{"id":6524,"date":"2020-11-12T03:08:39","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T03:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=6524"},"modified":"2020-11-12T03:08:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T03:08:39","slug":"i-am-speaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/i-am-speaking\/","title":{"rendered":"I AM Speaking!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We have been taught not to speak while others are talking at home and school.\u00a0 It <u>is disrespectful to\u00a0<\/u>(\u7121\u793c\u306a\u00a0 bureina) talk while someone else is talking.\u00a0However, when you grow up to become a politician, you throw that manner out of the window.\u00a0 Have you watched the broadcasting of the Japanese <u>parliament\u00a0<\/u>(\u56fd\u4f1a kokkai)?\u00a0 I cannot help but feel so embarrassed by the low quality of heckling (\u30e4\u30b8 yaji). It says that \u201checkling is a specialty of parliament and it should be enjoyed.\u201d\u00a0 Well, clever mockery can be a joy.\u00a0 But most heckling in the Japanese parliament is bullying.<\/p>\n<p>Here is an example \u2013<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\u592b\u5a66\u5225\u59d3\u306e\u8cea\u7591\u4e2d\u306b\u30e4\u30b8\u3000\u81ea\u6c11\u515a\u306e\u5973\u6027\u8b70\u54e1\u304b\u3089\uff1f(20\/01\/23)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/E86dCL1GyMo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><u>An opposing party\u00a0<\/u>(\u91ce\u515a yatou) is speaking about a law that requires both a husband and wife to have the same last name, and that the law discourages some women from getting married.\u00a0 Then a female member of parliament (\u56fd\u4f1a\u8b70\u54e1 kokkai giin) interrupted by shouting \u2013 \u201cthen don&#8217;t <u>get married<\/u>! (\u7d50\u5a5a\u3059\u308bkekkonsuru)\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This blog is not about\u00a0<u>politics\u00a0<\/u>(\u653f\u6cbb seiji).\u00a0So let\u2019s go back to the main subject.\u00a0The fact that the Japanese are taught not to speak while others are talking is one of the reasons why we tend to be very quiet during a class, conference, and during discussions. Coupled with our desire to avoid embarrassment by making a mistake, or not to be regarded as a self-promoting attention seeker, we tend to avoid <u>speaking out\u00a0<\/u>(\u9060\u616e\u306a\u304f\u8a71\u3059 enryonaku hanasu).\u00a0 Then we mingle with other people from other countries, and we are shocked and impressed <u>at the same time\u00a0<\/u>(\u540c\u6642\u306b doujini) \u2013 how could s\/he speak with so many mistakes!\u00a0 Often when a teacher notices us not engaging, the teacher calls on us to answer.\u00a0 While we are struggling to make a grammatically correct sentence, our classmates start answering the question.\u00a0 Now we lost the floor.\u00a0 The train has left us behind.<\/p>\n<p>I had a great teacher \u2013 my French roommate at my grad school.\u00a0We got along well and we are still friends.\u00a0 When we started as roommates, I was so surprised that she started talking while I was talking, and she did not stop.\u00a0 By the end of the year, I learned to speak while she was talking.\u00a0 And neither of us stopped talking.<\/p>\n<p>So I started to <u>pay attention\u00a0<\/u>(\u6ce8\u610f\u3092\u6255\u3046chuiwo harau) \u2013 when and with whom people do this. <u>First of all\u00a0<\/u>(\u7b2c\u4e00\u306b daiichini), people in the US are taught to speak out.\u00a0 So they may <u>cu<\/u>t you <u>off\u00a0<\/u>(\u3055\u3048\u304e\u308b saegiru), or they may not stop even if you are speaking without any <u>ill intentions\u00a0<\/u>(\u60aa\u610f akui).\u00a0 However, teaching professionals do know this and manage the interactions accordingly during a class.\u00a0 But once outside the classroom, some do not exercise the same principle.\u00a0 I am guilty of this.<\/p>\n<p>If someone asks a question, if I and somebody else start to answer at the same time, I usually stop talking, letting the other take the floor.\u00a0\u00a0 The same situation happened at the meeting, and I continued to speak.\u00a0 So for a good 10 seconds or so, two people were talking at the same time.\u00a0 Then the other person noticed and stopped talking. The whole room went quiet &#8211; utterly <u>awkward\u00a0<\/u>(\u6c17\u307e\u305a\u3044 kimazui) <u>silence\u00a0<\/u>(\u9759\u5bc2 seijyaku).<\/p>\n<p>Either the other person or I must have committed a faux-pas big enough to make the whole room quiet.\u00a0 Or was everyone surprised that I did not <u>shut up\u00a0<\/u>(\u9ed9\u308b damaru)?<\/p>\n<p>So what should we do, those of us who were taught not to <u>interrupt\u00a0<\/u>(\u3055\u3048\u304e\u308b saegiru) or not to speak while others are talking?\u00a0 Should we always give up the floor?<\/p>\n<p>The recent Vice President debate provides a great solution (\u89e3\u6c7a\u65b9\u6cd5 kaiketsu houhou)!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. Vice President, I am speaking.\u00a0 I AM speaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you don&#8217;t mind letting me finish, we can have a conversation, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Harris and Pence interrupt, insult and jab in vice-presidential debate\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2TAZ-RjaXso?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Remember to choose your words carefully. Use tact. You don\u2019t want to hurt anyone\u2019s feelings. If you have a polite phrase that you think works, please share it!<\/p>\n<p>If you go to Japan, you will need to be very careful not to interrupt someone who is talking. You probably would not get an \u201cI am speaking\u201d reaction from the Japanese counterpart, but s\/he is screaming that in his\/her mind.\u00a0 Your opinion matters and your Japanese teachers will really appreciate your responsiveness as Japanese classrooms tend to be very quiet.\u00a0 But do not interrupt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have been taught not to speak while others are talking at home and school.\u00a0 It is disrespectful to\u00a0(\u7121\u793c\u306a\u00a0 bureina) talk while someone else is talking.\u00a0However, when you grow up to become a politician, you throw that manner out of the window.\u00a0 Have you watched the broadcasting of the Japanese parliament\u00a0(\u56fd\u4f1a kokkai)?\u00a0 I cannot help&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/i-am-speaking\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[505776,376550,505775,505778,10180],"class_list":["post-6524","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","tag-cut-off","tag-heckle","tag-interrupt","tag-japanese-parliament","tag-speak"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6524"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6527,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6524\/revisions\/6527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}