Ok second entry of the day, just because I thought this was an interesting topic as well. In my conversation A class, we got into a bit of the topic of "Japanese indirectness".
Japanese people are famous for being indirect, but it's really hard to follow their lead as a foreigner who's used to always being direct. That's the way we're taught. Sure, we have passive voice in English, but our English teachers say that it makes us sound weak, so don't ever use it in essays. We're taught never to put "I think" in essays, because it's already implied that what we write is our opinion. Adding "I think" is unnecessary and gives the writer a weak voice. Japanese is just the opposite. You HAVE to add things like "I think" and "probably" or else, the writer's voice sounds a) Too supposing and sure. You don't necessarily KNOW that it's true so you can't sound like that. Otherwise will think "What? I don't think that's true" and you will get in trouble or b) Too direct and strong. The writer is not supposed to sound like he knows everything. He has to soften his speech or else Japanese people will feel like they're being attacked.
One way to be indirect is to not say the antonym of a word (bad-good [warui-ii], ugly-pretty[minikui-kirei]), but rather the negative form of the positive word. For example, instead of saying, "Your style today is bad [Kyou no fashion wa warui ne]", in order to be more polite and generous to the listener, people will say "Your style today is not -so- good [Kyou no fashion ha -anmari- yoku nai ne]". Instead of "This soup tastes horrible [Kono suupu wa mazui ne]", they will say "This soup doesn't taste very good [Kono suupu ha oishikunai ne]".
Second, you can add words like I did unconciously--"anmari" [not so] and "ne". "Ne" doesn't really have a specific translation that can be used in English, but it works in this case to soften the sentence.
Third, you take a direct sentence like "Go home" and make it super long like so:
Kaette [girl's speech] or Kaere [guy's speech]--Go home.
Kaetta hou ga ii (yo)--It would be best if you go home.
Kaetta hou ga ii n ja nai--Wouldn't it be best if you go home?
Kaetta hou ga ii n ja nai kana/darou ka--Wouldn't it probably be best if you go home?
Kaetta hou ga ii n ja nai darou ka to omoimasu-- Wouldn't it probably be best if you go home I think?
Kaetta hou ga ii n ja nai darou ka to omoimasu kedo...--Wouldn't it probably be best if you go home I think, but...?
As you can see, the more indirect you are, the softer your sentence, the longer your sentence, and the weirder it becomes in English. My teacher explained it as such:
Kaetta= verb (past tense)
hou ga ii= you should
And all the rest pretty much means nothing. It's just there to make your voice more indirect, more passive, and thus sound softer/nicer to the listener.
In the end, you're saying "You need to go home" but you have to add a probably, a maybe, and a "oh but that's just what I think...I'm not necessarily in anyway 100% correct in saying this so you don't have to feel pressured to agree in any shape or form!" More words add more formality, but also more implied meaning.
Such is the Japanese indirect voice.
Maybe.
Probably.
I think.
O sea, la mentalidad japonesa es como la gallega: Si alguien le pregunta a un gallego "Que tal esta el vino que te acabo de servir?" La respuesta nunca es "bueno, malo, excelente, etc". Un gallego siempre respondera indirectamente diciendo, por ejemplo: "Deixase beber"(Se deja beber). Bueno, lo de los japoneses es mas conplicado... Kenia, gracias por tu sabiduria, Es fantastico leerte. No olvides mantener una copia de seguridad en otro sitio. Un beso. papi-san
ReplyDeleteMy dear Kenia, you are learning sooo much. Don't forget the list that we talked about, maybe, perhaps, if that is what you want.Call me anytime that you see that we are online.Of course, as always, you can decide and should...as you wish! z-san
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