How do you guys react to the 日本語上手.
Obviously getting the phrase, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re “good” by any means or if it’s their way of saying “keep going”
It has come to bug me in the weirdest way. Like I know myself, I have a Long , and I mean long ways to go. I always reply with the head shake and a good ol’
“まだまだです” or “ゼンゼン”
However you want to interpret the phrase. I’m curious how the Japanese Learning Community feels about it.
17 comments
People make a big deal out of it, but it’s not. Nothing much is meant by it, and while it is a bit sad how collectively low their expectations of our Japanese is, that’s probably justified. A noncommittal deflection/acceptance of the compliment is fine.
お箸上手ですね gives me the shits though.
Just say ありがとうございます、こちらこそ
上手って、何？ (wink)
いいえ、まだ下手です。
I usually respond like
そっちもめちゃめちゃ上手ですね
It gets a good laugh and they understand the feeling.
Bonus points if you are closer to that person and say something like
お前もバリバリ上手いな
It may sound disrespectful, and it kind of is. You shouldn’t say it to people you are supposed to respect. But if it’s a friend they will understand the sarcasm.
Edit: you may feel like the そっちも isn’t needed, and I would agree with you but since we are foreigners we tend to get treated like idiots.
If you don’t clarify you are telling THAT PERSON (the Japanese person) that their Japanese is good, they will think you are saying
私の日本語が上手？ In response to their compliment.
いや、その事ないです。 and move on
私ペラペーラ
If it helps I was at a place where a native Japanese woman was giving some sort of presentation and some Japanese guy and his friend next to me in the crowd were like “Nihongo jouzu” lmao
I can use chopsticks too!
お箸も使えますよ!
「知ってる～」
もう 答えんのがめんどくさくなったw
Personally, I treat it like “how are you” in English countries. I know a lot of Japanese friends who never quite got used to the perceived invasiveness of constantly being asked how they’re doing by total strangers. But it’s not really that. It’s a weird hollow social ritual that everyone does to fill the air and keep small talk running smoothly. Best not to think too much about it.
Compliments on your Japanese are similar. It’s a low-stakes empty thing to say, similar to commenting on the weather. Whether they actually mean it or not is somewhat irrelevant. The culturally/socially appropriate other end of the verbal ritual is to reflexively downplay the compliment and move on. If you think about it too much you’ll go nuts.
Just something you gotta learn to ignore. It’s mildly annoying, but there isn’t any fixing it, at least not individually. It comes from a mix of tourists who don’t learn the language, and a thought process of “our language is special, others can’t actually be good at it” that I see now and then.
To me it’s similar to someone going “wow you’re so eloquent” to a black person in the states. Like, what do you mean? It’s inherently a kind of (minor and usually not on purpose keep in mind) insult to foreigners.
I think your common reply is fine.
いいえ, いいえ, まだ上手じゃない。with a humble smile.
I think you’re reading more into it.
It’s like seeing a friend in a new outfit and saying, “Wow, you look great!”. It’s a compliment. But if you read more into that same compliment *negatively*, your friend may ask themselves, “Wait, do they mean I normally look like shit and only look good today?” 🙂
Not sure why it bugs you. Don’t think negatively about it, and just take the compliment and don’t let it bug you.
それは面白い冗談ですね。🤣🤣 本当はまだまだ。
So i watched Onomappu’s yt video where he tells his friends 英語上手 to see how theyd respond, and all of them were like o really? Thanks!!!
Long story short. I think japanese people are genuine when they flatter our japanese. Their bar is just so offensively low we end up thinking theyre indirectly telling us we suck. But truth is they probably appreciate were trying at all, its not like they can respond back in OUR native language after all.
Being told that in every single conversation starts to get tiring real fast though for sure. Went through it myself when i moved to Spain, 8 years later and i still get the “oh, which latin american country are you from?” or the usual “you’re venezuelan right? :D”. I know theyre just curious and are not trying to be rude or intrusive. It just got pretty old pretty fast as a conversation topic after hearing it for the 100th time.
I used to be humble and say いいえ、まだまだです！ But I had a conversation with my friend (native Japanese) and she told me I should just accept the compliment gracefully. Now I say ありがとうございます！ うれしいです！ I adjust the level of politeness based on the situation. My friend’s logic is that it’s the truth. “Thank you for complimenting me. I’m happy/appreciative.”
I now use it with any compliment, not just 日本語上手
Funny (but not really) to know that those reactions and behaviors haven’t changed since I lived in Sapporo 50yrs ago. I remember walking into a bank downtown to ask a simple question (in Japanese). The teller was so panicked she tried to reply in English, which obviously was way beyond her capabilities. At that point I’d lived there at least a year, and didn’t feel like suffering fools. I repeated my question in Japanese, and added that *I was speaking Japanese*. She still couldn’t handle it, and went to get a manager, who at least had the presence of mind to answer my simple question. Hoo, boy.