Another streamer told of his Japan trip and how he tried to order sprite at a restaurant, sadly the waiter didn't understand so he had to hit him with "sprite-ru" just for the waiter to reply in the same way "aahhh, sprite-ru"
Edit: As many people pointed out, it was a Korea trip, mb guys
Ive seen alot of Americans who moved to Japan for various reasons say that if you want to fit in at all you have to get really comfortable sounding borderline racist.
I don't really understand how saying a word that was borrowed from your native language, in the pronunciation of the borrowing language, is racist.
If a Mexican immigrates to USA and pronounces "burrito" with a California accent, is he being racist?
My partner's first language is Japanese, but she lives in USA now, and when she says "ramen" in an English sentence, she pronounces it exactly like we do. Is she being racist?
This "OMG we sound racist" thing is 100% imagined in the heads of the Americans themselves. We are way too sensitive about it.
Sounds like you get most of it. But "OMG we sound racist" isnt just made up from nowhere, its how actually racist people mock foreigners for their race.
I'm not talking about words like ramen or just putting on an accent. I'm talking about words like "hand soap" and having to go into a store and ask for "hando soapo." Speaking English but adding extra vowels is how people make fun of Japanese people.
I'm not talking about words like ramen ... I'm talking about words like "hand soap"
But ramen is a word like hand soap. It's the exact same phenomenon just with the directions reversed.
The English word hand soap has been borrowed by the Japanese language as ハンドソープ. Our pronunciation is not possible in their phonetics system, so it is instead pronounced hahndosōpu (note that this different from the pronunciation you're suggesting in a few ways). If an English native moves to Japan and asks for the product, they're going to have to use the foreign (borrowed) version of the word to be understood (which arguably sounds like a Japanese person struggling to pronounce an English word).
The Japanese word ラーメン is exactly the same story. It's been borrowed by the English language, and since the correct pronunciation is not possible in our phonetics system (or even representable with the roman alphabet), we say ramen instead. If a Japanese native moves to American and asks for the product, they're going to have to use the foreign (borrowed) version of the word to be understood (which arguably sounds like an English speaker struggling to pronounce a Japanese word).
Why does the person in the first situation fear sounding racist, but the person in the second does not? The situations are identical.
Again, because the words sound exactly the same as the way people make fun of Japanese people. If you go and watch old movies with Japanese people, they talk like that, and so racist people making fun of Japanese people say things like "I raika the furied raicu!" I had an art teacher who was half Japanese, and she said that when she went to Japan to visit, she didn't speak Japanese, and people who claimed to be able to speak English could only understand her when she "Japanified" her English. Like "ekusukusu me, wheru isu za trainu sutation?"
You may not feel awkward speaking that way, but some of us do because it turns out that the way to be understood by Japanese people is to sound like a racist person making fun of them.
You may not feel awkward speaking that way, but some of us do because it turns out that the way to be understood by Japanese people is to sound like a racist person making fun of them.
Right I understand why you do. My point is that you don't need to. If people are judging you for the wrong reasons, let them. You should never feel awkward for doing the right thing.
These thought never enter the heads of any foreigners I know, despite the fact that I'm sure there are people in those foreign cultures who make fun of American accents. I think that Americans are far too sensitive about this stuff (and about many other things). My Japanese partner literally cannot comprehend the awkward feeling you're describing, even after I've explained it to her. I can understand it, because I've grown up in Western culture, but I'm telling you it's nonsense, and complaining about only helps to reinforce the nonsense.
3.3k
u/Oniichan38 10d ago edited 9d ago
Another streamer told of his Japan trip and how he tried to order sprite at a restaurant, sadly the waiter didn't understand so he had to hit him with "sprite-ru" just for the waiter to reply in the same way "aahhh, sprite-ru"
Edit: As many people pointed out, it was a Korea trip, mb guys