#Non-native English teacher

[themoneysavvyblog]

Finding an ESL Teaching Job as a Non-Native English Speaker

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you may remember that last year, I volunteered teaching ESL for 2 weeks in Guatemala. I also wanted to make a career switch to ESL teaching. However, it didn’t happen. A few people reached-out to me with questions on how to find an ESL teaching job as a non-native English speaker. My first language is French. I was born and raised in France before coming to…

[littlemizzlinguistics]

It’s very kind of people I speak other languages with to assume that my slow comprehension and endless requests for repetition are as a result of us not speaking my first language, when in reality, my auditory processing is just complete shit.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

English 🤝 Hebrew

Shortening words until they are unintelligible to outsiders

[greenishness]

truly find posts that make fun of british/australian accents soooo annoying at this point it literally just sounds like american exceptionalism to me... our glorious normal english their bastardous freak english or whatever.. you are not punching up

[chaoswillcalmusdown]

ahhhhhhh i love it when my swedish teacher pal asks me for tips on swedish rap songs she can use while teaching imagery bc and i quote "the stuff the kids listen to these days is a bit too flat" lmao

[msue0027]

I constantly forget that for some English teacher isn't a teacher of their (probably) first and most important foreign language without which you can do basically nothing in today's world. But it is a teacher of their first language ever, and they learn about vowels, words making, grammatic, orthography, literature, long dead authors (who have been writing in different speech tbh), what feelings we can see in that poem, how to write a letter and how to speak up wisely or something. All in English. Wow. For them English isn't lists of vocab or trying to understand those GODDAMN tenses.

That's wild.

[stubz]

Fenrir smiled as he watched his little love work. He came to surprise her with a dinner date after work but it seemed like there a few stragglers left. Not that Kim or the children minded too much, the little children giggled as they ran from a playfully roaring Kim.

Glyka he has had the honor of meeting before, the youngling truly lived up to his name for he was sweetness itself. Sasha and Rubi on the other hand were new so he had not yet been properly introduced.

"Run Sasha! Run or she'll get you!"

"Yesh!"

The little children ran as fast as they could, well as fast as Sasha could, Glyka and Rubi didn't want to leave their friend behind for the 'monster' to get. Just as any good warriors should do!

"Ra! I'll gobble you up-oh shoot!" Fenrir winced as he watched his little love slip on a stray toy and tumble backwards.

"I'm okay! Just uh, gonna take a moment. Friggin Legos..."

"Quick let's hide."

"Yesh." "Ye."

As far as Fenrir could tell, the two little humans were still learning how to speak. Which was surprising as they looked to be about 4 years old...he thinks. Human children are so much smaller than orc children so it's hard for Fenrir to accurately guess ages.

For the most part the two rarely said a word other than the handful that they could confidently say like 'ye(sh)' which was yes and 'no' which was obviously no. Despite this, Kim and Max managed just fine as did the other children. Never were the two excluded from games, always asked yes or no questions, they were treated like everyone else by both the younglings and teachers.

Said little children scurry over towards where Fenrir sits on the ground and hide behind him. The orc's massive frame easily hiding the three of them.

"Mister Fenrir, can we hide here?" Glyka whispered.

"Yes you may Glyka, actually, hold on." Taking out his folded up cloak, the orc puts it on and drapes it over the children behind him. "Stay still and Ki-Miss Kim won't find you." he shuffled to make sure everyone was covered.

"Thank you."

"Merci."

"Cпасибо."

"...Вы говорите на моем языке?" he peered under his cloak the children. "Je ne pensais pas qu'on enseignait la langue de la noblesse orque ici." he spoke to Rubi.

For a moment no one spoke until Sasha and Rubi began speaking non-stop at the same time.

"Vous parlez français!" the little girl beamed.

"Вы говорите по-русски!" the little boy giggled.

"Athea peut-elle venir à mon anniversaire?"

"Вы можете поднять машину?"

"Uh, wait, по очереди. Soulever une voiture?"

"You speak French and Russian?"

Finally Kim had gotten up from the floor and came to investigate the blanket orc fort.

"French and Russian? But this is orcish, Sasha speaks the common tongue and Rubi speaks the nobility tongue."

"Oh that's so cool! Are you sure our species never had contact with the other before? Cause French and Russian are the official languages in the countries they're from. Rubi is French and Sasha is Russian, they're still learning English."

"...I thought they just couldn't speak yet. I thought they might be toddlers still." he examined the two, lifting them up to his eye level. The children giggled and spoke to him in their respective languages.

"No hon," she laughed. "they're 4 years old. They just need to spend more time with the others and then they'll be talking in no time...but it seems like I'll be roping in Athea and the others to spend more time with them now. Do they also speak the nobility tongue?"

"Yes, titles mean little now but the language is still taught. Athea and the others would be happy to spend more time with Rubi and Sasha. I imagine they'll be quite happy to speak in our native tongue more with friends." he smiles.

.

When the children were picked up Sasha and Rubi eagerly dragged their respective parent to Fenrir. Kim fought back a laugh at the wide eyed looks on the moms when seeing the 8 foot tall orc speak fluent French and Russian.

Talk was made, numbers were exchanged, calls on speaker phone done, and now Athea is attending Rubi's birthday as her friend and as Sasha and Glyka's translator. The boys were already invited but this will make things easier for everyone, specifically the parents.

While Fenrir and Kim left for their late dinner date a thought came onto him.

"You don't speak French or Russian. Nor does Max."

"Yep, although he's learning Spanish and Japanese."

"But...how did you communicate so perfectly with them then? Not only the language barrier but they also just rarely spoke the few words they know."

"Body language and gut feeling. We have translators for human languages but most of them only work if you can type what you want to say meaning children their age can't use them. So me and Max mainly have to rely solely on body language sometimes feeling."

"I guess when you live in a world with thousands of languages you need to."

"Yep. Sometimes I wish we only had like 5, I could learn 5 languages."

"I like your diverse world though. So many cultures and stories. Each one unique and wonderful. Just like you." he grins leaning down to kiss the top of Kim's head.

"...well...I don't actually wish that. Specially now." she smiles.

[melonymint753]

think I jumped right into overexplaining in the tags so the short answer is, depending on how you count it, between 3-9:

English (?), Mandarin, Malay, Tamil, French, German, Japanese, Arabic, Spanish

*for non americans, that’s what you attend between the ages ~11-14 btw

[isaacarellanesismyhusband]

tu sais que je t'aime bien, non? p2

pair: Fred Weasley x reader requested by anonymous

can you do a pt 2 to tu sais que je could you do a pt 2 to t’aime bien, non? where they’re at the order, and she’s still learning English, and Sirius know English so he knows what she’s saying when she makes small comments, whether about someone or about Fred. And they talk a lot in French, and she’s glad she can talk ‘normally’. she grew up without a dad, or a good father figure and that’s what Sirius was to her. And Fred learning bits of French, mainly just flirty stuff 😂

masterlist | navigation | p1

❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿

Y/N had grown used to the bustling activity at the Order of the Phoenix. Grimmauld Place was a stark contrast to the serene halls of Beauxbatons, but it had its own charm. It was chaotic and loud, with people constantly coming and going. But in all the noise, Y/N found comfort in small moments.

One of those moments was her time with Sirius Black.

Sirius had taken an immediate liking to Y/N. He was quick to realize that she wasn’t comfortable speaking English all the time, and when he found out she spoke French, he effortlessly switched languages. It was a relief to Y/N, who felt her shoulders relax every time they chatted in her native tongue.

“Comment tu vas aujourd'hui, Y/N?” Sirius asked one afternoon, as they sat in the kitchen with mugs of tea.

Y/N smiled, feeling at ease. “Je vais bien, merci. C’est agréable de parler en français.”

“Je comprends,” Sirius replied, his voice warm. “C’est bien d’avoir quelqu’un à qui parler aussi. Cette maison peut être un peu trop parfois.”

Y/N nodded, looking around at the dark walls of Grimmauld Place. It wasn’t just the house that could be overwhelming; it was everything—the war, the uncertainty, and the fact that she was so far from home. But Sirius made it feel less lonely. He’d become like a father to her, something she never really had growing up.

“Merci, Sirius. Tu es vraiment comme un père pour moi,” Y/N said softly, her voice full of emotion.

Sirius paused, his expression softening as he looked at her. “Et tu es comme une fille pour moi, Y/N. Je serai toujours là pour toi.”

The sincerity in his voice made her heart swell. It was nice to have someone who cared, who understood her without needing translation. She had Fred, of course, but there was something special about her bond with Sirius. He filled a void in her life she didn’t even know was there.

As the weeks went on, Y/N spent more and more time with Sirius, talking in French about anything and everything. They’d sit together during Order meetings, exchanging comments about the others in the room.

“Regarde Fred, il a l’air tellement concentré,” Y/N whispered one evening, watching Fred from across the room as he listened to Moody talk about the latest mission.

Sirius chuckled, leaning in closer. “Il est toujours concentré quand il s’agit de toi.”

Y/N blushed, trying to hide her smile. “Tu crois?”

“Je le sais,” Sirius replied with a knowing grin. “Il n’arrête pas de te regarder quand tu ne fais pas attention.”

Y/N felt a warm flutter in her chest. Fred had been learning bits of French too, mainly picking up on the flirty things she would say. He was getting better at it, though his accent was still terrible, which she found adorable.

One evening, after everyone else had gone to bed, Y/N and Fred were sitting together in the living room, the fire crackling softly in the fireplace. Y/N was reading, and Fred was leaning against her, pretending to read but mostly just watching her.

“Tu es belle ce soir,” Fred whispered in clumsy French, a proud smile on his face.

Y/N laughed softly, shaking her head. “You’re getting better, Fred.”

“I had a good teacher,” he said, grinning as he laced his fingers with hers.

Y/N leaned in, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Je t'aime, Fred,” she murmured, feeling bold.

Fred’s eyes sparkled, and he responded with a mischievous smile, “Je t'aime aussi, Y/N. Did I say that right?”

She nodded, giggling. “Perfectly.”

Fred puffed up his chest in mock pride. “Maybe I’ll become fluent in French just so I can understand all the lovely things you say about me.”

“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Y/N teased, bumping her shoulder against his.

Fred smirked, leaning in closer. “I’d like it even more if you kissed me again.”

Y/N rolled her eyes but couldn’t resist. She leaned in, capturing his lips in a soft kiss. Fred deepened it, pulling her closer as they both melted into the moment.

When they finally pulled away, Y/N rested her head on Fred’s shoulder, feeling content.

“Fred,” she started, “I’m really glad you’re learning French.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?” Fred asked, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Because it means you understand me better,” Y/N said softly. “And I like that.”

Fred squeezed her hand, his voice full of affection. “I like it too, Y/N. But you know, even if I don’t understand everything you say, I think I get the important stuff.”

Y/N looked up at him, her heart full. “What’s that?”

“How much you care about me,” Fred replied, his voice serious for once. “And how much I care about you.”

Y/N felt tears prick her eyes, but they were happy tears. She knew that even with the language barrier, their feelings were clear. Love didn’t need translation.

“Je t'aime, Fred,” she said again, her voice barely above a whisper.

Fred kissed her forehead, his voice soft as he replied, “Je t'aime, Y/N.”

[olderthannetfic]

As a non-native English speaker, I'm having... acronym burnout. I see GNC and think it stands for "group chat", AFAB for "All Cops are Bad", comship for... think it's the same as "commie" and therefore it means "communist". But that's just the autofill in my head, I kinda get what they mean, but not exactly what they stand for. Until I found a random post spelling out the meaning, like the recent anon asking what comship stands for. I just don't care enough to Google the meaning and never used these acronyms or reply to anyone who did. Does anyone else also scroll through posts and not stop to Google the acronyms? I know this is such a weird question, but maybe anyone out there has similar experience or maybe this is a universal experience.

--

A Spanish teacher of mine told me that the worst part of passing some exam or other for English was the tome of three-letter acronyms she had to memorize. "Why is English like this???" was her comment.

[homunculus-argument]

In some nerd circles in non-anglo countries, it's more or less a fashion choice and weird flex what english accent you adopt. Finnish schools try to teach british english - once when I asked why, my english teacher looked back in dour disgust and replied "because we are not americans", though I had not mentioned the US in my question. Though the distinction might be too faint to notice beneath the finnish stiffness of vocalisation, many finns who are fluent in english do end up adopting an ambiguously american accent due to the sheer amount of movies, TV shows and music that comes over from there.

Someone not having that is either because they've actually lived in some anglo country for long enough to pick up the local accent of the natives, or as a conscious, deliberate choice. I've found the latter to be more common, but could be selection bias. My sister has a very deliberate posh upper class british accent, and I've had my accent mistaken for both irish and scottish because I pronounce my R:s sharp. I could choose not to do that, but I'd feel like I'm mumbling.

One thing I didn't do but which would be both an impressive and a spectacularly weird flex would be for someone to specifically go for the transatlantic accent. I want to hear someone talk like a 1945 radio broadcaster while talking about vtubers.

[ofpd]

a large part of what inspired this is speaking a gendered language way more often than previously lmao. i feel legit insulted every time the teacher tells a student to address a sentence to me as a way of telling them to formulate the sentence with a female addressee

i think im gonna start going by they them

[sharksupermacy]

wave

wave - non-idol! danielle marsh x non-idol! reader

synopsis: you and danielle didn't talk to each other in school.. but will that change when you you were forced to do a project together?

genre: fluff, mutual pining, english project, orange bowl being doing the most , non-idol! dani x non-idol! reader

it was nice to get away from the busy city of seoul and go to a quieter place like new castle.

you were new to australia. new to the culture, place, and people. your parents decided it was the best decision to send you abroad to australia during middle school to further improve your english.

the best word you could describe your time 2 year stay in australia so far was with was peculiar. you could never find something predictable while staying there, the variety of native animals and bugs, the people in your school, sometimes what street you were going down, and which beach was busy on what days.

however, there were things you found very predictable, what time shops would open, relatively what time the buses would arrive, and what time the convince shop open that you bought breakfast from.

then there was danielle, the girl in your english class. she fit into both of these categories. it was always easy to predict what people were going to say about her or how she was swarmed every day, but in contrast, you could never figure out her actions.

despite being the most popular person in the school, she always sat right next to you in english class. there were people clamming around you who would gladly have danielle sit next to themselves, but she always chose to sit next to you. the highlight of your day was when you could always see all her cute doodles in her notebooks and colorful highlighters spread out on her desk. both of you didn't talk that much in class or outside of class due to you both being in different groups.

she preferred to hang around her soccer teammates, and you tended to hang around art kids. never having the chance to see another. expect in class, where all you two shared was a quick glance and a smile at each other. however, that was all about to change one day with one fateful assignment.

"okay class! we're going to do partner assignments, and guess what we're doing by lotto! so everyone put your name down on a slip of paper and put it into this lovely orange bowl," your teacher stated.

she ripped a stack of sticky notes in half and told a student to distribute them as she looked back to her computer. as the sticky notes were being passed out, you could hear a couple of rows down a bunch of your classmates whispering about wanting to be with danielle for this project as they slowly walked up to the bowl, tossing the paper into the bowl. when you got your sheet of paper, you wished that danielle was your partner so you could finally muster the courage to talk to her.

slowly but surely, once the orange bowl of fate had filled out, soon the names were filed out along with reactions from students. what types of reactions were varied—some disappointment, happiness, maybe even confusion. but that all had stopped when danielle name was pulled out of the bowl. all the class was ever so curious of name that would be pulled out the bowl even you . imagine the shock when it was you who was pulled out of that fateful bowl. she had looked over you with a surprised face, reaching for your hands as she pulled them up and exclaimed, she exclaims out, "omg, y/n, my desk buddies, we get to be project buddies!!"

those six words, you were hooked. the rest of english class flew by as both of you exchanged numbers, promising that you would both text each other when you got home. you reassured your loudly beating hearts that this was purely for the project and not for any other reason.

when you arrived home, you received a small ding from your phone when setting it down to take off your shoes. you picked your phone up off the ground and set it, only to see that the notification was from no one other than dani.

danielle from english: hi, y/n!!! about the english project, is it ok that we meet up after school tmr so we can work on the project at my house

cutie from english: hi danielle!! yea tmr work just fine!! does meeting you at the front of school work?

danielle from english: you can call me dani! (if your comfortable) yep front of school work just fine!!

cutie from english: ok dani!! see you tmr!!

danielle from english: you too y/n!!

with that, you had returned to your aunt's apartment in melbourne, which she had graciously let you use during your stay for the past two years. plugging in your phone as you finished your other assignments on your laptop, looking up at the time from the living room floor where papers had been laid out. 8:00 p.m., deciding to make yourself dinner before passing out.

the day has passed sooner than expected, and now you are out front of the school, waiting for dani to come pick you up. scrolling on your phone while waiting near the school tree for her to come. 

"BOO!" a figure behind you said as you jumped, scared from the surprise attack. when you turned around, all you were met with was a smiling dani. "Hi y/n!!!" she said exciditely. "sorry for the scare, but you were too cute to resist," she giggled out.

she called you cute. your heart was beating loudly in your ears due to being scared (and well, dani too), but you smiled at her. "shall we go?" you said, reaching your hand out to dani. 

"we shall," dani said. both you and her were off towards her house. who knows? maybe both of you confessed to each other, but that's a story for another time. for now, you were content with having danielle to share the now with.

a/n: ngl this was harder to write than i thought it be also the text colours legit just remind of macdonald as this point- i cant never not unsee it!!! (HELP!))

[cityzenshark]

Biology of Terrans (so far)

1 - Fuel & energy

Already explained in canon: water. However it's not clarified if they need specifically Emberstone-infused water or just water is enough. Judging by S1 part A, Twitch and Thrash goes about probably a week or two unfed before their body goes on automatic drive to find their energy source and can turn aggressive (like humans when we're tired and hungry). [edit: they do specifically need Emberstone water]

2 - Language

It's shown that the current Terrans immediately knows, speak and read in English. I think this is because the Maltos' mother tongue is English. Should a Terran is born, lets say, in Japan or linked to a Japanese person, their base language and literacy is Japanese. If the linked human is multi-cultural, the Terrans might be multilingual but it doesn't seem to be the case since the Malto kids are half-Filipino.

3 - Basic knowledge

Besides having literacy from the moment they're born, the Terrans absorb knowledge a lot faster without having to download them into their brains like a Cybertronian would. But they still require time, experience and teachers.

[Nightshade's high intelligence should've been enabled/recognized by Wheeljack first but they had to make NS super smart out of nowhere while their siblings took a few episodes. OR Nightshade is super smart because they're data(?) is influenced by Alex since he's present when the triplets are born]

What they need longer time to learn is emotional intelligence. They can't understand mixed feelings or read a situation unless someone explains it them.

4 - High adaptability to Earth conditions (HC)

Cybertronians hate Earth's nature not only because it's disgusting to them, because Earth is not friendly to metals. Rusting materials, temperature-based pressures, humidity, atmosphere, dirt, sand, and water -- the Terrans' life source.

In multiple shows, Cybertronians aren't adaptable to Earth's weather. Snow freezes their bodies, lightning can harm them, seawater rusts, etc.. What if the Terrans are immune to them?

Humans are adapted to the natural conditions of our native home. Ex. Tibetans thrive normally with the mountains' thin air while non-natives need oxygen masks. While Cybertronians have very limited time in frozen lands, Terrans can go about as long as they want. Cybertronians need to wash themselves off of seawater to prevent rust, meanwhile the Terrans are just fine.

[tixdixl]

I need my 日本語を話せられない TWST friends (non-Japanese speaking) to know that my buddy who is an L2 Japanese language teacher (with an MA in East Asian Studies) and I (who is an L2 Japanese learner with an MA in Sociolinguistics) have been dying over this colloquial grammatical construction that we keep seeing in the voice lines of History/Flight and Alchemy lessons: 朝から (asa kara)

Neither of us can figure out how to properly translate this construction, and every time TWST adds a new line with it, or we come across a line we hadn't see before, we immediately message one another in our confusion and have a conniption over it. We had questioned whether or not it was an example of "anime dialect", but after finding plenty of examples of it being used on Japanese twitter, we realized that it is definitely a colloquialism that's used in everyday speech.

For discussion purposes, keep in mind 朝 (asa) means "morning" and から (kara) is the particle causing the translation issues.

The thing you have to understand is that in Japanese classrooms and in Japanese grammar books - including Japanese grammar books FOR native speakers the particle construction ____から (kara)____まで(made) functions like "from ___ until ____" in English.

Except that's not how its being used in TWST. The まで portion of the particle construction never shows up in any of the examples that I've pulled from TWST.

Examples include (but are not limited to):

Cater (History): 朝からいい感じ (asa kara ii kanji)

いい = "good"

感じ = "feeling" (like a vibe or emotion)

Official Localization: "Off to a good start today!"

Cater (History): 朝から頑張らね (asa kara ganbara ne)

頑張らね ≈ "let's do well"

Official Localization: "Early bird gets the worm, I guess."*

*Footnote: While the translation here isn't literal, this line makes me openly question if 朝から is actually a set up for an idiomatic phrase in Japanese but I will discuss more later...

Jade (History): 朝から元気でそね (asa kara genki desu ne)

元気 = "in good health" or "well"

です= formal, present tense of the closest equivalent of "to be"

ね = equivalent tag is "right?" or "yeah?"

Official Localization: "You have a lot of energy in the morning."**

**Footnote: This localization is just painfully off from the intended meaning? But we're keeping it here to prove a point.

Malleus (History): 朝から退屈だ

退屈 = Tedium or boredom

だ = informal past tense of です

Official Localization: "It's early, and I'm already bored."

(A fun side note: This exact quote was found verbatim on Japanese twitter when we were searching for language samples.)

Sebek (Alchemy): 朝から再ないこだな

再ない ≈ not again

再ないこだな ≈ its the same again /its repeating (with a declarative verb conjugation, implying that the audience already understands and agrees)***

***Footnote: I kind of get the sense that he's basically saying "It's another morning and it's the same shit again", but not literally. Because he is clearly using a negative declaration here and the implication of the repetition "from the morning, its the same again" kind of gives me the reading similar to "Not this shit again".

Official Localization: "Someone awoke in a foul mood."

Additional translator's note: Because the subject is repeatedly dropped from each example here, and the only ones that indicate any inclusion of an outside party are Cater's second example and Jade's example because of the inclusion of the pragmatic tag, I am operating under the assumption that each student is likely speaking about themselves. This creates a bit of conflict in my understanding when compared to the localizations, because the localizers keep making a referential to an outside party ("someone").

You can tell from the official localizations that they are localized in such a way that its seamless for English speakers, but the translations often aren't or can't be literal. The localizers also repeatedly use idiomatic phrases in their translations where contrastingly, the predicate of the sentence (after the time placement) don't necessarily use phrases that I recognize as being used in idiomatic contexts. This creates an issue since we can't use them as a reference for being able to figure out what から does/how it functions in the sentence as a grammatical element that also changes the meaning of the sentence. The closest thing we've been able to guess about the use of から in these lines is that it might mean "From" or "Because of", which we pulled from one of the Grammar Books that she uses to help teach. The chart can be seen here:

But if that's the case, Cater's second line doesn't exactly make sense? Nor does Sebek's line? And for that reason, I have to wonder whether or not 朝から is used as a formulaic set up and if that set up is idiomatic in nature.

Both of us for literal months have been scrounging the internet in hopes that we can find any sort of clue as to how to understand this construction and/or to identify whether or not its specifically a colloquial usage to signify an idiomatic phrase is being used. One of the big flaws though is we haven't exactly been able to find any evidence on sites like Word Reference forums of the use of から in any potentially idiomatic way, and the localizations suggest that it could either be idiomatic or literal. We also haven't found any other site that uses or references から without まで.

At this point, it's entirely possible I'm overthinking it? But I'm genuinely confused and want to better understand it so I can improve my overall Japanese comprehension.

I honestly just wanted to share this because it's been both a fun and also frustrating learning journey, and also because I'm hoping maybe there's another person out here who 日本語と英語を話せまそ that might also recognize or know this construction and helps us understand it better. ^^;

[haru-dipthong]

How I feel about formal speech in Japanese, as a halfie 🇦🇺🇯🇵

How much are one’s values and philosophy forced to be tied to the language you speak? Having grown up in Australia, I live in a culture where there’s no hierarchy-based formality built into the language. Our service workers never call us “sir” or “ma’am” (in fact it feels very off-putting whenever you get a usamerican waiter who does). Calling out to a perfect stranger on the street is done with a “hey, mate” or “hey, excuse me!”. Our speech patterns don’t change too much depending on our familiarity with whoever we’re talking to - and we certainly don’t have separate verb conjugations depending on formality.

Contrast this with Japanese which has several different speech registers depending on familiarity and hierarchy of the person you’re talking to.

Red: Keigo. Used by service staff. Used by low ranking staff to high ranking bosses in workplace situations.

Orange: Formal speech (sentence ending ます, です, ません, etc). Used by younger people when speaking to older people. Used by almost everyone when speaking to a stranger off the street.

Green: Semi-formal speech (sentence ending っす, しないです, etc). Used by people around the same age when speaking to someone they have only recently met, or to work acquaintances and similar.

Blue: Casual speech (sentence ending naked adjectives and nouns, だ, plain form verbs). Used by everyone to their own family. Used between good friends, even if one is a fair amount older. Used by bosses to their employees, teachers to their students.

(Please note this is graph was made by a me, a non-native japanese speaker, and is not backed up by any research. It’s based purely on vibes and its primary purpose is to assist in the explanation of my feelings about being australian-japanese. Also note that in reality there are not hard lines between each of these registers or strict definitions. If this were more accurate it would be more like a gradient)

I don’t want to be seen as rude, so when I’m in Japan I make an effort to speak in a formal register in certain situations (e.g. speaking to service workers, strangers on the street). I’m ok with the far left side of the graph. However, the purple dotted section is the part I have the hardest time with: people around my age who I am not (yet) friends with. As an Australian, I immediately want to speak in a casual register with anyone who has friend-potential �� in my culture it’s polite and respectful to treat people like a friend from the start. Unfortunately, this has the reverse meaning in Japanese culture - it’s polite to keep people at arm’s length until you know they’re comfortable being closer with you. To use casual speech with an acquaintance carries an undertone of imposing a friendship on them that they may not want.

Culture and language are intimately linked, but is it possible to speak a language while being informed by a different cultural worldview? Is it possible to speak Japanese with both feet firmly planted in Australian culture? Does doing such a thing transform it into a different language altogether?

It’s certainly possible to speak English with my feet in Australian culture, and I would say that Australian English is a different dialect (with respect to formality registers) when compared to British English or US English. In fact I think US English is more similar to Japanese than it is to Australian English, if we’re just looking at formality.

A lot of what makes this a hard question is how homogenous Japan is, and how people in the Japanese diaspora (e.g. me and my family) don’t have a meaningfully different culture from mainland Japan, unlike other diasporas like Italian Americans. Since basically everyone who speaks Japanese is culturally and ethnically Japanese, the question of separating some of the cultural aspects from the language becomes almost unthinkable, and I would like to shake this unthinkable foundation of thought a bit.

Also, language is a collaborative thing. If I’m the only one speaking single-formality-register Japanese, I’m not speaking a new dialect, I’m just speaking normal Japanese in a weird way. It would take multiple people to understand the nuance of what I mean (not rude, just casual) for my single-register manner of speech to go from speaking normal Japanese rudely to speaking Australian Japanese normally. If I was to somehow assemble a bunch of Japanese-Australians raised in Australia, who learned Japanese with their family as their only input source (casual register only), would we be speak Japanese or some kind of new thing - Australian Japanese?

I wanna speak how I would normally speak in English, when I’m speaking in Japanese. But to do so carries subtext that I’m not trying to convey. If I want to speak without loading my speech with additional subtext I have to conform to the norms. But to do that would be to temporarily cast aside my cultural values on egalitarianism and respect!

So what’s more important - being true to myself and culture when speaking Japanese, or conveying the meaning I intend? Is it the responsibility of Japanese people to understand that people of different cultural backgrounds will speak their language, or is it my responsibility to conform to the way the language is spoken?