project 3
“Conversational Ballgames”
NANCY MASTERSON SAKAMOTO
American-born Sakamoto (b. 1931) lived with her Japanese hus band in Osaka and taught English to Japanese students. She is currently a professor at Shitennoji Gakuen University in Hawaii. “Conversational Ballgames” is a chapter from her text book on conversational English, Polite Fictions, published in 1982. Her contrasts of English and Japanese styles of conversa tion and her strategy for developing that contrast make us aware of the effect of cultural conditioning on the ways we learn to use language.
After I was married and had lived in Japan for a while, my Japanese gradually improved to the point where I could take part in simple conversations with my husband and his friends and family. And I began to notice that often, when I joined in, the others would look startled, and the conversational topic would come to a halt. After this happened several times, it became clear to me that I was doing something wrong. But for a long time, I didn't know what it was.
Finally, after listening carefully to many Japanese conversa tions, I discovered what my problem was. Even though I was speaking Japanese, I was handling the conversation in a west ern way.
Japanese-style conversations develop quite differently from western-style conversations. And the difference isn't only in the languages. I realized that just as I kept trying to hold western-style conversations even when I was speaking Japan ese, so my English students kept trying to hold Japanese-style conversations even when they were speaking English. We were unconsciously playing entirely different conversational ballgames.
A western-style conversation between two people is like a game of tennis. If I introduce a topic, a conversational ball, I expect you to hit it back. If you agree with me, I don't expect you simply to agree and do nothing more. I expect you to add something--a reason for agreeing, another example, or an elaboration to
NANCY MASTERSON SAKAMOTO
American-born Sakamoto (b. 1931) lived with her Japanese hus band in Osaka and taught English to Japanese students. She is currently a professor at Shitennoji Gakuen University in Hawaii. “Conversational Ballgames” is a chapter from her text book on conversational English, Polite Fictions, published in 1982. Her contrasts of English and Japanese styles of conversa tion and her strategy for developing that contrast make us aware of the effect of cultural conditioning on the ways we learn to use language.
After I was married and had lived in Japan for a while, my Japanese gradually improved to the point where I could take part in simple conversations with my husband and his friends and family. And I began to notice that often, when I joined in, the others would look startled, and the conversational topic would come to a halt. After this happened several times, it became clear to me that I was doing something wrong. But for a long time, I didn't know what it was.
Finally, after listening carefully to many Japanese conversa tions, I discovered what my problem was. Even though I was speaking Japanese, I was handling the conversation in a west ern way.
Japanese-style conversations develop quite differently from western-style conversations. And the difference isn't only in the languages. I realized that just as I kept trying to hold western-style conversations even when I was speaking Japan ese, so my English students kept trying to hold Japanese-style conversations even when they were speaking English. We were unconsciously playing entirely different conversational ballgames.
A western-style conversation between two people is like a game of tennis. If I introduce a topic, a conversational ball, I expect you to hit it back. If you agree with me, I don't expect you simply to agree and do nothing more. I expect you to add something--a reason for agreeing, another example, or an elaboration to