I had been living in Japan for about 5 months when I met a gaijin
(an American) named Gary. He had just graduated from college( a very
large, well known university ) with a degree in Japanese, and had
come to Japan to teach English. I was amazed that he could walk around
introducing himself as Gary. ...Or with a Japanese pronunciation, "geri"
 OK, OK, maybe all through college he never had that
problem, and maybe his Prof. didn't have the heart to tell him, but, It doesn't
take many plates of sushi to figure it out. When I heard him open his mouth and
try to speak ...UUUGG! I found myself interpreting for a person who had
spent the last four years of his life studying, and preparing for this
moment. After only a few months of exposure to the language (before moving to
Japan you could have convinced me that geisha was the capital of Hong Kong)
I was confident of my fluency (after 5 months I would have long conversations
with natives and they were not able to distinguish me from my Japanese roommate).
What made the difference? He then said something that at first frustrated
the heck out of me, then enabled me to understand to real problem. It
wasn't "geri". It was his teacher. And perhaps more significantly, it
was the method of learning he had been subjected to. One absent of a good
cultural education where language was merely the expression of that culture.
This was made clear to me when he said.... you guessed it, dou itashimashite ,
or "you're welcome". This is because only dorks say "you're welcome" in Japan.
By saying dou itashimashite, you would be recognizing that you did indeed
do something for the other person; something worthy of recognition.
Japanese don't use this word. Vocalizing this is contrary to the culture
that is Japanese. It is a self-centered statement. The "Japanese" thing to do,
is to deny that you did anything at all, or insist that it was an insignificant
act. This may seem like a lot to harp on for what seems in English to be
a common courtesy, but it is a fundamental principal that must be understood
in order to grasp directional verbs, and the proper use of causative, and
passive verbs along with their many combinations. If you've had enough of
my ranting then go back and visit the Nihongo Notes
I think them to be wonderful examples of how to learn not words, but how words are used.
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