Yes..yes..uh huh..

In the morning my favorite radio station, FM Yokohama, has to female DJs. I like to listen to them because I mimic their speech patterns. Females speak differently than males here. They have different expressions and speak in different tones.

One thing the Japanese do is to indicate that they are listening. The entire time you are speaking to them, they make noises to show you they are following what you are saying. It indicates understanding, not agreement. I had a hard time with this. In America, when you are talking, if someone says, “yes…yes…uh huh…yes…yes…ohhhh…yes…mmm,” then you think they are actually not paying attention. It is particularly annoying when Americans who have lived here for awhile do it while speaking English. Men say, “Hai…hai,” interspersed with a kind of manly grunting. But, for women it is much more difficult; besides the standard, “Hai” there is also varying pitches and volumes of “eehhh,” “oohhh,” “nneehh,” “mmmm,” and “ssss.” It is difficult to exactly which of these you need to use and what volume at what points in the conversation, so I practice by mimicking the DJs on FM Yokohama.

The other day I happened to be out for drinks with some friends of mine. I have been working my way through both phonetic alphabets and have about 50 survival kanji, but I still don’t read well (and it bothers me). I asked my Japanese friends if they could read all of the Kanji on all of the signs; they said yes. Then I asked if they could read all of the Kanji in the newspaper; they said no, not all of it. So, I asked them what did they if they came across kanji they didn’t understand. I know they all don’t carry dictionaries around with them. They said that if they didn’t understand the Kanji, they ignored it. It made me feel much better.

I have two new favorite Japanese words. They replace Hakkushon, which is the Japanese version of achoo. My new favorite words are (insert drum roll here) biri biri, which is the sound cloth makes when it is ripped, and zoku zoku, which are shivers caused by excitement or fear.

On my way to work this morning traffic was tied up by an accident. Glass was scattered about. Policemen were measuring and writing. Three cars were pretty well busted up. It was quite the spectacle. I am still trying to figure out how that much damage could have possibly been caused on a stretch of road regularly so congested with pedestrians, bicycles and vehicular traffic that it is simply not possible to achieve speeds above 20 KM/hr. Apparently many people are wondering the same thing, for as I passed the same spot on my way home, people were standing about pointing and gesturing and I assume conjecturing.

Have a great day!!