Laughter

[saymark2]

It really bothers me that most of the girls at the jr. high school I teach at laugh whenever they or I greet. It doesn't matter if I greet them first or if they greet me, nor does it matter if the exchange is in English (good morning, hello) or Japanese (ohayo gozaimasu/ kon nichi wa.) I speak, they laugh or they laugh and speak and laugh again. I

Comments

[hanataro]

Kill them. o_o

Okay no, but seriously, I know what you mean - not so much a teen girl problem for me, but I get annoyed with a lot of the interpersonal Japanese culture sometimes. =\

You've just gotta try to get through it lol. Breathe. Etc. Not much else I can tell ya. x_x;

[starkodama]

I teach at a girls' junior/ senior high school. And I experience the same thing as you, many times, every single day. -_-

Sometimes it really bothers me, but yeah, I try not to let it. It's their problem, not mine.

[shiu]

hm... doesn't really happen to me, but every girl at my JHS's had crushes on me, so that was probably it.

so, just make them all love you.

[averagesmartguy]

...just don't love them back; it's better if their own men are the creepy perverts instead of us. ;)

[shiu]

hey, what's with this us/them mentality? we should be internationalizing :-/

[averagesmartguy]

Heh, sorry. It's hard to not think in the typically "us-them" (内-外) binary here in Japan when I'm constantly bombarded with it.

Ironically, it also seems to often be the easiest and most effective way to explain culture differences and thus "internationalize".

[nihonjay]

i just started a couple days ago, but i don't get that reaction from the kids. i'm at a mixed-gender school but i've met some girls too. i dunno, maybe the ones where i am are just really forthright?

if it seriously bothers you, i recommend asking your JTE about it. maybe you can convey to him/her that it bothers you and s/he can mention to the children that it's making you uncomfortable, or alternatively maybe s/he will have an explanation for why they do it that will be easier for you to accept.

[averagesmartguy]

Yeah, I have to deal with that a bit too, myself. There's one girl in particular who always laughs whenever I say hello or こんにちは or whatever. I've just kinda gotten used to it with her, but I haven't given up on saying hello to her. She was also the absolute worst at English in her grade, but I've noticed that most of the time now she'll actually reply with a meek "hello" herself, either before or after giggling.

Depending on how much time you spend with your students hanging out, trying to talk, etc. outside of class, you might be able to explain how it's viewed as rather rude if not downright mean in your own culture for someone to laugh when someone else says hello to her. (This is of course easier when you speak a sufficient amount of Japanese, but if I remember correctly, you do.) I mean, they need to at least hear a plausible reason why it pisses you off so much. If they actually listen (and some usually will, at least), and you just act like, sad or disappointed when you say "hello" again and they still laugh, they'll kinda