Hello. I have a fairly advanced level in Japanese and can hold regular conversations no problem. However I have never lived in Japan so I am lacking some advanced vocabulary as one would expect in this situation. I live in an English speaking country and I happen to have a few Japanese friends that I've made over the years. When we are in a group they would speak Japanese to me but more and more it happens than when we are one to one, even though the conversation starts in Japanese, they tend to change to English at some point and then we carry on in English. I am quite puzzle by this, specially since English is not my native language so we end up speaking in a language which is not native to either of us. I have a few ideas as to why this might be. I think it is either:
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They want to practice english since they live in an English speaking country now.
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The conversation gets complicated and they and conscious that I might not understand them if they continue in Japanese so they change to English.
I would be curious to know if someone here has had similar experiences like me and if there are any advice on how make Japanese people want to keep the conversation in Japanese? For me it is a bit of a shame that, knowing the language well, I am unable to practice it because even Japanese people avoid using the language with me!
Thanks!
by diego_reddit