How difficult is it for native Japanese speakers to understand American English people speaking Japanese? Do the majority of Japanese appreciate the effort of Americans learning Japanese when visiting?
First question: you gotta specify how well those American English speakers are speaking Japanese. I speak fairly unbroken English that should be mostly legible (uh… hopefully…), but that doesn’t mean I can generalize that to *Japanese people can speak English*, can I?
Second question: depends. I personally don’t care at all, but here’s the catch: if communication is hindered by your broken Japanese, I don’t care if you crammed Japanese before coming, I’d rather go English. Not that I’d stop you mid-sentence, but you know, feel that way without putting it to action. For those who can’t handle English, broken Japanese is probably better. Or some old iPad with google translate will be there to help for tourist attractions.
If you’re specifically asking how appreciated *your* Japanese would be, post the audio.
Two factors:
1) How is your output? Good word use, good grammar and decent pronunciation in a smooth stream without many false starts? People will probably understand you.
2) How acquainted is the listener with foreigners and how sympathetic (willing to listen and work with you to communicate) are they? If they’ve spent time with non-native speakers and are trying to actively communicate, they’ll probably understand you.
In the best case scenario, the interaction is smooth because you’re prepared and receptive, and they’re meeting you at your level and working with you to communicate successfully.
Worse case scenario, you’re out of your depth and unpracticed while they can’t bother.
Most likely scenario – you’ll stumble your way through the conversation and they’ll be polite but perhaps confused.
My knowledge of the language is fairly limited (2yrs in high school, some podcasts, and a natural flair for language), so my grammar and sentence construction are quite poor.
However, I received several compliments on my Japanese during a recent trip. I’m sure some were just politeness, but I think it’s mainly that my accent is fairly good.
3 comments
First question: you gotta specify how well those American English speakers are speaking Japanese. I speak fairly unbroken English that should be mostly legible (uh… hopefully…), but that doesn’t mean I can generalize that to *Japanese people can speak English*, can I?
Second question: depends. I personally don’t care at all, but here’s the catch: if communication is hindered by your broken Japanese, I don’t care if you crammed Japanese before coming, I’d rather go English. Not that I’d stop you mid-sentence, but you know, feel that way without putting it to action.
For those who can’t handle English, broken Japanese is probably better. Or some old iPad with google translate will be there to help for tourist attractions.
If you’re specifically asking how appreciated *your* Japanese would be, post the audio.
Two factors:
1) How is your output? Good word use, good grammar and decent pronunciation in a smooth stream without many false starts? People will probably understand you.
2) How acquainted is the listener with foreigners and how sympathetic (willing to listen and work with you to communicate) are they? If they’ve spent time with non-native speakers and are trying to actively communicate, they’ll probably understand you.
In the best case scenario, the interaction is smooth because you’re prepared and receptive, and they’re meeting you at your level and working with you to communicate successfully.
Worse case scenario, you’re out of your depth and unpracticed while they can’t bother.
Most likely scenario – you’ll stumble your way through the conversation and they’ll be polite but perhaps confused.
My knowledge of the language is fairly limited (2yrs in high school, some podcasts, and a natural flair for language), so my grammar and sentence construction are quite poor.
However, I received several compliments on my Japanese during a recent trip. I’m sure some were just politeness, but I think it’s mainly that my accent is fairly good.