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Life In Japan - The Low Points

Mr Cat said:
I hate when I go to some coffee shop I order something and ask for take out all in Japanese and the staff reply to me in english. It makes me feel bad because then I wonder if my japanese is shit (it ain't)
I really dislike this although I understand the staff is probably just trying to be nice
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Same!
I hate it when shopstaff keeps using English to me. :(
 
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NormalGuy said:
My issue with coffee shops over here is the people that sit there for hours on end, while other people can't get a seat.
Honestly, it's not a library, a study hall, a place to follow women to the toilet, it's a place to drink coffee.

I have no issue with people relaxing and having a chat, but if you are not there to drink your drink then go find a park.
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This and sleeping at lunch time... There's a cafe close to where I work that I go for lunch sometimes.. just a sandwich, something small. Nearly everytime I go there, there's at least 1, 2 maybe 3 people with the smallest cup of coffee (that's empty) and they are dead asleep. Meanwhile, we're politely standing in a line, waiting for a seat to open. Some of these men (it's always a man) are taking up a table for 2 people.....

Appropirate:
RUpn8q4.png


(Who doesn't love Family Guy.... :3 )
 
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funny how nearly everybody complains about japanese speaking english to them... barely ever happens to me (cant remember the last time), so i dont really know, but why is it so bad? aint communication what its about? no matter what language?
 
vondoom said:
funny how nearly everybody complains about japanese speaking english to them... barely ever happens to me (cant remember the last time), so i dont really know, but why is it so bad? aint communication what its about? no matter what language?
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Because i wanna fit in and don't wanna be reminded i'm a foreigner. (Unless i see myself in a mirror or i'm reminded by the people around me i usually don't feel different from the other people here.)
I just wanna be able to use my bit of Japanese that i have already worked so hard on to master without the conversation flow being awkward because i'm going at it in japanese and they keep speaking English even though this is Japan.
And it makes me insecure indeed. Is my Japanese so hard to understand?
 
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User#8628 said:
Is my Japanese so hard to understand?
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Most probably not related to your ability at all. In Europe you can easily notice the countries that have had immigrants a long time as there everyone speaks their native language to anyone regardless of the colour of your skin. Then in the countries were they are not used to foreigners they speak English to you even if it is not their native language. Sometimes it doesn't make any difference even if they know you speak their language, they just fall in to their customary ways.
 
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ah okay, the usual reason... well, i cant help you much with that, for most people it will always be like this... my boss once said that japanese are good at reading people, so whenever he senses a foreign customer (living in japan, or not seems to be unfamiliar with things, he switches to english...
my other friends (but also my boss) say that japanese like to remind people that they are inside or outside a certain group... by speaking english, or by silence, or whatever...

(another fun example where its been the opposite (and super hilarious) was when i had to help a foreign customer (the one or two who finds our shop each year) and the customer ignored me and spoke to my wo worker in schoolbook japanese (not bad japanese at all, though he couldnt understand his own gf most of the time)... didnt get him much credit...)

anyway, that wont help you, better accept it and just focus on your japanese, no matter if they speak english to you, reply in japanese... if it is totally not understandable you can still switch... there are shops with staff that has to speak engrish to foreigners...
 
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User#8628 said:
Because i wanna fit in and don't wanna be reminded i'm a foreigner. (Unless i see myself in a mirror or i'm reminded by the people around me i usually don't feel different from the other people here.)
I just wanna be able to use my bit of Japanese that i have already worked so hard on to master without the conversation flow being awkward because i'm going at it in japanese and they keep speaking English even though this is Japan.
And it makes me insecure indeed. Is my Japanese so hard to understand?
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I used to feel the same way. But, better than some countries that try to screw you over if they know you are not local/native. If they put in the extra effort to speak my language, then great. Plenty of meetings were I will not get such a break.
 
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Mr Cat said:
I'm not practicing anything when ordering coffee lol ;)
Just in Rome do as the Romans do, so in Japan I speak japanese.
Also I guess I dislike the fact that because I'm a foreigner they assume I should be able to speak English. Sorry no comprendo :)

Me ranting about such a trivial event is really unreal as it was pointed out previously in this thread we have really small problems here compare to what people encounter back in our native country.
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Perdóneme , señor , tal vez debería cambiar su nombre al gato,

512K-wVShlL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

y su avatoar , también​
 
grimjim said:
I used to feel the same way. But, better than some countries that try to screw you over if they know you are not local/native. If they put in the extra effort to speak my language, then great. Plenty of meetings were I will not get such a break.
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Yes but that's also another point, why do they assume English is my language?


@roots reggae muchas gracias senior
 
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TAG Manager said:
This and sleeping at lunch time... There's a cafe close to where I work that I go for lunch sometimes.. just a sandwich, something small. Nearly everytime I go there, there's at least 1, 2 maybe 3 people with the smallest cup of coffee (that's empty) and they are dead asleep. Meanwhile, we're politely standing in a line, waiting for a seat to open. Some of these men (it's always a man) are taking up a table for 2 people.....

Appropirate:
View attachment 1587

(Who doesn't love Family Guy.... :3 )
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Reminded me of one time some fat old man at a Doutour was shouting away on the phone then he later hangs up and fell asleep.
 
Mr Cat said:
Yes but that's also another point, why do they assume English is my language?
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Haha, same.
My English is good but it's not my native language.
It's one thing they try English on me because it's an international language but if i wanna speak Japanese they should go with that because i could have been born here or could be someone who only knows Japanese and her native language.
 
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Mr Cat said:
Yes but that's also another point, why do they assume English is my language?


@roots reggae muchas gracias senior
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Of course, they could speak Japanese to you. Either they are trying to be nice. Or, they have never been out of Japan and assume everyone speaks English. Great opportunity for you to teach them your language. Be nice about it. And help open their eyes.
 
User#8628 said:
Haha, same.
My English is good but it's not my native language.
It's one thing they try English on me because it's an international language but if i wanna speak Japanese they should go with that because i could have been born here or could be someone who only knows Japanese and her native language.
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Oh? What language do you speak? See I am not Japanese, but assumed you were native English speaker. lol

What everyone should be complaining about are the shit real estate agents and building owners that discriminate if you are not Japanese.
 
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User#8628 said:
Haha, same.
My English is good but it's not my native language.
It's one thing they try English on me because it's an international language but if i wanna speak Japanese they should go with that because i could have been born here or could be someone who only knows Japanese and her native language.
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I think they see the meeting with a foreigner as a chance to use and show the english they know (to themselves or their colleagues) and they are very satisfied if they prove that they can communicate with foreigners in a foreign language.
 
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Know what, I often get addressed in English in my native country in hotels, which I don't frequently visit. It's hotels that usually have a lot of international customers. So it might really just be a routine.
Most foreigners running into a Starbucks in Tokyo do not speak Japanese. I doubt they think about practicing English, but it's rather the routine with foreigners, something that happens unconsciously.

Not in shops, but I had situations when it took people a few lines to recognize that I spoke Japanese, because their brain says foreigner means English and only after a while their brain got puzzled and wondered why they themselves understood English so well :D
 
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@Jack Hammer and @User#8628

The trick is not to even look at them, just keep walking.

Works all the time on touts.
I had a friend who would just shout "uGHGUGHGHGH!" at the touts and they left him alone pretty fast.
Had me in stitches :ROFLMAO:
 
deckard said:
@Jack Hammer and @User#8628

The trick is not to even look at them, just keep walking.

Works all the time on touts.
I had a friend who would just shout "uGHGUGHGHGH!" at the touts and they left him alone pretty fast.
Had me in stitches :ROFLMAO:
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Not making eyecontact and talking in your phone helps, but they are really not shy to grab a girl's arm sometimes!
 
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Headphones. They work wonders against touts. Just avoid eye contact.

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk
 
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