Why do most Japanese women sound like they are talking to babies?

[yukio_michael]

Yeah, a lot of the culture is exactly like that and dumbed down to some extent. It's why there are detailed, and of course animated, signs in stations explaining how to buy a ticket, in cafeteria lines on how to pick up a tray, choose your food, deposit the tray, on bridges not to jump into the water and drown

I find it sort of cute that from going shopping in Shibuya, to getting airline tickets at HIS, and everywhere there are cute-childish cartoons penned to accompany the texts, your train ride, your menus, etcetera...

A lot of people describe this as a sort of infantile side of Japan, but it doesn't bother me so much. Japan does however have the unfortunate side effect of almost as you say of being treated as if it were a child.

 

[ghettocities]

I find it sort of cute that from going shopping in Shibuya, to getting airline tickets at HIS, and everywhere there are cute-childish cartoons penned to accompany the texts, your train ride, your menus, etcetera...
A lot of people describe this as a sort of infantile side of Japan, but it doesn't bother me so much. Japan does however have the unfortunate side effect of almost as you say of being treated as if it were a child.

But why would the people of Japan want Japan itself to be their (sort of,) mother. And someone had asked on the first page they didn't know what sound(s) we were referring to -- there is no way you couldnt have heard it yet! Like people were saying Japanese pop music, a great example, almost seems structured that way. I remember listening to it (the JPOP I listen to is from the 90s before this whole hiphop/rap beat influence) and thinking to myself 'do kids sing a long to this or what? or am I the only guy rocking out to this? I mean it sounds like it's for kids but i'm rocking out to this and so is it for kids? because I mean, you could really rock out to this.'

Does Japan need this type of babying?

A better question: If you take it (all the baby-talk,) away would it effect Japan, would it make the people of Tokyo more lifeless than they are looking already? Whats the point? That's what I really want to know. Everything has a purpose, a meaning, everything has had thought put into it, so... I don't know, maybe Japan realizes that life itself is just death in tin foil and so if they speak like they are speaking to new life it's appreciated more than speaking to near death.



Josh

 

[GodEmperorLeto]

Have you ever watched Japanese (and Korean, for that matter) movies? They are extreme opposites on the spectrum. Chinese, English, and American movies can be really violent, and really sappy, too. But the Japanese/Korean violent movies are ultra-violent, and their "heartwarming", or "romantic" flicks are ultra-sappy.

This whole cutsy-girl thing is part of that.

As an aside, one of my Japanese students tried to hook me up with one of her Japanese friends. Well, the girl speaks fluent English, but she also speaks with that high-pitched squeaky, baby-talk voice, and it drove me up the wall. Interestingly enough, my student has a very nice alto voice, very soothing to listen to. I could imagine myself sitting on a veranda, sipping sake at a teahouse, while the rain falls lightly in a Japanese garden, listening to her talk with my eyes closed. But the baby-talk girl? Hellz no!

 

[yukio_michael]

Sitting on the veranda would probably have you sitting right underneath the laundry.

 

[ricecake]

Its supposed to be "feminine" and its whats practically beaten into them all the way through to adulthood.

Agree ..... it's part of upbringing for Japanese girls to act FEMININE.

Heck,Japan is the ONLY NATION has cooking school for bride-to-be's.

 

[GodEmperorLeto]

Sitting on the veranda would probably have you sitting right underneath the laundry.

I said it was a dream, dammit!!! Leave me my fantasies!!!

*Hangs head in shame*

 

[Elizabeth]

Does Japan need this type of babying?
A better question: If you take it (all the baby-talk,) away would it effect Japan, would it make the people of Tokyo more lifeless than they are looking already? Whats the point?

It works to relax and soften around the edges a bit a still very hierarchical and strictly status conscious society, in my opinion...

 

[dreamer]

Some people like it, some other hate it... that's the way it is...

 

[yukio_michael]

A pretty good example of girl-pop that took Japan by storm:

Ai Outsuka, Sakuranbo.

...and, another good example of burikko style:

3nin Matsuri, Chu chu natsu paati (Kiss Kiss, Summer Party).

Some people like it, some others hate it... that's the way it is...

Exactly. This is the middle ground between apathy & fanaticism.

 

[ishnar]

This is not strictly a female thing, nor are they talking like you're a baby. It is part of keigo. Not only does the language change depending on your status but it is also humbling to raise your voice an octive to show the other person they have higher status. These same women might also lower their voice an octive in addition to using a more masculine language to show that they consider themselves above you. Essentially, it's a way to be a little more humble than -masu without going all the way to super polite, formal language.

Males will do it too at times to increase their politeness. They just do it less often because males have higher status than females. More often you'll see guys dropping their voice an octive to be more assertive.

 

[Glenn]

You sure it's an octave? That's quite a difference in pitch (twice as high as they normally speak).

 

[ghettocities]

This is not strictly a female thing.

The trying to sound like they are talking to a baby thing is strictly a female thing. Talking quieter is for both sexes, the family who has adopted me and my unacceptable-to-most happenings has this cousan I go to see at this certain sunkus just because he says "Irrashaimase" like it's a nursery rhyme.
I told him he should get a job at QVCjapan or the shop channel just because whenever he talks I buy stuff. He talks soothingly though and not like I'm a baby. There is a big difference,
like you listen to all JPOP and no JPOP has guys sounding like they are talking to kids unless they are kids singing but then that's their target audience it's not a kid singing to grown ups when it's a male. You see what i'm saying?
Girls on the other hand, sing in JPOP like they are talking to babies and you can go around Akihabara and nerds are all singing the songs like their mom had just sang them a lullaby.


You make it sound all scientificult, it's just Japanese womens' baby talk and I'm trying to figure out why they do that, I'm not trying to figure out how to clone DNA or dissect a frog.


Josh

 

[gaijinalways]

It is a taught politeness for women, part of keigo for ladies. Fortunately my wife doesn't use it at home with me. That high register would give me a headache, total 'falsetto speech'!

 

[yukio_michael]

I think there is a difference between the polite speach of women, and, what you see on television & popular music etcetera, what we are talking about here, burikko...

 

[doinkies]

Yeah, most women don't speak as high-pitched as a burikko. XD

 

[yukio_michael]

Yeah, most women don't speak as high-pitched as a burikko. XD

Now, I'm just confused about the original post... as most women in Japan don't speak in a 'high-pitched voice'...

Women's speach is different from men's speach, for me (and probably a lot of people) it's easier to understand compared to rough men's speach... Its slower and more carefully pronounced...

There is a difference of course between how women speak in the office versus how they speak between each other in conversation outside of the office, but I've never attributed this to anything but custom, not especially tonality...

ed: re-reading the original post, it's definitely refering to burikko, nothing to do with how Japanese women really speak to each other during daily life, and I'd imagine, if a Japanese woman spoke in the office the same way she would if she were selling laundry detergent on television, she'd quickly be shown the door.

 

[ArmandV]

When I first read the beginning of this thread, I really didn't know what this baby-talk thing was all about. I was imagining someone walking into a sushi restaurant in Japan and a girl/woman talking in a high-pitch saying, "You here for some sushi-wooshie, snookums?"

 

[Glenn]

It is a taught politeness for women, part of keigo for ladies. Fortunately my wife doesn't use it at home with me. That high register would give me a headache, total 'falsetto speech'!

Technically it's head voice. Women's falsetto is rarely heard, unless you listen to Mariah Carey. /off-topic

 

[Minty]

Taiwanese girls also talk in this way.

 

[ghettocities]

I often tell people while talking about Japanese girls I've been with "she had an anime voice," and they all know what I mean. That should probably tell me something right there.

Josh

 

[Ewok85]

That should probably tell me something right there.

... that anime voice actors/actresses are Japanese??

 

[yukio_michael]

I think the answer to this question is that they are either a) paid to do so to appeal to some demographic or other, or b) to appeal to men who expect them to appear defenseless and child-like, read non-threatening...

Shortened version: because they are expected to. Real women who speak to each other, their husbands, their boyfriends do not speak like this.

Personally, I find it adorable if someone talks to you like this, if you are paying for company at mizu shoubai--- you are definitely paying for fantasy at the same time.

 

[gaijinalways]

Personally, I find it adorable if someone talks to you like this, if you are paying for company at mizu shoubai--- you are definitely paying for fantasy at the same time.

Ah, now I know why we are different,; you are rich and living in a fantasy world


PS Rumored I look like Bill Gates' brother and have more charm, but alas little of my brother's money!

 

[yukio_michael]

Ah, now I know why we are different,; you are rich and living in a fantasy world.

Sometimes, I wish that I were.

 

[GodEmperorLeto]

Shortened version: because they are expected to. Real women who speak to each other, their husbands, their boyfriends do not speak like this.
Personally, I find it adorable if someone talks to you like this, if you are paying for company at mizu shoubai--- you are definitely paying for fantasy at the same time.

No, man, I know some Japanese girls who even speak English with that high-pitched baby-talk anime voice because it is their natural voice. Now, granted, natural doesn't sound that bad. But when they are trying to sound like that, my God, it makes me cringe.