Learning Japanese

Why Japanese People Don’t Understand When Foreigners Speak Japanese

A deep dive into the possible reasons for a common complaint

Photo by Siora Photography on Unsplash

A few days ago, I came across an Instagram reel that showed what happens “when a foreigner speaks Japanese in Japan.” Intrigued, I started watching it.

It was a video skit of two speakers: A man from the UK, saying レアチーズケーキお願いします (“Can I have cheesecake, please”), and a Japanese woman who said the same thing.

In the skit, the man was not understood. The woman was, even though they had ostensibly said the same thing.

The comments of agreement poured in.

• “It happened to me when I went to Japan. Why they don’t understand the same word when it comes out from a foreigner? 😅”
• “This literally just happened to me when I was trying to ask for directions lmao.”
• “I always experience this with my girlfriend, lol. It’s kind of annoying actually, 🙄.”

Is it Racial Discrimination?

Understandably, people started to say it was due to discrimination; Japanese people wanted to pretend that foreigners cannot speak Japanese.

• “I really don’t find it…