I am sitting on a bench right now near a group of Japanese people having a picnic in my local park, i can understand a lot of what they are saying from a distance and i want to go and talk to them. But there is no natural way to do it, i feel paralysed because i want to go up to them but i cant…
have you guys gone up and talked to japanese people in your country? if so how did you approach them?
13 comments
I don’t think i have ever met a japanese person in my country sadly.
Just walk over. Feel free to talk in English at first and say, hi I heard you guys talking Japanese, I’ve been studying it a bit. Then say something in Japanese. Go with the flow.
Depends on the situation. If I go to a place with Japanese speakers (a Japanese bookstore), I use Japanese.
Don’t do this. They’re people, not your chatbots
I feel like it’d be rude to interrupt a picnic. I knew someone who casually talked to Chinese people from time to time tho, like while waiting for a train, and apparently it worked and he got to know some people that way. I think if I were to ever try this, I’d go to an area with several Japanese stores, and try to talk to people who seem open to it there. If you have anything like that in your country.
Would you do that with people who speak your native language?
Just don’t. If you are not already in a scenario were it’s beneficial for both sides to be speaking Japanese, stop trying to create one.
I personally wouldn’t want a stranger walking up to me to use me and my conversations with friends as language practice.
Just tell them that you have been eves dropping on their conversation. Make sure to mention something they talked about at least 10 minutes ago so they know you’re not pretending.
This is a really sensitive thing. Sometimes it’s rude to do this and sometimes it’s ok. Basically, would you strike up a conversation with this person/these people in English? I’d so, maybe it’s alright. I was at a car race and a Japanese photographer was there with the Japanese flag on his press vest so I struck up a conversation with him in Japanese and I feel like that was appropriate. I also was once waiting in line at an aquarium and a Japanese couple turned around to ask me a question, so I answered them and then began speaking in Japanese and we had a small conversation. But people just doing their thing at a picnic seems a little rude to intrude upon. So it really depends on the situation, I think, and you have to be mindful of if they’d be comfortable having a stranger suddenly talk to them. I always start the Japanese part of the conversation by asking in Japanese if they speak Japanese. And I do that because by then I’m positive they do, but I just want to be nice and ask anyway just in case they maybe would prefer to speak English or not talk at all. To give them an out, you know? It’s complicated but I think it’s ok to do.
There’s nothing wrong with talking to strangers. You just have to be very mindful about them possibly just not being interested or not wanting to talk. But in my experience, so far, it’s always been a good experience talking to people in Japanese. They’re usually a little surprised and then happy to talk. But also, I would not do this if you’re a beginner because then you’re not really being a friendly stranger striking up conversation, but a stranger using them to practice basic hellos like they’re your personal Rosetta stone tutor. And I don’t think anyone would like that lol. I only began talking to strangers after I felt confident that I could at least hold a simple conversation.
I actually disagree with most of the comments here. I think is very honoring to someone to show that you are making an effort to learn their language and culture. While a picnic may not be the ideal place to barge into, I don’t see anything wrong with attempting to converse with someone in their language.
Everyone is saying to not approach them, but I think it is situation dependent. For example, I recently overheard someone speaking Japanese at the park and approached them because I’m learning Japanese (I live in an area with almost no diversity, so to hear Japanese is surprising). I’m not particularly good, but it turned out that this person barely speaks English and just moved here. They didn’t know anyone else but were so happy to meet someone who is learning their language. Now we hang out regularly.
No, it’s fucking weird to approach a group just enjoying themselves to just meet Japanese people.
My partner absolutely hates it when people do it to her.