Comments on: Tokyo: Elegantly Multilingual

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[…] multicultural cities more dramatically integrated. While that is already the case in many cities (Tokyo for example), a sense of “that’s just how it’s always been” is conveyed in Bebop that gives the […]

By: Jenny Zhang

Jenny Zhang — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:11:54 +0000

As a member of the language on the move team and a Chinese national, I visited Tokyo last month. Tokyo’s multilingualism and the efficiency of Tokyo-jin genuinely amazed me. I do not speak Japanese except for a few phrases such as “ありがとう” and “だいじょうぶ”. However, I didn’t find it hard to navigate and enjoy Tokyo. Tokyo has established a much more sophisticated multilingual service system than most English-speaking ‘inner circle’ countries where most citizens remain monolingual. Compared to Tokyo, Sydney has much less multilingual signs in public places to cater for the needs of non-English speaking visitors. The lack of multilingual services has negatively affected Australian tourist industry as evidenced in Ingrid and Kimie’s tourist research project. But, we seldom heard people complaining about it in the mainstream media. Moreover, I’m a bit tired of those complaining that Asian cities like Tokyo and Beijing haven’t done enough to learn English to cater for foreign tourists. Those complaining of the language barrier are not real travelers. For travelers, all fun and adventure would be gone if the world were really flat and spoke in just one tongue. Maybe we shall ask who is afraid of a foreign language.

By: Khan

Khan — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:46:25 +0000

Thanks for your post which is full of insights and offer opportunities to reflect on my beliefs about Tokyo as truly monolingual country in the world. Just to share that this view is so deeply ingrained in general people and academics’ mind that it is difficult to convince them that change is the only permanent thing in life. While discussing the issue of language in education in Pakistan at a dialogue initiated by British council in Pakistan, it came out that If Japan can thrive with a single language why Pakistan can’t. I referred to work done on Language on the move as the reference to update their perception. I am not sure how many will get bothered to do so. Anyway, thanks for a lovely post. At least I think I will be able to present a well-informed picture to my sociolinguistics students. It is wonderful work.

Khan

By: Kimie Takahashi 高橋君江

Kimie Takahashi 高橋君江 — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 23:35:03 +0000

In reply to Ingrid Piller. Ingurisshu okkei?;-)

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:18:54 +0000

In reply to steven.

My experience has been the same as Margaret’s. I’ve travelled all over Japan and never seen one of these signs anywhere. The only reliable account I’ve seen documenting their existence concerned bath houses in Hokkaido – and it noted that they no longer have such signs.

I’d be interested to know where you’ve seen them Steven.

I’ve certainly been turned away from plenty of restaurants and hotels – but I’ve got no reason to believe to that that was for any reason other than them already being booked up.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 11:03:07 +0000

A bit of a tangent, but following up on the message above…

White, middle-aged American woman with
I am having trouble finding all these hotels and inns that reject foreigners. I have stayed at five or six small or medium-sized hotels and inns in the past 6 months. I was never asked for my passport.

I was told that a hotel was full when I was in Zao in May. I didnt like the rude refusal and wondered if it was because I was a non-Japanese. I quickly found another hotel in the same area. After checking in, I explained the above experience. The clerk said that she couldnt believe it because business was so bad that nobody could afford to discriminate against anyone. She called the first hotel for me and asked for a room. She was told that the hotel was full because of a school trip. I have made last-minute reservations in Tokyo and in Chiba and in Fukushima by driving around and asking for a room. I have not seen one sign nor been turned down at one place

By: steven

steven — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 04:14:20 +0000

these signs are certainly useful and the tourism bodies are to be applauded for setting up such a great system. the next step is to have the ‘no foreigner’ and ‘japanese only’ signs removed from hotels, restaurants, bars and public baths that still exist throughout japan. this will further help all non japanese living and travelling in japan to feel even more welcome…

By: Ingrid Piller

Ingrid Piller — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:35:28 +0000

In reply to Mike.

hm … I would have agreed if my 8-yr-old child hadn’t come away from a week in Japan with the conviction that Japanese is super-easy. The Best Western hotel where we stayed was “besto westo,” beer is “beeru,” friend is “frendu” … the up-side of a century of loan-words I suppose …

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 12:08:43 +0000

The provision of English signs and announcements in Japan is certainly impressive – but Japan can still be more of a linguistic challenge for overseas visitors than many countries that make far less effort to make their cities foreigner-friendly. This is simply because Japanese is so different to English (and in fact all other languages).

Irsquo;ve commonly heard it said that you can guess the meanings of many words in foreign languages, because they tend to be similar to those in English. This view is perhaps understandable in Europe, where almost all languages belong to a single family, and all countries use either the Roman alphabet, or a closely related script. This means Europeans are used to having little or no problem reading proper nouns and many other words when travelling abroad.

The experience of being faced with a completely unfamiliar writing system, and a language which shares little core vocabulary or grammar can come as a bit of a shock!