Ambiguous Japanese

[mongolshuudan]

Hello, everyone!

On the internet and in Japan-related literature it's rumoured, that Japanese language is ambiguous and the Japanese prefer expressign themselves evasively in order not to hurt feelings of the interlocutor. They say that the Japanese hardly ever say "no", that words like まあまあ、どうも、ちょっと、いい加減 are highly ambiguous.

Some authors of essays, that I read in Russian even say, that an innocuous expression「お世話になりました」sometimes causes misunderstandings between the Japanese and foreigners, and phrases like 「と思われる」、「と言っても良いのではないかと思わ れる」are an attempt to decline the responsibility of one's own words (that, from my point for view, might be truth, though of course it's something subconscious). And in general, to find out what a Japanese person really think is the task for a spy.

What do you think? Is 曖昧な日本語 a fact or a myth? Have you ever experienced Japanese ambiguity? Have you ever been in the situations, when you couldn't understand a Japanese interlocutor due to the ambiguity?

I asked my Japanese acquaintances and they say "no, we don't think so. Ok, we say 「考えさせてください」instead of direct "no". But everybody knows, what it means!"

I'm trying to conduct a small research and I would be happy, if you shared you opinion.
宜しくお願いします。（笑）

 

[eeky]

I am not very knowledgeable about this subject, but I sometimes wonder if the special nature of this Japanese evasiveness/circumlocation/politeness language thing is a little exaggerated. There are all kinds of common cicumlocutory expressions in English too, and, I imagine, in every other language. I can imagine situations where "Let me think about it" would be a clear "no" in English, for example. There are also pitfalls where a seemingly polite or innocuous expression turns out to be not so polite. A classic example is "Please ... (do something)", or even worse "Kindly ... (do something)", which many learners think is a polite way of asking someone for help or for a service, but actually sounds like you're giving an instruction.

 

[Mike Cash]

Oh, it exists.

But I don't think it causes problems for people who are native speakers and equally importantly share the same culture. The problems come mainly when people not familiar with both are involved.

As eeky say, though, the same thing happens in English. I know full well that my company's 検討します doesn't mean they're actually considering doing something that we would like to see done....no more than my father's "I'll think about it" meant I should have any expectations of a favorable response to whatever it was I asked for.

One of my favorite bits of linguistic/social farce is the use of 事情 and how there seems to be an universal implicit agreement to never ask for elaboration on just exactly what sort of 事情 is involved. Same goes for 用事....when somebody says 用事がある you practically never hear anybody ask just precisely what sort of 用事 they have. It is just a social agreement....you don't ask me this time, and I won't ask you the next time.

Japanese can "read between the lines" because they know where the lines are. Foreigners sometimes don't.and get confused whether we're on a line or between lines.

 

[mongolshuudan]

Oh really?! As a learner I also thought that "please do" was polite.

Though for some reasons I always use "could you please...". Anyway, I agree that any language have ambiguous expressions. It is probably natural to give an ambiguous reply, when the direct one is somehow risky for a speaker. And surely it also depends on a person and their style of language. Then don't you think, that the Japanese are more often in such risky situations than Europeans, Americans?

On the other hand, Japanese ambiguity seems to be inherent into the structure of the language. I meen ellipsis, passive tense. I feel, the Japanese use them much more frequently than Russians (my mother tongue sometimes becomes redundant, so a listren has a clear idea of "who, when, where, what and what for") or the English. Another thing is homonimy, that can also provoke misunderstanding.

So I personally have divided ambiguity into two: this objective one, that has to do with grammar and lexics, and subjective one, that, as Mike Cash said, is a kind of social agreements. And that if, from my point of view, is a personal perception of the language, and hence can't be proved. But I wonder, why it has become so popular?! I have never read anything about English or Italian ambiguity, whereas you will find a lot of works (both in Japanese and foreign languages) dedicated to it. Why has it become so important? Or exaggerated?

 

[mongolshuudan]

@Mike Cash,
yes, in fact the only kind of ambiguity, pointed by the Japanese was "political ambiguity", but which nation would say, that it's always clear, what their politicians want to say?

I also think that ambiguity is the problem of the outer world struggling to understand, where the lines are. But do you think it's really important for people who deal with Japan to find them? Or the problem is exaggerated and there's no need to know these nuances? Have you ever had any difficulties, because you didn't know some of social agreements? And how can a foreigner deal with it? I have found just one answer: to study. Language, culture, whatever. And I'm afraid it's the only one. But maybe I'm wrong?

 

[eeky]

Oh really?! As a learner I also thought that "please do" was polite

"please do" by itself is a polite way of encouraging or giving someone permission to do something. I was thinking of statements like "please answer this question", "please let me past", etc., which tend to sound like instructions, as if you have some authority to tell someone what to do, rather than polite requests.