I bumped into Fred in a bar last night. He had just come
back from a trip to the states and was reflecting on
language choices, ethnicity, Asian languages, and English.
Fred has traveled a bit around Asia and seen some of the
same paradigms repeated in different environments: beliefs
that Caucasians are unable to speak Asian languages, that
all Caucasians speak English, that one should always speak
English to a Caucasian, and that Caucasians are unable to
truly understand the local culture.
This time Fred was going on about a flight he took on Japan
Airlines (JAL). Fred spoke Japanese pretty well, and he
knew it. He wasn't offended when Japanese staff at airports
and on airlines and such persisted in speaking English to
him, even when he spoke Japanese to them and his Japanese
was better than their English. Fred just followed a
different world view, believing that when people shared two
or more common languages they should speak in whatever
language offered the maximum understanding to both of them.
Fred's world view differed from many of the Japanese he met
though. They believed that they should soldier on in
English, even when Fred's Japanese was better than their
English. Some did this because they liked to speak English,
while others thought it was their obligation as people
working in the travel service sector with Westerners. Not
all Japanese believed this and some would speak Japanese
with Fred.
Fred was speaking with a fellow expat, and was just moving
to his key point as I walked in the room. "What is it that
makes so many Asians see Caucasian faces and assume that
they do not and cannot speak whatever the language of the
country is?" I didn't even try to reply as Fred went on,
"Actually an even better question might be what makes many
Asians see a Caucasian face and be unable to recognize that
they are speaking whatever the language is. I remember once
when I was hitchhiking between Tokyo and Osaka and a
trucker picked me up. We had been talking for about 10
minutes, in Japanese, when he asked me if I could speak
Japanese."
Fred concluded with a sweep of his hand, "It never fails to
blow me away when people have beliefs so strong that they
can ignore reality. How could we have talked for 10 minutes
in Japanese and the truck driver didn't figure out what
language we were speaking in?" And with that Fred took a
large drink of his beer as if he had said everything worth
saying.
I had heard Fred's stories before of other Westerners in
Korea and China who had had similar experiences. We all
wondered why some Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese didn't
think more before saying things that totally ignored the
reality in front of them. I guess it all just comes down to
perception. Reality is as you perceive it to be.
----------------------------------------------------
You can find Aaron Language Services on the Web at
http://www.aaronlanguage.com/ . We provide translation from
Japanese to other European languages and back to Japanese,
edit English and other European languages, and offer online
English coaching to a primarily Japanese client base. If
you can't read Japanese, you can always reach us via our
personnel page.
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