We sometimes hear about Jp person (after living outside of Japan for a few years, not using Jp much) forgets how to use Keigo properly. —— Is this a ling. phenomenon somewhat unique to Japanese ?

7 comments

1. Keigo is definitely akin to a dialect. But it’s also a known phenomena. People often change their behaviour, mood and vocabulary based on the place and language.

   As an anecdotal example I swear much more when I come back to my home town, because that’s what I used to do as a teenager before moving out and “growing up”.

   I’m also much more polite in English than Polish.

   So yea stuff like that is definitely a thing. I’d not be surprised if Japanese person moving to another country that is less formal had this effect.

2. It’s not unique to Japanese people but any native language speakers with polite speaking styles who begin living in a different country for a while.

   My friend is Korean living in the US after 10 years and had something similar since he only uses casual speech with his family. He’s even been called out by stranger Koreans about it since he’d begin addressing them with casual speech.

3. People forget/become far worse in their native languages all the time in favor of whatever language they speak most often. If you don’t use a language, you will forget it. If you don’t use part of a language, you will most likely forget it no matter what the language is.

4. The same thing can happen to English speakers abroad.

   I’ve lived in Japan for 8 years. I’ve gotten used to speaking Japanese, or very, very simplified English. It’s to the point where sometimes I can’t remember more sophisticated English words, or I’ll try to think of a word and only the Japanese equivalent will come to mind.

5. It’s more like forgetting how to talk to strangers who are not your family or friends.

6. I have not at all noticed this with execs in many Japanese multinationals. Where did you “hear” or “read” this assertion?

7. Look up “language attrition” for further readings.