotta shock 'em, rightio.) I guarantee you they'll hit the Japanese explanation ASAP, especially when they say "I've been driving a lorry a lot lately" 　”I am not a「naughty person who likes certain activities！」How dare you!” <--- Totally ignoring the words they said around them. Don't forget to yell out the bad Japanese word loudly, ok. MAX EFFECT!

I just ignore people who are obviously only talking to me because they want an English target. As in, I just turn around and talk to someone else. Or I pull out my cellphone and just stare at it. Eventually they go away. Yes I'm an ass. Of course if they are cute, there is a different process.

Then again I don't go to gaijin bars etc so the situation doesn't come up often.

Jarvik7 Wrote:I just ignore people who are obviously only talking to me because they want an English target. As in, I just turn around and talk to someone else. Or I pull out my cellphone and just stare at it. Eventually they go away. Yes I'm an ass. Of course if they are cute, there is a different process.

Then again I don't go to gaijin bars etc so the situation doesn't come up often.

I find it annoying but I'd never be that rude about it. =/

I have been guilty of saying "I don't speak English" to people who knew I was American -- it worked so..... >.>'

"すみません、英語が分かりません。" works ok...

Although it's less believable than "Mi dispiace, non parlo inglese". And then hope to god they don't speak Italian. Cause i sure don't!

I hate it when Americans or Australians see me on the street and try to speak English to me by asking for directions or recommendations for things to do in Kyoto. I politely inform them of my hourly rate for English conversation and hand them my business card.

bodhisamaya Wrote:I hate it when Americans or Australians see me on the street and try to speak English to me by asking for directions or recommendations for things to do in Kyoto. I politely inform them of my hourly rate for English conversation and hand them my business card.

Lol wow... god forbid a tourist ask a local for directions. Requiring tourists to be able to speak the local language is a big ask. It would restrict most people to a pretty limited number of destinations.

I guess this is what you get in a country where having a conversation is considered a job (eikaiwa, hostess bars...).

Man you guys are rude. I mean, I could imagine it would get annoying if it happened every single day, but like, you're basically using Japan to up your language skills, so why do you feel so offended when Japan uses you back?

zachandhobbes Wrote:Man you guys are rude. I mean, I could imagine it would get annoying if it happened every single day, but like, you're basically using Japan to up your language skills, so why do you feel so offended when Japan uses you back?

Well, i for one was joking. I've only been to japan for the sum total of 3 weeks (a holiday), so i kinda enjoyed having locals walk up to me and say something in english.

Yeah I know you were. I was more replying to the whole thread than just the last few speakers.

It is petty to be irritated over Japanese people wanting to talk to you. Why is it considered annoying to talk to Japanese people in English, yet talking to other native speakers is being social?
Maybe if I worked at a Host Club I would be rude to every pretty girl that approached me.

bodhisamaya Wrote:Maybe if I worked at a Host Club I would be rude to every pretty girl that approached me.

And get PAID for it

Yeah, it didn't really happen to me that often. And when it did, I usually politely responded in English. We'd chit-chat for a while, until they/I had to leave (or they ran out of things to say) and then I'd go along with my day.

If it was like a constant downpour of people wanting a free English lesson, I can understand -- but on the rare occasion someone came up and wanted to chat for a bit, I had no problem with that.

If they speak to me in English I'll just reply back in Japanese and generally they're either surprised or intimidated and will abandon the English.

just say you only speak Japanese or reply back: "What's English?" lol

I don't know why (yes I do), but this thread reminds me of my observations when I'm on flights between the US and Asia. Typically one flight leg would have a US-based crew, another leg would have an Asian-based crew, say from Korea or Japan or other Asian country.

Wait, I forgot what I was trying to say. Never mind.

I don't know. It's my job and I honestly like it, but I usually do talk to Eng OPS in English if they want to, but use Japanese when I can. Usually to ask questions. Most people here are stressed out beyond belief. What the schools put you through can be truly hideous and if you're doing the language work too, you want results. People are people we have goals. It's just life really. Japan is the best, but it'll hurt you if your not full frosty. Sometimes that means discourtesy, othertimes kindness.

Actually, the reason I have so few is probably because I'm just too busy.