Japanese Language Nuances

The cluster centers on debates about non-native speakers misunderstanding Japanese communication styles, politeness levels, and cultural nuances, often defending original Japanese phrasing against English translations.

📉 Falling 0.5x Politics & Society
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#3581
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Keywords

e.g HN legendsoflocalization.com YouTube N2 JLPT japanese english japan language speak speaking culture talk tokyo english speaking

Sample Comments

snowryd88 Nov 1, 2017 View on HN

I guess you're not native to Japanese

Raphael Dec 27, 2008 View on HN

Key phrase, "as a non-Japanese speaker".

mcc1ane Mar 25, 2021 View on HN

Japanese-speaking people have trouble understanding each other?

TeeMassive Nov 15, 2022 View on HN

I dabbled in Japanese; you are not comparing the same thing.

elldoubleyew Aug 15, 2022 View on HN

Sure!One more note that you may or may not be aware of:Culture and language are closely intertwined, they drive each other, and Japanese is certainly no exception to this.Japanese isn't spoken as literally or certainly as English is, especially to strangers. They use this system called "Keigo" which you'll find translated as "politeness" but that doesn't really completely encompass the idea. It is just a way of speaking in certain situations that cover

latentsea Aug 15, 2025 View on HN

Guess Japanese people just can't talk to one another without subtitles.

thaumasiotes Aug 22, 2021 View on HN

You're going to have to take what you can get on an English-speaking forum. Move to a Japanese forum and you can find all the Japanese perspectives you want.

superdug Oct 24, 2022 View on HN

Thank you! It was bothering me as well. I speak very little Japanese and was honestly curious. Maybe that was part of the point?

tasuki Mar 3, 2025 View on HN

The author is Japanese, cut them some slack.

brianobush Aug 25, 2011 View on HN

Great idea, but you really need Japanese :)