Language hacks

The Ultimate Technique To Stop Your Japanese Friends From Switching To English

And make your Japanese sound way better than it really is

Photo by Harli Marten on Unsplash

There exists in Japan a pervasive cultural belief that frustrates many trying to learn how to speak Japanese. It is rooted in an idea passed down from a long-gone era, and has infiltrated the media, major Japanese corporations, and the entire education system. The belief can be expressed as follows:

If you want to speak with foreigners, you have to learn English.

At first glance, you might think this makes perfect sense. Japan is a notoriously insular nation, over 98% ethnically Japanese. The Japanese language is difficult to learn, full of unspoken rules, layered expressions, and words that sound painfully similar, at least to the Western ear. Also, as a popular tourist destination, there are far more foreigners in Japan who don’t speak Japanese than there are who do.

So what’s the problem?

I don’t take issue with the idea itself, but rather how deeply seeded and uncompromising it is. I’ve been in the country for over six years now. I’ve been working exclusively in Japanese for four years. And I still have colleagues come up…