When you’ve been to Japan, were there something troubles as for communication?

11 comments

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI4s9yGWwdo

2. There’s a lot of troubles about communication. Even Japanese themselves are having a lot of trouble communicating with each other.

3. Two options: learn the language or don’t communicate.

   I found Google Translate to be useful when communications is unavoidable. But usually I don’t even try. There have been cases when I went to international institutions in Tokyo and the receptionist didn’t speak a world of English. It was rather funny.

4. When I went in 2015 I found that in the bigger cities we went to (Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara) there were a surprising amount of official info desks and tourist guide volunteers who spoke english at least at a simple level. A lot of pedestrians were also willing to try if you hit them with even a few words of japanese first. Making an effort to communicate in japanese, no matter how bad, can really help getting people to try and speak english as well. Not all of course but more than you’d think.

5. Learn some basic useful phrases. Carry a phrase book, get a data SIM so you can use google translate with your camera. Use body language, be polite and respectful, look for younger people and business people to ask for help.

6. This may sound crazy but I heard this advice somewhere and it worked for me a little bit. If you are having difficulty try speaking English in a Japanese accent. A lot of words like Bus for example are pronounced Ba-Su. This does mean you have to listen carefully to the accent and not just do a comedy version – that would not be funny. 😆

7. Sometimes customer service is quick to swap to broken English, when it makes understandability worse than clearly spoken Japanese.

   Just a personal anecdote I found amusing.

8. You can minimize comm problems by learning basic phrases. One tip is when you’re in a restaurant is if you can’t speak what you want, you could do pointy talkie with the menu. You can say “I would like” (In Japanese) and point to the item you want “thank you” (in nihongo, same same). That should be enough for the server to understand.

9. If you’re only visiting as a tourist, just learn the most useful basic phrases. Google Translate is surprisingly useful for the rest.

10. Speaking of communication troubles, I don’t think most commenters here noticed that you switched subjects between your first sentence and your second sentence.

    First you ask everyone here about their difficulties communicating in English with Japanese people.

    Next you ask how to ensure smooth communication **with** (not **by** -> this is probably the part that’s tripping everyone up) international tourists, and what should be done regarding language skills (in a very general sense).

    So at this point, it’s thoroughly confusing whether the subject is Japanese people (should Japanese people learn better English skills?), or international tourists (should something be done regarding their own language skills in preparation for their trip to Japan?)

    Had you given more context in your question (for example, explaining the series of events that led you to asking your question here), more efficient Q&A would most likely have occurred. Oh the humanity.

11. That’s a funny question. Communication in English or Japanese?