. I’m staying in Japan for a few week because of work
And I tried to pick up some Japanese to show genuine interest in people and make a transition easier for them (since most of my work colleagues in Japanese cannot speak fluent English). I paired up with a Japanese person to look through some data and a English (native) speaking colleague told me as a sign of Respect and to break the ice I’d should go and tell my Japanese colleague ‘Ishou ni Ganbarimashou’. So I looked it up in the dictionary and online and came to the conclusion that it just means ‘let do our best at work’. But when I said the phrase his face suddenly became very upset and angry and it makes live now so much harder for me since he stopped talking entirely to me. I can’t even get through him providing the data I need. So my question is did this phrase have some hidden highly insultive connotation? How am I supposed to apologise now? Were about the same age and have about the same working experiences.
5 comments
Maybe your accent or intonation threw them off? Honestly I’m not sure and I can’t think of any other phrases that resembles isshou ni ganbarimasyou. Other people may be able to provide input from a different perspective.
He may have taken it as an implication that he wasn’t already trying hard, and that you were perhaps implying he needed your help to get it done? I’m guessing though. Difficult to tell what would have caused the sudden change.
The phrase is innocent, has no hidden meaning. I don’t think that is the reason he is uncooperative
Why aren’t you using romaji? Maybe it was pronounced very weird and sounded like something else somehow? Or if you said that instead of introducing yourself (or before introducing yourself) maybe they thought you were arrogant? Maybe they think they’re/ are actually a higher rank than you and it was like a put down or violated power distance?
I asked my husband and his guess is similar to the top commenter. He says the timing of when you said it matters a lot. If you said it in the beginning before working together, it can build camaraderie. But if you said it when you’ve already started working together, it can be interpreted as, “you’re not working hard enough, so let’s put in more effort.”
Maybe for the apology, you can have a friend who’s a native speaker and is informed of the situation to help you write a note explaining the misunderstanding. Then present it to your coworker with an omiyage?