Please help me to read this English sentence:

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by Koir

The most difficult part of having a seafood allergy is being leery of pink-coloured pasta salads at a buffet. If they aren't labeled, I think of the salad as seafood-based and don't take any.

That’s too bad! You can’t enjoy buffets or exotic unknown food.

As for being allergic to fish...there have been a couple times I've eaten things like noodle bowls or salad dressing containing fish and haven't died (obviously), so it's not an absolute thing. However, I still want to be cautious and not eat something my body doesn't seem to take well.

So, you can’t come to Japan…… Most Japanese food contains fish because most soup stock is made from oceanic bonito. You can’t eat ramen too! I’m sorry to hear that!

[Yuusuke]

Lol, I can, I like seafood.
and it's really healthy (=

[kencity]

luck means good things happening to u all the time especially when people are experiencing problems but u seem to be doing well.
hope u get it

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by Yuusuke

Lol, I can, I like seafood.
and it's really healthy (=

Hi, 幽助さん。

Do you eat a lot of fresh water fish? You have Lake Michigan.
You must get fish from the lake.

[YuriTokoro]

Hi.
Could you correct my English?

"Tea?"

When aboard in airplane, as you know, flight attendants ask you several times what you would like to drink.
I used to said, “Tea, please”. Then, they always gave me a cup of green tea.
I always wondered why they gave me green tea despite I asked tea.
However, this mystery has finally been cleared up. After I said “Tea, please “ as always, the flight attendant replied, “green or English?”
At last, I realized that I should have said “Green tea, please.”
If you are a native English speaker, this sounds very stupid to you. But I’m sure that most Japanese people believe when you say “tea”, you mean English tea. It must be a Japanese perceived notion, but if Japanese people want green tea, they say green tea, not tea.
This is a trivial matter. But now I’m a little bit afraid to speak in English because I might have a lot of perceived notions and cause confusion. Learning English is still very hard.

Thank you!

[Koir]

Originally Posted by YuriTokoro

Hi.
Could you correct my English?

"Tea?"

As you may know, when flying in a plane, the flight attendants will ask you several times what you would like to drink.
I used to say, “Tea, please”. They would give me a cup of green tea.
I always wondered why they gave me green tea despite my asking for tea.
However, this mystery has finally been cleared up. After I would say "Tea, please", the flight attendant would reply, “Green or English?”
At last, I realized that I should have said “Green tea, please.”
If you are a native English speaker, this sounds very odd. But I’m sure that most Japanese people believe when you say “tea”, you mean English tea. It must be a uniquely Japanese notion, but if Japanese people want green tea they say green tea, not just tea.
This is a trivial matter. But now I’m a little bit afraid to speak in English because I might have a lot of perceived notions causing confusion. Learning English is still very hard.

Thank you!

Very interesting post, Yuri. It definitely illustrates how the Japanese culture has different preconceptions compared to Western countries. I do admit to being confused about the central concept in the first few read-throughs however. This showed me that I also have preconceptions about the basic meaning of "tea", a very useful thing I should be aware of.

Even in Western countries such as Canada and the United States there are preconceptions. Years ago, I was in the U.S. and was surprised at the confusion between "chips" and "French Fries". I was at a restaurant and ordered a sandwich with chips. I said that expecting to get French fries, but when my order came, on the plate with the sandwich was a small bag of potato chips.

This happened once or twice afterwards until I started saying "French fries" when I ordered a meal. No wonder the server looked at me oddly...I was ordering something she wasn't familiar hearing in that context.

As for the revisions:

"As you may know" was put at the beginning of the initial sentence because it works better as a lead-in to catch the reader's attention and get them thinking about their experiences as airplane passengers. The word "may" was added to make the writer's assumption of the reader's experience less of an absolute thing in case the reader has not flown in a plane in the past.

In the next paragraph, two instances of "always" were removed to eliminate repetition. Repeating a word or phrase lessens its impact and could confuse the reader, as it demonstrates the writer's feelings that he or she is not keeping the reader's attention.

Additionally, some verb tenses were changed (eg. replied to "would reply") to better describe the past actions. As a native English speaker, but not one well known to the finer points of proper grammar, it reads better and more accurately.

"Very stupid" was changed to "odd" in the next paragraph mainly due to my feelings on the subject. I do not think what you're saying is stupid, just an illustration of different cultural preconceptions.

Finally, do not let possible preconceptions make you scared to speak English. Interacting with people and finding out about their culture and preconceived notions can only help both sides become more knowledgeable about the world.

Hope that helps, Yuri!

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by YuriTokoro

Hi.
Could you correct my English?

"Tea?"

When aboard in airplane, as you know, flight attendants ask you several times what you would like to drink.
I used to said, “Tea, please”. Then, they always gave me a cup of green tea.
I always wondered why they gave me green tea despite I asked tea.
However, this mystery has finally been cleared up. After I said “Tea, please “ as always, the flight attendant replied, “green or English?”
At last, I realized that I should have said “Green tea, please.”
If you are a native English speaker, this sounds very stupid to you. But I’m sure that most Japanese people believe when you say “tea”, you mean English tea. It must be a Japanese perceived notion, but if Japanese people want green tea, they say green tea, not tea.
This is a trivial matter. But now I’m a little bit afraid to speak in English because I might have a lot of perceived notions and cause confusion. Learning English is still very hard.

Thank you!

Thats interesting. Maybe it depends on where you are flying from or to. When I was flying to Japan before, I had to go from London to Bangkok first. When the air hostess asked me "tea or coffee?" I was given black english tea. But when I flew from Bangkok on the same air-line just a few hours later, I was given green tea and when I flew back it was the same. Even when I started in Bangkok, when I was flying to England, I was given black tea again.

Now that I think about it, it's quite confusing!

[quote=YuriTokoro;800831]Hi, Columbine. I’m sorry! I had thought you lived in the US.

The first time my friend tried it, her japanese freind's response was more or less "I can't come to your house for dinner; I don't have a kitchen," which caused a lot of confusion and we ended up doing something else instead. Eventually she came to dinner when she was in the UK, though, so it worked out in the end![/QUOTE
It must have been great confusion of your friend.
I’m relieved to hear it worked out in the end.


Actually, the mont blanc and other sweets in the picture were not Japanese confectionery. They are called “yougashi 洋菓子（ようがし）” =western confectionery. “洋” is from“西洋(せいよう)”.

Japanese confectionery is like this picture. I offer Japanese ones when the guests are male.

Not to worry. Sometimes it's easy to miss the location tag.
My friend was very confused. She even thought maybe she had asked "can we have dinner at your house" by mistake because her Japanese wasn't so good. In retrospect, we all found it very funny.

Hee~ I know mont blanc aren't really Japanese sweets, but they're hard to find where I am, so I always assossiate them with my time in Japan. I like Wagashi too though. There's now a shop in London that sells them. I always go there if i'm in the city, and I always spend too much!

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by Koir

Very interesting post, Yuri. It definitely illustrates how the Japanese culture has different preconceptions compared to Western countries. I do admit to being confused about the central concept in the first few read-throughs however. This showed me that I also have preconceptions about the basic meaning of "tea", a very useful thing I should be aware of.

Hi, Koir.
A reason of the confusion is that many Japanese people somehow believe “tea” is “English tea”, and Japanese tea is always said “green tea”.
You also have preconceptions about the meaning of tea? What are your preconceptions?

Even in Western countries such as Canada and the United States there are preconceptions. Years ago, I was in the U.S. and was surprised at the confusion between "chips" and "French Fries". I was at a restaurant and ordered a sandwich with chips. I said that expecting to get French fries, but when my order came, on the plate with the sandwich was a small bag of potato chips.

I didn’t know Canadian people call “French Fries” “chips”.
So, in Canada, sliced and fried thin potato is “potato chips”, and “French fries” is “chips”?
We say “French fries” “Fried Potato” here.

This happened once or twice afterwards until I started saying "French fries" when I ordered a meal. No wonder the server looked at me oddly...I was ordering something she wasn't familiar hearing in that context.

I think you may have chances to watch American TV programs. Do you? If the people in the TV programs say “French fries”, do you feel it’s odd or unfamiliar?

Please tell me.
What do you say the vegetables behind the meat in the picture below? Are they “garnish”?

As for the revisions:

"As you may know" was put at the beginning of the initial sentence because it works better as a lead-in to catch the reader's attention and get them thinking about their experiences as airplane passengers. The word "may" was added to make the writer's assumption of the reader's experience less of an absolute thing in case the reader has not flown in a plane in the past.

Of course! I should have said “may”. There are people who has never been abroad.

In the next paragraph, two instances of "always" were removed to eliminate repetition. Repeating a word or phrase lessens its impact and could confuse the reader, as it demonstrates the writer's feelings that he or she is not keeping the reader's attention.

I will try to repeat a word or phrase. Japanese people don’t mind repeating a word in Japanese language, so I sometimes forget to avoid it.

Additionally, some verb tenses were changed (eg. replied to "would reply") to better describe the past actions. As a native English speaker, but not one well known to the finer points of proper grammar, it reads better and more accurately.

‘After I would say "Tea, please", the flight attendant would reply, “Green or English?”’
This sentence sounds like this happened several times, but it happened only once when I got to know that “tea” also means “green tea” and that I should have said “English tea”.
Can “would” mean “it happened only once”?

"Very stupid" was changed to "odd" in the next paragraph mainly due to my feelings on the subject. I do not think what you're saying is stupid, just an illustration of different cultural preconceptions.

I see. Thank you.

Finally, do not let possible preconceptions make you scared to speak English. Interacting with people and finding out about their culture and preconceived notions can only help both sides become more knowledgeable about the world.

Hope that helps, Yuri!

Thanks!
Still! I wish I could have a chat with you in Japanese!!

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by Columbine

Thats interesting. Maybe it depends on where you are flying from or to. When I was flying to Japan before, I had to go from London to Bangkok first. When the air hostess asked me "tea or coffee?" I was given black english tea. But when I flew from Bangkok on the same air-line just a few hours later, I was given green tea and when I flew back it was the same. Even when I started in Bangkok, when I was flying to England, I was given black tea again.

What’s “black English tea”? My dictionary says “black tea” is a kind of Chinese teas.
Do you say “English tea” “red tea”?

Is this Japanese perceived notion? English tea comes with Western food, green tea comes with Japanese food, and Chinese black tea comes with Chinese food.
So, when they gave me green tea with western food, I felt it very odd.

My friend was very confused. She even thought maybe she had asked "can we have dinner at your house" by mistake because her Japanese wasn't so good. In retrospect, we all found it very funny.

Did the Japanese person get it funny too?

Hee~ I know mont blanc aren't really Japanese sweets, but they're hard to find where I am, so I always assossiate them with my time in Japan. I like Wagashi too though. There's now a shop in London that sells them. I always go there if i'm in the city, and I always spend too much!

How about other cake in the picture? Have you had like them?
I’ve heard, in the US, they don’t sell cut cakes. They usually sell whole cakes.
Which do they sell in your country? Whole or cut? I’ve been in England twice, but I’ve never seen English confectionery.

[ColinHowell]

Originally Posted by YuriTokoro

What’s “black English tea”? My dictionary says “black tea” is a kind of Chinese teas.
Do you say “English tea” “red tea”?

By "black English tea", Columbine means Western "black tea". (Since the English popularized tea drinking in the West, it has become strongly associated with them.) Black tea is made from the same kind of tea leaves as what the Chinese call "red tea", but the Western drink tends to be stronger, and unlike Chinese red tea, Western black tea is usually not drunk straight. In Britain it is usually drunk with milk and sugar; in America it's more often drunk with lemon and either sugar or honey.

By the way, while Western black tea may have originated in China, a lot of it is grown in India. (During the 19th century, the British managed to smuggle tea plants out of China and cultivate them in India, breaking their former dependence on China for tea supplies.)

Is this Japanese perceived notion? English tea comes with Western food, green tea comes with Japanese food, and Chinese black tea comes with Chinese food.
So, when they gave me green tea with western food, I felt it very odd.

I don't think that notion is unique to Japan at all. I too would find it odd to be served either green tea or Chinese tea with Western food.