“Whenever anyone has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offense cannot reach it. ” ~Rene Descartes~
When dealing across cultures, language and intent often come front and center. The misuse of a word can lead to a tidal wave of misunderstanding and breakdown in important relationships.
Japan – just like many countries of the world – has some extremely talented second-language speakers of English. In many cases such individuals studied abroad to gain such mastery.
Because of the grammar-intensive nature of Japanese education in English, the local bilingual may have more intellectual mastery of my language than than does the off-the-cuff American steelworker chatting around the coffee maker on break.
Let it be known that I have had countless numbers of such misunderstandings in my 31 years here. The English native has learned to associate certain words or phrases with specific intention, whereas the Japanese speaker is speaking English directly from the literal meaning taught in textbooks.
Just this past week, I had a serious falling out (and making up) with a business associate whom is quite confident he understands and communicates in English efficiently. Without going into the gory details, I thought he had relegated my talent and future to the dustbin of time, but upon careful probing I realized that he was just fumbling my language.
Hey, we all make mistakes and then take things too personally. As my drill sergeant in Air Force Reserve training some 38 years ago said: “Never assume. When you assume, you make an ass out of you or me.”
A final note: Japanese and Americans see the world through a different prism. If you assume that there are more similarities than differences, you will be sadly mistaken. An American sun is yellow and a Japanese sun is red. Could there be any more fundamental difference?
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