Where Does This Idea Come From?
 

I've been wondering about this quite some time but was always afraid of asking.

Why do many people seem to think it cooler to write letters or cards to Japanese friends in Japanese when they aren't able to write them by themselves? We get these types of requests in the Japanese Help section from people who, later on, turn out to be complete noobs to the Japanese language.

Why do they want to send something that isn't their own and something that their Japanese friend will find out in a second was clearly written by someone else? Who do these letters make happy? What's wrong with writing it in your first language even if you had to use simple language?

I have no problem with this if the language of communication has always been Japanese between the two persons. Otherwise, this phenomenon leaves me in the dark.

I am not sure if it is a matter of "being cooler" as much as a desire to make their Japanese friend happy.

However, I am afraid the result would be the opposite. If I were a Japanese living in a foreign country, I would probably be happier receiving a note in the native language of that country (assuming I understand it to some degree) rather than in Japanese.

I don't know but Sashimister-san, you seem to be a little bit too angry at the things around you.

Don't follow me around, spammer. If you've got nothing to say, don't post.

I think the letters to their Japanese friends is understandable. What irks me is the people designing t-shirts, getting tattoos, trying to make their video game or novel character have a Japanese name that means something like "dark sinister man of the cape" or whatever.

There are still vestiges of orientalism in the West. Orientalism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kanji are mystic, cool, exotic, weird, and grab people's attention. By using them, you obtain the exotic traits of the Asians.

That is what a lot of people think, based on my experience interacting with people.

Thinking back to when I was starting out, most of my Japanese friends both here and abroad were naturally aware that I was learning the language. My speaking was pretty poor so we spoke english in person but personally most of the letters i wrote were in japanese for absolutely everything I could manage, and English for everything I couldn't. However, some of my friends didn't speak much English, so yes, there were a couple of times I went and got advice on how to write a letter that I couldn't manage alone, for example, if I had something that needed to be conveyed accurately. And a lot of the time the Japanese people wrote back (subject to ability) in English.

I agree that trying to write a whole letter in Japanese when you don't have even a basic idea of the writing system is a silly idea. But I don't think it's silly to write to your japanese friends in japanese, even if you aren't fluent though, or to try and include at least some. It's good practice for you and it shows effort and consideration as well. On which note, I don't think the idea of it is just to look 'cool' either. I didn't do it to be cool, it was just a gesture.
I certainly can't say that i'd be offended if someone wrote to me in English, even if it was bad. And I don't know why the commonality of it surprises you; most textbooks lead students towards the idea at some point or other.

Speaking of which. I need a character name that means most honorable badass who does not seem to care about anyone but saves the whole town of dying people while wearing black. Make it happen.



I think they believe it will make them appear cool which is a very stupid reason because they will just look like even more of a loser when they are found out. And I agree tatoos in a language you do not understand are just a terrible ideas in so many ways.

スネイプ？You might get done for plagiarism though. :P

I think it's because people enjoy communicating with others around the world. Just because you want to comminicate with someone across the world, doesn't mean that you have any desire to learn their language. Many people use translators every day to send letters and messages around the world.

In fact, I have a cousin that lives in Bulgaria who used to write us. He didn't know English, and went to a translator to have his messages translated for us to read. It wasn't "cooler" to write his letters that way, it was just convient and helped communication between us.

I know when my wife and I were dating she always appreciated that I wrote or spoke in Japanese. In my experience people like seeing you make an effort like that. It's being considerate, even if its horribly written and in Romanji. I feel that people's impression that I or anyone else would do it only because it "looks cool" is kind might be a little inconsiderate.

While I think I understand where you are coming from, Sashimister, I don't think it's really that heinous a thing to want to greet or express gratitude to someone in their own language, even if you don't speak/write the language yourself.

As a similar example, my parents will soon meet my Japanese mother-in-law for the first time. They have asked me to teach them a couple of appropriate greeting phrases in Japanese- would you also see that as odd/wrong? My parents are also "complete noobs to the Japanese language", but they just thought it would show some respect towards my mother-in-law to greet her in Japanese when they meet her.

My mother-in-law speaks very little English and I can imagine she has been practicing phrases to greet my parents with as well- she does it to me occasionally, busting out an English phrase when I least expect it!

Surely there are much worse things that people can do than attempt to write a card in a language they don't know well/at all. I don't think it's really something to criticise or even spend a lot of time thinking about.

Does that say snape??
And yes I ran that through a translator.

Sarasi, my mother in law does the same thing. It's awesome that they try especially since it reminds me that she cares enough to want to communicate and I'm not just here because she wants to see the kid.

Looks like only MMM and KyleGoez read my original post carefully.

I did read it carefully, and I have no idea why you find it so bothersome that you would start a thread about it. There are more important things to be concerned about, surely.

"Important" is subjective. Why are you wasting your time posting in a thread that you consider to be of an "unimportant" topic?

This is exactly how I would feel if my non-Japanese friend who I knew didn't read or write Japanese sent me a letter in Japanese just because I'm Japanese.

If, however, someone that's been studying Japanese did the same, then I would feel the complete opposite and be very happy. It would make no difference how horrible the Japanese was.

STOP.

I have eliminated the attacking posts from this thread. Either stay on topic or face further action.

This only applies because you speak English also, right? I mean, if you didn't speak English and a long-lost cousin who grew up in Hawaii wanted to establish contact with you, Japanese would be the preferred method (even if the Hawaii person didn't speak Japanese and had to have a professional translation done), right?

Of course, if the other person doesn't speak English, then it makes sense to do your best to get that message into Japanese.

I think it is safe to assume if you are communicating with someone from Japan, it isn't out of the blue and either you know Japanese or they know English (or whatever other language). So I think in the case you describe, this would be acceptable.

The origin of this thread is that someone wanted to write a letter to a Japanese boy who was going to Toronto. I think if that boy is going to an English-speaking city, then he should have at least known some English.

The letter about the boy leaving Toronto is not mentioned on the OP. These kinds of requests happen all the time, which is why the thread was created.