{"id":141,"date":"2019-08-10T00:00:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-10T00:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.engoo.com\/tutors-blog\/?p=141"},"modified":"2021-05-14T10:15:48","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T10:15:48","slug":"tutoring-japanese-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tutor.engoo.com\/blog\/about-online-tutoring\/tutoring-japanese-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Important Things to Know Before Teaching Japanese Students \ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf5"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan takes the word, \u201cnon-confrontational,\u201d to a new level.<\/p>\n

At my university in the US, I sometimes attended lectures in Japanese to practice the language. While the lectures were interesting, the most important lesson I took away was how to ask questions in Japanese.<\/p>\n

You know how there's often a question-and-answer time at the end of a lecture? In the US, people usually stand up and ask their question. They might even challenge the speaker.
\n\"class
\nHowever, I noticed that Japanese people would first express a million thanks for the presentation, addressing the speaker in the most respectful way, and then \u2013 and only then \u2013 ask their question. To my American ears, it sounded like they were speaking to royalty! \ud83e\udd2f\ud83e\udd2f\ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n

But to them, the Americans must have seemed rude!<\/p>\n

So how can we make sure we leave a good impression on our Japanese students? Especially those who are interacting with non-Japanese people for the first time?<\/p>\n

Clash of Communication Styles<\/h1>\n

Common Japanese reactions to foreigners include<\/a>, \"they're too direct,\" \u201cthey talk too much and don\u2019t listen enough,\u201d and \u201cthey don\u2019t pay attention to others\u2019 feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

While we don\u2019t want to apply Japanese-style politeness to English, there are a few things we can do to make sure our first-time Japanese students don\u2019t think these things of us. But how do we know if we\u2019re \u201clistening enough\u201d?
\n\"how
\nThe key lies in showing that we\u2019re listening. Maybe you\u2019ve noticed that some Japanese students respond to all of your sentences with \u201chehhhh\u201d or \u201cohhhh\u201d (as demonstrated by this comedian<\/a>), nodding, or some other sign that they're listening.<\/p>\n

This phenomenon is called \u201cbackchanneling,\u201d<\/a> and it's a way of building rapport. While English speakers backchannel as well (\u201cuh-huh,\u201d \u201cI see\u201d), Japanese people backchannel much more frequently<\/a>. So we\u2019ll want to backchannel more than we usually would when teaching Japanese students.<\/p>\n

And to make sure our students know we\u2019re \u201cpaying attention to their feelings\u201d and not being \"too direct,\u201d we\u2019ll want to more actively acknowledge their views. Instead of saying, \u201cI\u2019m not sure I agree with that,\u201d try something like, \u201cI can see what you\u2019re saying. In fact, I\u2019ve also felt the same way before. But, I have different feelings now,\u201d and then explain your own view.<\/p>\n

Desire for Privacy<\/h1>\n

On top of being less direct about their true feelings, many Japanese also prefer not to share details about their private lives. For example, only 39% of Japanese adults use social networking sites<\/a>. Compare this to South Korea and the US, which are both at 69%.<\/p>\n

In addition, Japanese people prefer social media platforms that allow anonymity and tend not to trust people they meet online<\/a>, as you can see in the following chart:
\n\"japanese
\nThis probably explains why it's especially common for Japanese students to take lessons with their webcams off. It's also easy to understand why they are slower to share personal details.<\/p>\n

So we don\u2019t want to ask too many personal questions too soon. Pay attention to any cues indicating reluctance to talk about something. \u201cIf their answers about their job were vague or very short,\u201d says Tutor Addie (\ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddf4), \u201cI wouldn't follow-up on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t bring up topics that the student didn\u2019t mention in their self-introduction. \u201cIf a student doesn\u2019t mention their job, marital status or location,\u201d says Tutor Asja (\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\udde6), \u201cI don't ask about it either.\u201d<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udccc Takeaways<\/h1>\n

Hopefully, this post has helped you better understand your Japanese students! To sum up:<\/p>\n