Some days ago now a teacher told us in class that if a Japanese tell us that we have a good accent or that we speak good Japanese. It doesn't really mean that we are good.
They usually use the word "jouzu" when saying that someone is "good" or "skilled" at something.
I really feel like this is true, because I've been told my Japanese is good when I know myself that I could barely form a sentence. And today I just saw a video of a guy talking to a Japanese person for just a few seconds, in really crappy Japanese both grammatically and accent-ly (lol), and that person was still like "Oh, you're good at Japanese".
Thing is, I've always been good with the Japanese "accent", it comes easy to me. I feel that I make a lot of mistakes in other places, but atleast I got the accent down! That's why I felt really confused when the teachers told people in class who have a good accent but still frequently makes mistakes on that part, how good their accent were.
I was confused because no one ever told me my accent was good. So I began to question if my accent really was as good as I tought. Maybe I sucked and I didn't even know it?
So eventually, after a long time of waiting and confusion, I asked a Japanese friend how my accent was. Thankfully they said I was really good, like a Japanese person. Then mentioned some people that can speak very well but whose accents aren't as good.
Big weight off of my shoulders there.
BUT, Japanese people (and people in general) don't really like to tell you if you are bad at something so you can never be 100% sure. Let's just hope noone has said anything about my accent because it's good, and not because it's crap.
.... Soo, what DO Japanese say if you speak REALLY good Japanese. No accent, no grammar mistakes, I asked in class.
The teachers answer was: They don't say anything. They just stare at you (like you're a unicorn (no that last part wasn't said)).
No comments:
Post a Comment