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Meeting friend but can't communicate! 2009/5/8 00:09
This weekend I will be meeting my friend/sensei and her husband for a day at Disney Sea. My boyfriend will be with us as well. My friend/sensei was an intern at my high school in my sophomore year, and she worked as an assistant to my other sensei, so she is young. We became friends and I spent time with her when I visited Japan on foreign exchange my junior year. However, I have not seen her for the past three years, and there's a little bit of a problem: I haven't kept up with my Japanese studies and she hasn't kept up with her English studies, so we can't understand each other anymore. Until this evening we had been emailing one another using translators, but when I called her tonight I realized that it's extremely difficult to communicate.

I'm afraid that this is going to make our time incredibly awkward, especially since it's been so long since we've seen one another. Before we would speak in both English and Japanese (usually Japanese because I was studying) without a problem, and I feel bad for forgetting most of the language during the gap year between high school and college.

Additionally, her husband speaks no English and my boyfriend speaks no Japanese.

I would like some suggestions of ways I could make the time less awkward. When she presented three possible destinations for this weekend, I chose Disney Sea since I thought it would be the most distracting (less time spent talking). Also, any suggestions for phrases I could use with her? I'm also trying to find that happy middle between being too polite and being too casual in my speech with her.

I'm fine saying fairly simple things, as those are more difficult to forget considering the level I was at when I graduated high school.


These are some things I had in mind to say:

1. How about we ride Tower of Terror?
2. Have you seen the movie that inspired Tower of Terror?
3. In America's Disney Land, Indiana Jones is my favorite ride.
4. Have you been to Disney Sea before?
5. It's great to see you two again!
6. Thank you for inviting us.
7. I was so excited when you suggested we go to Disney Sea.
8. I'm sorry, I haven't studied Japanese for a year and have forgotten a lot.
9. I will try to speak Japanese, but as a warning I will probably sound ridiculous and say things incorrectly.
10. It was rainy all week in Tama plaza, so I'm glad the weather is nice today.
11. What should we do/ride next?
12. Sometimes I get motion sickness.
13. Let's stay in touch with email!
14. Would you like to take a picture together?
15. I'd like to get a snack.


ugh some of these are sort of lame, aren't they? I can't really think of things to say... Oh, and do you think it's okay if I give her a hug when I see her? We hugged when we said goodbye last time.

Sorry, another thing.. How can I make this more comfortable for her husband and my boyfriend, who can't even really pronounce stuff in English/Japanese respectively?


Lastly, I didn't really interact with her husband last time I saw her (although he was there), and I'm not sure if I ever formally introduced myself to him. I did talk with him a little, though. Should I re-introduce myself [like bust out the jiko shoukai big guns]??

Oh darn I do have another question. Since it rained on kodomo no hi, do you think every parent will bring their kids to Disneyland this weekend? How packed do you anticipate it being May 9 (Disney Sea)? =(
by GoLizzy  

. 2009/5/8 08:32
Hi again,

I would like some suggestions of ways I could make the time less awkward.

If I were you, I'd just try to accept the fact that it's supposed to be awkward, and enjoy the communication goofs.

1. How about we ride Tower of Terror?
2. Have you seen the movie that inspired Tower of Terror?

1. can simply be expressed by pointing to a map and saying "Let's go". 2. can be expressed by emphasizing the words "movie" "inspired" and "Tower of Terror". Use your imagination.

do you think it's okay if I give her a hug when I see her?

Yes.

How can I make this more comfortable for her husband and my boyfriend, who can't even really pronounce stuff in English/Japanese respectively?

You usually can't. I just try to leave people alone so that they won't have to get nervous. Or you can try to entertain your boyfriend as usual, so that your friend will have the time to entertain her husband as usual.

Should I re-introduce myself [like bust out the jiko shoukai big guns]??

I've never seen that happen. But you can certainly talk about yourself within the context of the conversation.

Since it rained on kodomo no hi, do you think every parent will bring their kids to Disneyland this weekend?

Every parent won't bring their kids to TDL just because it rained on May 5th. Besides the rain on that day wasn't really hard enough to make people cancel their TDL appointments. But TDL is always overly crowded on a sunny weekend, and this weekend will be sunny. You can also phone TDL to ask about their estimation on how crowded it may be on a specific day. TDL is very helpful in a lot of ways.
by Uco (guest) rate this post as useful

Uco 2009/5/8 15:53
Thank you for the useful information (-AGAIN- lol =P)

You're right, it's kind of going to be awkward no matter what. I never of thought of using simple phrases ('ikou/ikimashou or eiga o mimashita ka) because it sort of irks me that I used to know how to use the most correct phrase ('do you know the movie that inspired the ride called Tower of Terror?' --totally forget how to structure that gramatically. So it's sort of a stupid inner battle I was having, but you are right. It's okay if there are mistakes and I don't sound super great. Honestly, I think I'm just having a shyness or pride issue since she pointed out in her first email to me that she remembered I was at the top of my Japanese class last time she saw me and how excited she was to hear how much I've improved (she even asked if I was fluent now XD)

Annnywaaay... Also a very good suggestion on your part for me to try to entertain the boyfriend some and let her figure things out with her husband. See I'm just bad at envisioning these scenarios before they happen.. I always assume the worst!

I do have one grammatical question that I've been wondering since I got here. I remember from my old lessons that, if someone invites you to do something, saying, "tomorrow would you like to go sailing?" that you can reply with either "kyou wa chotto.." (tomorrow isn't good) or "sailing wa chotto" (sailing is a problem/isn't good) to express that you can't go and why.

can 'wa chotto' be used for other things as well, such as food? Like if someone is pushing their damned weirdo fried nuts on me at Chinatown and I don't know how to say 'im allergic get away already!', can I say "nuts wa chotto.." to mean something like 'nuts are the problem/aren't so good for me"

I just stuck with 'okane ganai' to which she replied "USO" and gave me a terrible look...
by GoLizzy rate this post as useful

Yes 2009/5/8 18:46
Yes, you can say, "nuts wa chotto.." to mean "no thank you."

But if you're allergic, it would make a better impression just to say you're allergic (a-re-ru-gii ga aru node).

Btw, "tomorrow" is "ashita".
by Uco (guest) rate this post as useful

oopsies 2009/5/8 19:07
woops I meant to write ashita XD

Haven't forgotten that much!

Yeah I pretty much suck at saying allergy in Japanese. It's like a tongue twister for me for some reason haha

But thank you for reminding me how to say it!
by GoLizzy rate this post as useful

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