日本ごの 性 (Japanese Language Gender) (Blog 10 Makeup)

Probably one of the best things about this last semester was the opportunity I had to learn Japanese. I have made new friends and gained skills that I will hopefully utilize in the near future. Of course, when learning a new language, you aren't privileged to the cultural information that a naturalized individual would have. Basically, what the teacher says is law and there's really no second guessing. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately) for me, Wikipedia came to the rescue, telling me that I might actually be learning the feminine way to speak in Japanese.

Because of the overly-polite way of speaking that foreign students are taught, interpretations by native speaking Japanese people might prove to be a little embarrassing. In Japan, women in general speak in a very polite manner. Therefore, a man speaking very politely, as American students are taught, would come off to be a little ... odd.

These gender specific ways of speaking seem strange to us, but it's common in many foreign countries. In fact, the Japanese actually have different pronouns for both men and women. Truly our language lacks a certain specificity that is found throughout many other parts of the world. Grasping this concept can be difficult at first, but honestly makes you respect the cultures of other countries. Gender roles in the United States are pretty clean cut. We can view something and usually catch any overt statements about gender stereotypes. The Japanese language takes for granted the specific words used to refer to men and women. However, for us, it stands out. This doesn't mean that the Japanese discriminate based on gender. It only means that culture in the rest of the world differs from our own. In this light, I have begun to rethink our own culture. Perhaps some of the things we are calling stereotypes are just part of our own way of life. Maybe holding general beliefs in what is feminine and masculine is actually what it really means to be American.