Archive for the ‘Japanese Intercultural Consulting’ Category

Japanese on American TV and Why Linguists Should Know Culture

Sunday, August 7th, 2011

Today I enjoyed a rebroadcast of the iCarly “movie”, or long episode called “iGo to Japan”. As a father of kids the right age, I can appreciate the physical and irreverent humor. Besides, Harry Shum Jr. of Glee fame and more importantly of “The LXD” fame, made a guest appearance.

I’m a big fan of silly pop culture shows as well as fine films and, having been raised on Bugs Bunny cartoons and Star Blazers, I can suspend disbelief with the best of them. A barber chair that can rise to the moon? I’m good. The A-Team helping people while on the run for a crime they didn’t commit? How can I contact them? All the insanity that happened in Hazzard County, Georgia? That’s how I learned how to drive!

As a result, shows that misrepresent Japan on American tv don’t bother me that much. Intentional misrepresentations for comic effect can be lots of fun, but hopefully a little bit of truth finds its way into the discourse as well.

While “iGo to Japan” is pretty far off, it IS iCarly so I didn’t have high hopes.  I can live with a massage parlor in which people are wrapped in nori like maki-sushi, the car steering wheels on the left side, and all of the other misrepresentations. I feel the same way in Japan when they misrepresent the U.S. It’s wrong, and I hope that most thoughtful people know better than to take it as the truth, but it’s all in good fun as well.

The Japanese language used in iCarly actually consisted of a bit of good slang even where the actors’ pronunciation made it hard to understand. I have no doubt there was a native speaker of Japanese or a very high level non-native speaker on hand. One joke in particular, when Spencer (Carly’s older brother) says to one of the guards, “Omae no okaasan debeso.” I would be surprised if there were even a handful of people raised outside of Japan would use. (The phrase is just a silly one used to make fun of someone and literally just means “Your mom has an outie belly button!” As I said, just a silly way of making fun of someone.)

The reason I decided to take time write about the show however is some of the slang used, actually one word in particular.

The word that bothered me is “kichigai”. It’s a word you may hear spoken in conversations in Japan. It’s not, however, a nice word. You also will not hear it spoken on proper tv because it’s among the words considered “sabetsu yogo”, or a discriminatory slur not to be used in the mass media.

In iCarly, a girl turned to her brother and yelled “kichigai” as an angry response. Viewers who don’t speak Japanese, or have only a passing knowledge may not have noticed it, but every member of our family was a bit surprised at hearing the term on tv, even American tv. Someone with a passing or more casual knowledge of Japanese, or a person with Japanese language skills who is a bit out of touch with the culture might use this term to mean “crazy person”. In fact, Google Translate will tell you that “kichigai” in Japanese means “fruit loop” in English with no mention of the danger of offending people by using the term.

The truth, however, is that “kichigai” and its cousin “ki ga chigau” are terms that are considered to be discriminatory against the mentally ill or people with other emotional disabilities. The English word “retard” that has a similar meaning and discriminatory nature. There is currently a campaign to end use of the “r-word” as well.

It would be very easy for the writers to have gone with something like “oniichan no baka”, meaning “stupid brother”, or something similar instead. There are plenty of cute or funny or even mean-sounding insults that could have been used. “Kichigai” is the wrong one, and illustrates the need for translators to stay current, have cultural knowledge, and also keep a finger on current events and pop cultures of both languages.

At least some of the audience will know enough Japanese to be shocked to hear that word spoken so clearly on a kids’ tv show, and I that people learning Japanese won’t think it’s an acceptable word to use in polite conversation. Interestingly, “baka” which is often described as a “bad word” in Japanese, is used regularly on tv shows in Japan, though care should be taken not to offend people when using it. It literally means “foolish”, but doesn’t discriminate against a particular group of people the way that ‘kichigai” does.

A translator, localization specialist, or intercultural consultant should know the dangers of stepping over the “sabetsu yogo” line. “Kichigai” is just one of many words in Japan that are not to be used on television because of the bad sides of their meaning, and there’s no reason not to avoid using it on tv outside of Japan as well. I expect people writing or translating Japanese for mass media to be aware of this. As I mentioned above, there are plenty of other, more appropriate and even linguistically accurate options that will get the same amount of laughs without being offensive to the only people who would understand it.

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Types of Boredom in Japanese Meetings and What to Do About Them

Thursday, June 30th, 2011

I have recently seen a few articles in both Japanese and English discussing how boring Japanese meetings can be so I thought I would throw in my perspective on the situation, as it seems some of these articles are misinformed about the particular type of “boringness” that Japanese meetings bring.

The short version is that there are a few flavors of boredom that one can experience in Japanese meetings with a range of meanings. There are things you can do to have a better “Japanese meeting experience” but they require understanding some of the basic concepts involved.

Japanese Meeting Boredom Type 1:

One kind of boredom, is of course being completely lost and confused feeling that the content of the meeting just doesn’t pertain to you and your position. The whole meeting may feel like a waste of time during which you could be doing your “real” work.

What to do about it:

Unlike in some Western companies, where one might be able to make a solid argument for not being at the meeting at all, CONSENSUS is one of the biggest driving forces in Japanese decision making. Therefore, to a certain extent, the worst thing that could happen would be for someone to tell you that you were not needed at the meeting. That would be like saying, “Your consensus is not even necessary at the final stages of the process.”

My advice is to go to the meeting and listen like you mean it. In some way, even indirectly, this will impact you. Precedence is also a big part of policy in Japanese companies so what you see in the meeting could be portents of things to come in your own department.

Japanese Meeting Boredom Type 2:

Another kind of boredom, maybe even worse than the one described above is a feeling of helplessness when hearing decision after decision pass by with a group grunt or show of hands. If you disagree with what’s happening but don’t feel you can battle against the tide of consensus, you should definitely act.

What to do about it:

If you are in a Japanese business environment and don’t feel you are being heard, or fee; that the entire decision making process is passing you by, it’s best to be proactive. Decisions and scenarios tend to be fleshed out during the days and hours leading up to a meeting. The decision makers can often be found chatting in the breakroom or near their desks, working out the details of the meeting. By details, however, I don’t mean the agenda which is the least problematic part of it. The details of the meeting could be anything from how the preordained decisions will be presented to specific points people might raise at the meeting and how to respond.

Although it may be unreasonable to expect to be brought into the inner circe as a part of the consensus builders, but anyone can ask the right questions and at least be prepared for what will be going on at the meeting. To this end, I advise you to pay attention at all meetings and keep an ear to the wall for information about topics that might be coming up. If people are gathering around the cooler, or more often the hot water pot, it might be a good time to get a cup of tea and provide your politely spoken, insightful opinion on current matters. Trust that if your point is good, it will make its way into the meeting and further discussion.

Japanese Boredom Meeting Type 3:

If you are a mover or shaker, or otherwise an insider, it’s very easy to be bored at meetings right up until your turn to speak. When I’ve been in this position, I tried to concentrate on details and look interested even though I’d been through seemingly endless discussions before the start of the meeting. It’s important to stay focused because a part of building the consensus is making it clear that the final decision really is one everyone agreed on and buys into.

This can be a good position to be in for helping to shape policy and give input into an ever improving and growing business and corporate culture.

What to do about it:

My first thought was to write that there’s really nothing to do. Your input is being heard, you are an active part of meetings and the decision making process and probably gain some satisfaction from that. On second thought, however, I think the most important thing for people bored in Japanese meetings for this reason, is to keep in mind the plight of the other people who are bored in the meetings.

If you have the wherewithal to give some thought to the consensus building process, it may be a good chance to consider the position of co-workers who feel out of the loop or uninvolved in the process, as well as people who don’t feel that the meeting pertains to them.

The stronger the consensus and buy-in factor a decision has the better its chance of succeeding, or at least being implemented properly and wholeheartedly by everyone involved. Building consensus doesn’t end with being the consensus and is a circular, social, and important process in Japanese meetings.

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