What cultural questions are important when speaking Japanese

When speaking Japanese, important cultural questions to consider include understanding the social norms surrounding politeness (teineigo), hierarchical relationships, and context-dependent communication cues such as indirectness and non-verbal signals (like head nodding). Cultural values heavily influence how one asks questions, expresses opinions, or makes requests in Japanese, often favoring indirect and respectful communication to maintain harmony and avoid face-threatening situations. ^{11, 13, 14, 15}

Key cultural aspects include:

• Politeness levels that vary depending on social status and relationships, with early acquisition of polite forms even in children. ¹³
• The importance of hierarchy and seniority, which affect how questions and opinions are expressed, sometimes causing Japanese speakers to avoid direct questioning or overt disagreement. ¹⁵
• Non-verbal cues like head nodding play a significant role in communication meaning and flow. ¹¹
• The use of greetings (aisatsu) is vital for establishing social connections and demonstrating respect. ¹⁷

These cultural conventions mean that when speaking Japanese, one must be attuned not only to language proficiency but also to the cultural expectations around communication style, indirectness, and situational context to foster mutual understanding and respect.

References

• The Relationship People: Mediating Love and Marriage in Twenty-First Century Japan by Erika R. Alpert (review)

• Integrating intercultural communication into the language classroom

• Other Important Questions: When, How, and Why Do Cultural Values Influence Performance Management?

• Reported speech as cultural gloss and directive: socializing norms of speaking and acting in Japanese caregiver–child triadic interaction

• Examination of Important Life Experiences of the Oldest-Old: Cross-Cultural Comparisons of U.S. and Japanese Centenarians

• Are phonological skills as crucial for literacy acquisition in Japanese as in English as well as in accounting for developmental dyslexia in English and in Japanese?

• The Russian-speaking writer in the socio-cultural collisions of the XX-XXI centuries: literary diasporality as a cultural trend

• The Influence of Cross Cultural Communication on Chinese, Japanese and Korean Fashion Design

• Motivators and inhibitors of nurses’ speaking up behaviours: A descriptive qualitative study.

• Creating a Global Cultural Consciousness in a Japanese EFL Classroom.

• A Kinetic Approach to Understanding Communication and Context in Japanese

• TRANSFORMATION OF JAPANESE CULTURE FOR INCREASING JAPANESE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

• The Role of Parental Input in the Early Acquisition of Japanese Politeness Distinctions

• Discourse Structure Analysis of Making Request in Japanese Conversation

• Conflict between Critical Thinking and Cultural Values: Difficulty Asking Questions and Expressing Opinions in Japan

• Interculturalised Japanese Logic and Values in the Aftermath of the March 2011 Crisis

• “Aisatsu” in Japanese Language Education