I have N1 japanese, and can also speak at that level at work, but every now and then I'll slip and make a really stupid mistake. By itself each of these mistakes are usually trivial, and the other person probably doesn't even remember them. But my own log of cringy mistakes keeps growing and it's like my brain occasionally just goes empty when I have interactions in Japanese. It's not that I don't know I'm not supposed to do these things, my brain just does it anyway. Some examples:
#1 One time I was chatting with my manager about something non-work related, and as we parted ways I said ありがとうございました as if I was leaving a restaurant. I don't know why the ever living hell that came out of my mouth then and there.
#2 When an interaction is routine/mundane (like buying something at konbini) my stupid brain just stops listening to what the other person is saying and I just respond based on my brain's "script." But when the other person goes "off script", since I wasn't paying attention I get flustered because I'm a dumbass.
Example:
When I hand over the money to buy a bag of chips at the konbini, the cashier usually asks for the points card and whether I need a bag right? So I hand over my points card and say 袋はいらないです. But every now and again, they instead first ask about some buy one-more-get-a-deal thing, or maybe I was short 10 yen, but it all goes in one ear out the other and I say I don't need a bag like a dumb robot. Then they go え? And I immediately cringe at myself.
#3 When talking to some of my senior coworkers, maybe once or twice a year, I'll forget to use the more formal form of a sentence and then I have to quickly fix myself. The other person usually doesn't bring it up after, or just laughs it off, but it's potentially the most disastrous. i.e. "そりゃありえるかも"…1.5 seconds of awkward pause later"…です"
Do any of you do stuff like this? If not when did it go away?
by SymphonyofSiren