店員さんに「英語わかりません」と言い始めようと思います。

26 comments

1. You can straight up say “英語わかりません” and they can’t do much else but continue in Japanese.

2. I think sometimes people are trying to be polite or nice by using English – like a kind of ‘quid pro quo’. I’ve had this in (European) countries when I was speaking the language and I only reckon it’s snarky in Paris! I know how frustrating it is and it can feel like a slap in the face, so you have my sympathies (I’m a very beginner in Japanese so no experience there).

3. I am so baffled to hear people having these experiences over and over when it never happened to me despite being white as a sheet and having big green eyes. Idk if I give off some 日本語上手 aura when walking around or some shit.

   I sometimes even have the opposite experience like at the ward office a few weeks ago where this lady went on and on about my paperwork in Japanese and I just lost track about what she was talking about until I had to remind her that I’m a foreigner and if she could slow down a little xd

   But I keep hearing over and over that they use English to be more polite/and or train their own English since they rarely have the chance to do so. Just keep replying to them in Japanese, they don’t mean any harm.

4. Happens to me a lot also. I talk in Japanese and they respond in their English that’s way worse than my Japanese and it is frustrating.

   A foreigner coworker literally told a customer “レシート要りますか?”
   And the Japanese customer “What?”
   He repeats it in Japanese and the customer says it again. I asked him if that happens a lot and he said it does.
   He’s a real white dude if that matters.
   You’re definitely not alone.

   They won’t do that if your Japanese is impeccable.

5. Crazy to be so indignant about someone speaking to you in your language. They might be excited for the opportunity to practise their English, and they’re definitely not obligated to speak the language you want them to. You’re not the main character.

6. Bro just respond to them in normal paced English and when they don’t understand switch back to Japanese.

7. They just want to practice their english.

8. I sometimes have Japanese people use bits of English with me. It doesn’t bother me.

   It hasn’t happened in a while, but I have spoken to people who act like they can’t understand me in order to force an English conversation. And it winds up being very awkward. My favorite example of this is one time at the Hub my friend was playing Shiritori with some Japanese people. And one Japanese guy kept saying English words and refusing to say anything in Japanese. I have seen where kids learning English use katakana English words for shiritori, but in that case.. I wasn’t sure how they were supposed to proceed because it was a dead end anytime that guy said anything. I was just shaking my head at the ridiculousness of it.

9. That employee: I’m demonstrating I can speak english but this person keeps speaking to me in Japanese 🙁

10. Pull the uno reverse with a big fat 英語上手

11. Maybe they wanted to work on their English?🤷‍♂️

12. Dude was probably trying to practice his English with you lol

13. I think some people genuinely think they’re being helpful by pulling out any English words that they know. I had someone throw in some English numbers while reading me a phone number. My brain was not prepared for that riddle

14. As a local Japanese who’s lived in Paris and a few other Western cities, I’ve honestly seen this kind of thing happen everywhere—especially in Paris. So I don’t think it’s just a Japanese thing.

    That said, a couple of thoughts:

    1. Most Japanese people study English for 10+ years in school, regardless of how fluent we end up being.

    2. Some Japanese folks seem to have a strong admiration for native English speakers (I personally feel it can lean into reverse discrimination sometimes).

    So yeah, I think there are a bunch of reasons this happens—not just habit, but a mix of language education, social attitudes, and maybe a bit of insecurity too.

15. [deleted]

16. Well they might be dealing with tourists who speaks zero Japanese on a daily basis so don’t be so hard on them

17. I‘ve been working at the same company for almost 8 years. Every year at the health check up, I get asked if I can read the safety instructions / warnings before the blood test. And eye check. Yes, it might not always be the same staff on duty that day or with me (3 at the same time), but I have to say my name etc. at each station for them to double check anyway. After so many years, they still ask me like, if I can read it because there are kanji 🙄

18. just laugh it off and you’ll be happier imo

19. If you want to be non-confrontational, you can look confused and say すみません、日本語でお願いします. And you wouldn’t be lying this way.

20. It’s nothing personal. They have to study English for more than a decade and almost never get to use it with a real, live English speaker. You could just think about how you’re giving them a chance for all that time and work not to feel completely wasted

21. 真面目に回答すると、それは止めておいた方がいいでしょう。なぜか？　これは双方の敬意の払い方の問題です。

    店員はあなたの負担を軽くしようと考えて親切で英語で話しています。しかしあなたは日本語ができるので、日本語を使ってコミュニケートしたいと考えています。そして、英語で話されることに対して、おそらく自分への侮辱を感じているのでしょう。

    問題は、あなたが店員の敬意に対して「感謝」ではなく「侮辱」を感じている点にあります。これは、欧米人の考え方の根本にあると思われる「自分中心」が為せる業だと考えます。

    ではどうすればよいのでしょうか？　答は簡単です。「日本語でいいですよ」と一言返すだけでいい。念を入れたいのならば「むしろ日本語で話したいです」と加えればそれで済む話です。

    大事な事なのでもう一度繰り返しましょう。店員の敬意に対して、あなたは感謝をすべきです。それが日本の文化です。

    —–

    （追加）

    できるだけ対外的言い方をしたけど、率直に言わないと分からない人もいると聞くので・・・

    人の親切心に対してそんな対応をされたらムカッ腹が立つ！

22. Maybe he was trying to practice his English?

23. They think that they are doing you a favor, just accept the kindness. No need to be so confrontational

24. This is exactly the type of posts that make me want to leave the Japanese learning community for good. It’s filled with people who want to learn Japanese and its language and culture on *their* terms and think the Japanese people owe them something in return, as if anyone ever agreed on that, let me tell this straight, they don’t owe you anything and the world is not gonna end because someone speaks English with you. I think it’s incredibly rude to not recognize the effort of Japanese people trying their best to speak the little English they know and at the same time expect them to accept the fact that your Japanese still has a long way to go.

    Furthermore, if this is something that happens often, then have you ever tried looking inward instead of outward and blame all Japanese people? Perhaps – and this may sound like I am attacking you but I am not – your Japanese ability just is not as good as you think it is. There really is nothing wrong with people wanting to help you, on the contrary, I think it’s pretty arrogant to not recognize that.

    >Brother, just talk to me in Japanese. I can’t write you a thesis on the physiological effects of 5g radiation on honeybees, but I worked my ass off to get to the point where I can conduct a transaction at a secondhand store.

    This is exactly what I mean, no Japanese person owes you anything, it’s a contract you have constructed inside your head and assume Japanese people have signed that contract – they haven’t, they aren’t obligated to speak to you in Japanese, and they aren’t speaking to you in English out of spite or to belittle you.

    Also Japanese people just really don’t care that much about how good a foreigner speaks Japanese or not, most of them don’t think about it much, at least not as much as self conscious learners do, they are just trying to communicate (the thing language is all about) if their gut feeling tells them that English might help with that, then that’s totally fine, if you’re Japanese is good enough it will naturally go back to Japanese anyways, how do I know? Because that happened to me several times, and after a short while (1 to 2 min max) they started realizing I can hold full blown convos and started to only use Japanese with me, other advanced learners I know don’t even need that long, a few seconds is already enough to convince them they are fully fluent.

    >This experience happens to me all the time and is more aggravating than nihongo jouzu.

    Honestly I feel a very deep rooted toxicity when I read this, you have so many assumptions based on things you think Japan and Japanese people are like which you constructed inside your head. 上手 is a meme only in the 英語圏, it’s something Japanese learners constructed, Japanese people don’t say it out of sarcasm, only learners think that and it makes me incredibly mad that people actually by into this dumb meme that gets spread in these sort of learner communities, the reality is that they are just making a compliment, it doesn’t mean your Japanese is shit, or anything, it quite literally means what it says, namely that your Japanese is good, I am really so tired of learners overthinking this phrase, it’s not that deep, it’s a compliment, if you want to get mad over a compliment than perhaps interacting with people isn’t for you.

    >I know it’s not because I suck, because I have been in this situation with Japanese friends and they’re equally confused as well. Anyone experience this and/or have a solution? I know I probably shouldn’t be so annoyed by this…

    Well I think it’s good you try to look for a solution. The fix is to just chill, keep improving your Japanese and acclimating to living in Japan, when I go to a bookstore and by a novel in Japanese they would sometimes speak English with me – and I too wondered why – and the reason is…. they really don’t think about it much and the maybe bigger reason… I already give the vibe/aura of someone they should speak English to, it’s hard to put this into words, but after consulting with other advanced learners who don’t have that happen to them it’s pretty clear, the way you walk/act/gesture/dress etc. and overall aura (I swear I am not talking about mystical nonsense here) have a great effect on this sort of thing, they literally never get spoken English to, so this shows to me it’s very much about really acclimating to your surroundings, which goes beyond just learning the language, this is very hard literally everywhere in the world, but if you keep an open mind and chill out a bit and just keep improving then it will get better.

25. Maybe they’re just like you and wants to practice their English.

26. Don’t lie. Be positive. あ、日本語でお願いします。😊 is what you should be saying.