Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Giving Responses in Japanese


If you have had a conversation with a friend from Japan, you might have noticed that Japanese people love to respond to a conversation frequently. It is called あいづち/aizuchi/.

"あいづち/aizuchi/ are phrases or responses that Japanese listeners give during a conversation to let the speaker know that they pay attention."


As she mentioned in this video, we prefer giving frequent responses to be polite. It's interesting that it makes her (and probably some of you) feel like to be rushed. What do you think? :)



Speaking of which, Taiwanese people say "Huuuh??"(in a big voice) when they don't get what I said. I was really shocked at first. (It still often happens though, my Chinese pronunciation is not so good) I depressed and lost confidence to speak Chinese every time.

This "Huuuh?!" or even "Huh?" sounds really mean for Japanese people. We say it when we really really upset, get angry or try picking a fight.


Now I know they don't mean at all, but I still feel like to be blamed. haha... Well, How about you? Do you have ever been surprised or shocked by customs in another country?


*Japanese Word of the Day*
え?ごめん、なんて?
/e? gomen, nante?/
Huh? Sorry, come again?

*なんて/nante/ is omitted phrase of なんて言(い)ったの? which means "What did you say?"

It's really common way to say between close friends.

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