Evaluating Intercultural Behaviour

I started learning the Japanese language when I was in NS as I wanted to extend this interest of mine further in the hope of being able to understand the intricacies of the culture that I adored. As I became better at the language, it opened many windows which allowed me to peer into the different cultural aspects of the Japanese way of life. I've also met and made many Japanese friends after starting to learn the language, and thanks to that, I've gained a deeper understanding of Japanese values and culture.

Personally, I enjoy exploring the differences in the way Japanese behave towards other Japanese and towards foreigners. I once had a conversion with a PhD student whom I met in Osaka about the formalities of speech in the Japanese language. Similar to the Korean language, there is a strict system of honorific titles used to address people whom one meets. The use of which honorific is usually determined by seniority in terms of age or position and can be gender-biased. Depending on the seniority of the person that one is talking to, the level of politeness of the words used can also vary from honorific to formal to casual speech. While not going into the details of the entire honorific system in the language, I shall highlight a certain aspect of it here.

When Japanese meet other Japanese for the first time, they will usually address each other on a last name basis with the most commonplace honorific suffix -san, which is equivalent to Mister or Miss in English. They will also use the polite form of the language towards the other party. This is considered basic courtesy in Japanese culture and serves as a framework for Japanese to distinguish between close family or friends and working partners or acquaintances. Only in cases of close family or friends, or when they discover that they are at the same age/position, will they start to drop the honorific suffix when addressing the other party and use casual forms in their speech. When a person is clearly at a more senior position than the other, for example a teacher talking to a student, the senior is expected to use casual speech while the junior is expected to use polite speech to exemplify the difference in seniority. While it is considered rude if the junior uses casual speech, it is surprising to find that it is also considered abnormal if the senior uses polite speech.

While the emphasis on hierarchical relationships is very obvious between Japanese people, they seem to be more relaxed and less rigid when conversing with people from different cultures, especially if the foreigner is still at an elementary level of the Japanese language. Through my conversation with the PhD student, I have realised that the less you know more about their culture, the more tolerant they are towards your "inappropriate" use of the language. For example, it is generally acceptable for a foreigner to commit the mistake of using casual speech towards a senior. I believe this shows their understanding towards foreigners and is a salient compromise that the Japanese give to show their intercultural understanding.

Even as an advanced speaker of Japanese, I sometimes too commit the mistake of using casual speech when I talk to people who are senior to me. I am grateful that there are some Japanese who do not mind my "wrong" use of casual speech towards them. The PhD student is one such example; he is completely okay with foreigners using casual speech when talking to him. I feel that such people have really good intercultural understanding and would work really well in teams with people from different cultural backgrounds.