Back from Japan
Here's a photo I took of what is by far the best Engrish I've ever seen in my life.
More later.
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An aside to the wonderful people at Fuji Women's University-- Americans are a little different than Japanese people, see. We don't like being led around by the hand very much, and we HATE precise schedules. Tell us when we have to leave to get somewhere on time, but not more than that. When we have a really strict schedule we start to get antsy-- We don't like wake-up call at 6:30am, breakfast from 7-7:30am, packing from 7:30-8am, driving from 8-8:45am, meeting people from 8:45-9:30am, etc etc. That's not really how we do things, and after over a week of days where EVERY MINUTE is planned out like that from 6am to 7pm, we are unhappy campers.
Similarly, to us many meeting times are approximate. When you say breakfast is from 7-7:30am, to us that means that food becomes available at 7am and ceases to be available after 7:30. That also means that 7:10 is around the time we should be starting to eat. Some people might like to get there at 7, whereas some people just want to get there at the last second. Depends on the person. Similarly, to us the duration of events depends on what is happening and not what was planned on. If you say breakfast is from 7-7:30 but someone finishes at 7:15, that means they are then going to leave and do something else. They might hang around for another five or so minutes to chat so as not to look like they're rushing away, but they're not going to sit at the table and push food around on their plate for another fifteen minutes while everyone else eats. What more, if EVERYONE finishes at 7:15, then normally we would all leave. We wouldn't usually sit around and wait until the predetermined ending time of 7:30 rolled around before we got up to get ready to leave.
When you want to ask someone to do something or tell them they can do something, don't expect them to get up and do it IMMEDIATELY. If two Americans are chatting and someone comes over and tells them they can get tea if they like, they're most likely going to finish what they were saying before they get up and have some tea. They're not going to bolt out of their seat the minute you come over and race to get a drink while you're talking. As such, it's not necessary to repeat yourself and question why they don't have tea yet when only five seconds have passed since you told them to have tea. On the same note, if you need to leave to go somewhere or do something, please tell an American this with a few minutes to spare before it actually has to be done. This is because we'd probably like to finish our conversation, gather up our coat/shoes/purses/whatever that may be on our seats, or finish whatever else we were doing before we go. When you tell us it's time to leave to go to lunch, we don't assume you mean RIGHT THAT MOMENT GET UP LET'S GO NOW. We assume you're telling us with a few minutes to spare (because that's what we do) and that we have a moment to, say, pick up our tea cups and put them away. Again, just because we are not out the door five seconds after you tell us it's time to leave doesn't mean we're not leaving. I'm actually putting on my coat, as you can see, and my friend is finishing what she was talking about before you said anything. We'll be outside in less than a minute, chill.
More later.
+Edit
An aside to the wonderful people at Fuji Women's University-- Americans are a little different than Japanese people, see. We don't like being led around by the hand very much, and we HATE precise schedules. Tell us when we have to leave to get somewhere on time, but not more than that. When we have a really strict schedule we start to get antsy-- We don't like wake-up call at 6:30am, breakfast from 7-7:30am, packing from 7:30-8am, driving from 8-8:45am, meeting people from 8:45-9:30am, etc etc. That's not really how we do things, and after over a week of days where EVERY MINUTE is planned out like that from 6am to 7pm, we are unhappy campers.
Similarly, to us many meeting times are approximate. When you say breakfast is from 7-7:30am, to us that means that food becomes available at 7am and ceases to be available after 7:30. That also means that 7:10 is around the time we should be starting to eat. Some people might like to get there at 7, whereas some people just want to get there at the last second. Depends on the person. Similarly, to us the duration of events depends on what is happening and not what was planned on. If you say breakfast is from 7-7:30 but someone finishes at 7:15, that means they are then going to leave and do something else. They might hang around for another five or so minutes to chat so as not to look like they're rushing away, but they're not going to sit at the table and push food around on their plate for another fifteen minutes while everyone else eats. What more, if EVERYONE finishes at 7:15, then normally we would all leave. We wouldn't usually sit around and wait until the predetermined ending time of 7:30 rolled around before we got up to get ready to leave.
When you want to ask someone to do something or tell them they can do something, don't expect them to get up and do it IMMEDIATELY. If two Americans are chatting and someone comes over and tells them they can get tea if they like, they're most likely going to finish what they were saying before they get up and have some tea. They're not going to bolt out of their seat the minute you come over and race to get a drink while you're talking. As such, it's not necessary to repeat yourself and question why they don't have tea yet when only five seconds have passed since you told them to have tea. On the same note, if you need to leave to go somewhere or do something, please tell an American this with a few minutes to spare before it actually has to be done. This is because we'd probably like to finish our conversation, gather up our coat/shoes/purses/whatever that may be on our seats, or finish whatever else we were doing before we go. When you tell us it's time to leave to go to lunch, we don't assume you mean RIGHT THAT MOMENT GET UP LET'S GO NOW. We assume you're telling us with a few minutes to spare (because that's what we do) and that we have a moment to, say, pick up our tea cups and put them away. Again, just because we are not out the door five seconds after you tell us it's time to leave doesn't mean we're not leaving. I'm actually putting on my coat, as you can see, and my friend is finishing what she was talking about before you said anything. We'll be outside in less than a minute, chill.